Planning 1st EVER PA bear hunt-NEED HELP

[mhagarman]

Okay, so I just got out of the Army after being wounded in Afghanistan and I want to plan a hunting trip for black bear up in PA. I'm from Adams County so have no idea where the good spots are. SO any and all suggestions would be great.

1.Places to go
2. Lodges to check into
3. Weaponry and Bullets
4. Gear & Equipment
5. Licenses and Helpful Info


Thank you! I appreciate all your time and help in this matter!

[A-5]

Okay, so I just got out of the Army after being wounded in Afghanistan and I want to plan a hunting trip for black bear up in PA. I'm from Adams County so have no idea where the good spots are. SO any and all suggestions would be great.

1.Places to go
2. Lodges to check into
3. Weaponry and Bullets
4. Gear & Equipment
5. Licenses and Helpful Info


Thank you! I appreciate all your time and help in this matter!

Preliminary county harvests by region (with 2010 figures in parentheses) are:

Northwest: Warren, 119 (54); Forest, 90 (47); Venango, 54 (56); Clarion, 45 (47); Jefferson, 45 (33); Crawford, 16 (10); Butler, 9 (12); Erie, 7 (3); and Mercer, 6 (2).

Southwest: Somerset, 75 (83); Fayette, 67 (101); Armstrong, 66 (56); Indiana, 33 (42); Cambria, 30 (18); Westmoreland, 24 (62); and Allegheny, 1 (0).

Northcentral: Tioga, 343 (183); Potter 327 (148); Lycoming, 291 (228); McKean, 246 (92); Clinton, 198 (248); Elk, 150 (89); Clearfield, 143 (182); Centre, 110 (118); Cameron, 95 (138); and Union, 40 (46).

Southcentral: Huntingdon, 65 (95); Bedford, 54 (84); Mifflin, 47 (41); Juniata, 32 (19); Blair, 29 (31); Snyder, 26 (19); Fulton, 15 (11); Franklin, 13 (8); Perry, 13 (17); Cumberland, 4 (1).

Northeast: Sullivan, 177 (57); Wayne, 139 (82); Bradford, 122 (38); Pike, 116 (122); Luzerne, 95 (58); Monroe, 87 (57); Wyoming, 55 (22); Susquehanna, 51 (41); Carbon, 43 (35); Columbia, 24 (20); Lackawanna, 22 (16); and Northumberland, 7 (3).

Southeast: Dauphin, 46 (20); Schuylkill, 34 (27); Lebanon, 13 (7); Northampton, 4 (7); Lehigh 3 (0); and Berks, 2 (2).



Well there they are, I would look at the Tioga, Potter, Mckean, area. There is plenty of state and federal land to hunt and plenty of places to stay. 30-06 or larger, lodging can be looked up on the internet, with houses that get rented out to hotels, plenty of them. Focus on the Wellsboro area and go from there as far as lodging goes.

[pahuntnfool]

Most any county in the north central region will be good. Bear season is very much influenced by food availability and weather. Look for Clinton and Lycoming county to jump back to the top in kills lower harvest numbers and large populations. Rifles I would stick to basic 270, 280 ,30 06, 308. If you have larger they will work. Dont sell calibers like the 35 rem out either. Remember you step into Pa bear woods it could be a 35 lb cub up to almost 900 lbs. Gear if hunting alone or with just a partner a come a long is a must to get large bears out of the woods. Wide variety of clothing it could be 45 n warm or 20 and sleet and snow. I do not know of lodges but north central region has lots of state forest and game lands. Best method having a gang of 8 -15 hunters utilizing drives and covering lots of territory. Pre season scouting a must.

[dk99358]

There is an archery/crossbow season also. For rifle, I'd suggest any cartridge shooting a bullet at least .257 in diameter or larger. Handgun-41 Mag or larger. Shotgun-20 or larger with slugs.

I've read of guys using varmint calls to hunt bears, there, I think I'd want something on the larger side. Mr Bear is coming in looking for a meal, it AIN"T gonna be me!

No baiting or dogs allowed.

Be prepared to hunt some real nasty country, either steep, swampy, or brush choked.

Dale

[freddy g]

Okay, so I just got out of the Army after being wounded in Afghanistan and I want to plan a hunting trip for black bear up in PA. I'm from Adams County so have no idea where the good spots are. SO any and all suggestions would be great.

1.Places to go
2. Lodges to check into
3. Weaponry and Bullets
4. Gear & Equipment
5. Licenses and Helpful Info


Thank you! I appreciate all your time and help in this matter!

First off, thank you for your service to our country sir!
I live in monroe county (northeast PA) I have seen a couple of bears in the SGL127 on rt 380
,also when i was archery whitetail hunting this season a huge black bear walked right up to me! i saw him coming from 300 yds off so i had plenty time to video him with my phone,here is the link to the video.if you need more info on the area(locations,lodging,food,etc,etc....) just pm me and i can give you any local info you need.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_EySZq74_k

[D10]

Got mine the third year in the US..........my BIL invited me up at Ligonier. Darn nice country up there, a lot of deer too.

[mike_g]

Congrats on coming home! What I did is a recon mission to the area, Aleready lots of good suggestions-for me it was Elk County. Lots of gamelands, ect. So this was all pre-internet days, asked around, real estate offices ect- found a camp to rent near hunting areas. Took ten years but got lucky. Hit the beast 3 times with a 06 using 220 gr bullets. Take up the offers of fellowship from the others here. The bear population has tripled since those day- good luck an post up some piks when you find the dead one!!!

[BRIANT]

Just by looking at the harvest numbers I would consider Potter/Tioga. I am no bear hunter by any means but can give some insight to Potter Co. As stated lots of bear and lots of public land. As far as lodging check out the Ox Yoke Inn on RT 6 either in or just outside of Galeton. There are state gamelands and state forrest right down 6 easily accessible within 10/15 minutes. Guys from our camp see bears pretty frequently during the summer. From our camp guys split time between 2G and 3A, but lately more bear sightings have been in 2G.

Most importantly scout, scout, scout. Get some topos from the internet and do some pre scouting. Summer time is a great time to get out in the woods and scout, do some fishing too.

Also have a game plan for getting the bear out of the woods should your hunt end successfully. ATVs are not allowed on a lot of public land and I think bears still need to arrive at the check station whole.

Good luck and thanks for your service! Glad you are home.

[BRIANT]

Oh and like everyone said on the guns, most of your common PA deer guns will suffice with heavy bullets. .270, 30-06, .308, .35 even.

[mhagarman]

Thank you everyone for all of the help! I appreciate it all!