Pennsylvania Game News - November 2020 - 35

Crockett black bears are from Pennsylva- Pennsylvania, deer and bears both seem
nia, and another Pennsylvania bear taken to have the genetics to get big. Diet
in 2019, but not officially added to the list and age, however, aren't as automatic.
by presstime, is expected to make the top Ternent believes males must live about
10. Two-hundred sixty-seven Pennsylva- nine years to reach 500 pounds. They'll
nia bears have met Boone & Crockett's need great food sources, too. After that,
21-inch minimum, and another 398 have it comes down to avoiding hunters and
been recognized for measuring between vehicles.
20 and 20 15/16 inches.
"Abundant food and the possibility of
These records, and the occasional living for years as an adult contribute to
800-pound bear that will show up in record-class bears," Ternent said. "Each
some harvests, illustrate the amazing year, we see bears in their teens in the
size Pennsylvania black bears can attain. harvest."
Alt also found back in 1980 that
Often, those bears come from the
bears he weighed were "considerably Poconos, where big swamps provide
larger" than those weighed by agency sanctuary. But others are taken elsebiologist Richard Gerstell in 1939. He where, in those places hunters often skirt.
suggested that maybe the Poconos bears The bigger the bear, according to hunters
: 21 simply were larger than other who have taken them, the more apt they
M Scorheeweighed
Pennsylvania bears, a point Ternent still are to sit tight.
makes when talking about the state's
Pennsylvania's continuing abundance
biggest bears.
of forest - over 50 percent statewide for
e
Like deer, a bear's size mostly is Dat
decades
- provides bears with essential
Ran k of hard and
led
attributed
to
genetics,
diet
and
age.
In
habitat,
generous
supplies
Kil
Owner
soft mast, as well as places to avoid
hunters. And those factors ultimately
1
5 achieve statewide
197
helped
bears
populaCabela's, Inc.
2
1
201
tion
growth
that
seemed
impossible
in the
n
istia
Robert T. Chr
3
1980s,
particularly
when
you
consider
7
198
PA Game Comm.
the accompanying
human
4 population
2010
Wade W. Brockman
growth, associated development
and
5
3
199in
Jr.
th,
wor
ttle
Shu
J.
ert
Rob
increases
vehicular
traffic
since.
.
5 has over 12
2005 Pennsylvania
"Although
And rew Seman, Jr.
1
million
people,
some of its5largest urban
201
Kurk A. Mackrill
centers
are6 outside or on 8the periphery
199
Craig D. Mar tin
of the bear4range, which helps
mitigate
8
200
Jeremy Kresge
8
200 6
Jesse L. Ritchey
The Keystone
in the
11
1998 State is well represented
John J. Bathke
Boone & Crockett Club's international black
11wasn't always
2003 seen at left. That
bear records,
Brian J. Coxe
the case.
But
as
the
state's
bear
13 population
199 0
Loren C. Nodolf
grew, so did bears' body size. And specimens
13
8
like the199
archery-season
630-pounder
Craig
Joseph E. Mindick
Moyer,200
of New
Ringgold,
harvested
last
year
13
8
Robert J. Evans
in Schuylkill County - a bear with a 22 2/1616
3 not uncommon.
200
inch skull
- are
Douglas Kristiansen
16
2015
Scott C. Stintzi
NOVEMBER 2020
35
18
1991
Chad M. Reed
18
1997
Stanley Benson

Pennsylvania Game News - November 2020

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