Pennsylvania Game News - November 2018 - 11

Owings, of Shermansdale - also was
added to the records book in 2018. Its
skull measured 22-3/16 inches.
The largest new bear in the firearms
category - taken in Carbon County by
Anthony Difrancesco, of Chalfont - also
measures 22-3/16 inches and was taken
in 2016. That bear ranks No. 31 in the
firearms category.
Pennsylvania's No. 1 bear - also a
worldwide record - remains the 2011
Monroe County bear taken by Robert
Christian, of East Stroudsburg. Its skull
measured at 23-9/16 inches.
D'Angelo described the number of
large black bears coming out of Pennsylvania's bear seasons as simply amazing.
"Over the past three years, 85 black
bears were added to the state's already
extensive big-bear records," he said.
"Their continuing occurrence in the harvest exemplifies the unparalleled opportunities hunters annually have to drop a
trophy bruin in Pennsylvania."
Meanwhile, the five oldest bears in
the 2017 harvest all were females, which
Ternent said is typical because males tend
to be more vulnerable to hunters.
The oldest two - 24 and 20 years
old - were from Elk County. They were
followed by a 21-year-old Forest County
female, a 19-year-old Venango County
female and an 18-year-old Sullivan
County female.

Mange Impacts
Mange is generally a sporadic problem
in bears involving individuals or small
numbers, Ternent said.
It began occurring more regularly in
Pennsylvania bears in the early 1990s,
and the number of bears with clinical
signs of mange has since expanded both
in frequency and geographic distribution.
Cases of bears with mange are now
NOVEMBER 2018

starting to occur in other Mid-Atlantic
states and attracting broader attention.
In 2017, 53 bears were either euthanized, or examined and determined to
have died from mange.
Another 30 bears with mange symptoms were examined at check stations.
Ternent said it's not known whether
this apparent increase reflects reality, or
is simply the result of an expanding bear
population. More bears means more sightings, even if infection rates are constant,
he said.
Whatever the case, mange would not
appear to be having population-level
effects on Pennsylvania's bears, though
it's a problem that will continue to be
monitored and studied, Ternent said.
"Bear numbers continue to be at record
highs," he said. "But the disease progression has our attention, and mange has
become an emerging research priority."
Over the past five years the Game
Commission has partnered with researchers at Indiana University of Pennsylvania,
University of Georgia and, most recently,
Penn State University to study various
aspects of this disease, Ternent said.
The Penn State study focuses on
effectiveness of treatment for free-ranging
bears, survival with and without treatment, reinfection rates, effect of disease
on movement patterns, and occurrence of
other host parasites, such as ticks.
Hunters will notice Game Commission
personnel collecting samples from bears
this fall at several check stations, which is
part of ongoing research, Ternent noted.
Hunters who harvest a bear with
mange symptoms still are required to tag
and transport the animal to a check station.
In some cases, a replacement bear license
might be available.
In Pennsylvania, it's unlawful to intentionally feed bears. Not only does this help
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Pennsylvania Game News - November 2018

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