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Bear Attacks Woman in PA.

timeout said:
Saw this on the news this morning. Do any of you PA.guys live near where the attack took place?
http://www.fox29.com/news/pennsylvania-woman-attacked-by-bear-saved-by-dog-named-bear-
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About 30 to 40 miles from me. Lycoming county has a bunch of bears. Right in what is considered the bear belt. Clinton and Lycoming pretty much battle it out for which county is tops in the state. Scattered deer parts is probbaly what caused it. The bear probably thought his food supply was being taken. Acorns were really scare in areas and getting food can be tough. This year I saw my 6th bear in 4 years of hunting in Lycoming county. Matt
 
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My sister in Littleton Co. got chased to the house while setting out the garbage can. It could have been terrible but she ran like the wind with that sucker right behind her. The police came and shot it the next day.

Being a typical brother I laughed my ass off when she called me about it, but it sounded pretty close.
 
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Events like this with bears are a consequence of poor game management. The last figure that I saw for the PA bear population was 20,000. If the PA Game Commission was really interested in controlling the bear population they could. Their deer herd reduction program is testament of their ability to control a population, if they choose to. I would allege that they want a large bear population as a means of reducing the deer herd. The PAPGC has admitted that the black bear causes a significant attrition in the fawn crop, which is what they want. This bear predation may be more effective than the declining hunter population. If they really intended to reduce the bear population, they could have a season before the bear hibernate. And/Or they could allow bear hunting coincident with the entire firearms deer season. After all, the PGC did fund a bear study by Gary Alt who was the architect of their current deer management strategy. They know what they are doing.

Black Bear are becoming a problem in the neighboring state of New Jersey due to their liberal attitudes about bear hunting.

The PAPGC Deer Herd Management Program is hotly contested issue in PA. I believe that all of the allegations made by John Eveland are in fact the truth. For those of you interested, spend some time on this website. If you google John Eveland on the internet, you will find plently of material supporting Evelands position and quite a bit refuting his allegations. I say “follow the money” and assess the motives for yourself. The Allegheny County Sportsmans League if firmly behind Eveland.

https://www.friendsofpennsylvaniawildlife.org/unspoken-reason-for-deer-reduction
 
North of me however they did have to trap a bear in a town not far from me. Not really bear area right here but it's not far to Blue Mountain and just north of Harrisburg were they do populate.
 
MrMajestic said:
North of me however they did have to trap a bear in a town not far from me. Not really bear area right here but it's not far to Blue Mountain and just north of Harrisburg were they do populate.
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I'm not a game biologist but I do know a Fed ADC guy. I know that a lot of money is spent to trap and relocate bears in northern WI. I don't live in bear country so I wouldn't begin to say what impact they have on the deer population. I do know that bears are hell on corn fields. Seems to make sense to allow more kill permits for hunter harvest opportunities. I could be wrong.
 
Interesting replies. Jimmy thanks for your opinion. One point that I would make is that as the bear population increases so will the probability of human bear encounters. Those of us that are bear savvy, are less likely to be harmed. But as bear expand their range due to increased populations, there will be more frequent incidents like this woman and her dog. The institution that controls this population is the PAPGC. In recent years, mange hit the bears in the Kettle Creek Area and the PAPGC, euthanized quite a few of them. Diseases such as mange usually occur when populations are beyond healthy numbers. I’m not saying that the PGC needs to kill off more bear, what I and saying is that they change the game laws to allow the hunters to be more effective.

It’s true that bears in PA do not have the fear of man that bears in other parts of the country do. Hunting pressure in PA is significantly different than that encountered in Maine. Maine allows baiting and the use of dogs. PA does not allow either method. I have hunted bear out of Libby Camps in Northern Maine and have some knowledge about that. The habitat is different in PA from Maine where the logging results in very thick second growth. PA hardwood forests are mature and open, except for the Laurel and Rhododendron thickets. Short of party hunting with drives, bear hunting in PA is much like playing the lottery.

A bear incident that I have first-hand knowledge of in North Central PA occurred at the camp of some friends about a mile from ours on Kettle Creek. It was shortly after the close of bear season for the bear study when the bear population took off. The camp was relatively isolated. The first day of buck, the hunters left a beer cooler on the porch of the camp. When they returned that night, a bear had torn the cooler apart and chewed up a few beer cans. They shot a small buck that day and had it hanging on the porch. That evening, they were sitting around the kitchen table in this three cabin playing cards when they heard a noise and looked out the door to see a large bear looking through the door at them. They went out chased the bear away but it only retreated to the periphery of the porch light and would not leave. They went back to playing cards and a short time later, heard a disturbance on the porch. The bear returned and pulled the deer down and was attempting to drag it off, but the deer wedged between the pickup tailgate and the porch and the bear couldn’t free it before they came out and chased it. They brought the bear to us to secure in our barn for the night. I crossed paths with more than a couple bear in the PA woods during small game and deer season. They did not bolt away but rather just walked away, not really demonstrating any fear.

Paj and holler make good points about the difference between PA and other states. Different pressure on the bears makes them avoid humans. Of course, a bears nose and food are its' primary motive drives. They will do what it takes to get what they want.
 
jimmymac said:
Imo, that’s a stretch. Being attacked by a bear in PA is a rare occurance. It has nothing to do with the PA Game Commission mismanaging the bear population.
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I agree. A bear attack cannot be directly attributed to the PGC. On the other hand, I see it as a numbers game...just like driving your truck home. The more you drive the more the chances of an accident...the more the bear population goes up the more the chances of an encounter.
I hunted Pa. years ago and now have land and hunt in Virginia, which has seen a remarkable increase in bear population. Don't get me wrong, I love bears, I love to hunt bears. But it sure looks like the population isn't even trying to slow down and it just could get away from them if the states are not careful. Considering how it's gone in the last ten years and imagine ten years from now.....
In Virginia there is not the level of interest in bear hunting by the local hunters that Pa. sees. Old ladies with floppy straw hats go bear hunting in Pa.!!!
Virginia allows the use of dogs and has a very long season, especially for archery. They even tried an early three day gun season and in spite of all that I really believe they are going to need to open up baiting if they expect to make an impact and even that isn't much of an advantage. Bears are pretty nocturnal to begin with.

fmturner said:
.......After all, the PGC did fund a bear study by Gary Alt who was the architect of their current deer management strategy. They know what they are doing.......
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I remember that study, it was a big deal. Must have been the late 80's or early 90's and they also made a documentary titled "On the trail of Pennsylvania's Black Bear". It is definitely worth watching if you can get your hands on a copy. The PGC used to sell VHS tapes of it, maybe they offer it on DVD now??? Very informative and entertaining to watch.
 
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The local news here reported that the woman's dog ran after the bear and when she went to retrieve her dog, she got between Mama and her cubs, which she didn't realize were there. That's always a bad situation. Hope she recovers from her injuries, I know that she was in critical condition. I'm praying for her.
 
Im 43 and have hunted pa for 30 years now. I'm my high school diploma level education opinion these are some of the problem areas.

1.no sunday hunting
2.very short bear season
3.More posted land since early 2000's than u can shake a stick at.
4.most of Pennsylvania's seasons are overlapped too much small game (rabbit /squirrel /grouse need to open much earlier . Bear needs to be open way longer also, and the tag needs to be included with your normal hunting license.
Pa license looks cheap on the front but they kill you with all the add on stamps and permits.
This is just the start of what I see wrong with hunting in pa in general. The people in charge need to realize that the average guy just cannot get to the woods to hunt without Sundays being open. Instead hunter count steadily declines and license fees and add on stamps and permits keep going up up up. While I won't disagree that since the 2002 antler restrictions the bucks are now huge and way more plentiful it does however come with tradeoffs such as the average guy not being able to harvest a buck on his 3 day of available hunting. And now with all the big buck comes (posted signs galore, guy with the posted signs owns those deer you know.) Some of the farms I use to even woodchuck hunt are now lost to even that because the farmer leased his land out to a group of guys (who don't chuck hunt ) .
I just do my best to get out and enjoy myself when I can. Pa could however make it way better. They just have to get rid of the thick skulled old time ways.

Ok rant over off my soap box !!!
 
I remember back 98ish time frame a radome weekday daytime phone survey was done in pa to seek input for sunday hunting.
Just my hi iq doing some thinking but I'd guess if you were home during the day m-f that hunting on sunday was probably not one of your biggest concerns.
 
There are no more bear here then 20 years ago. First off there were no acorns in the mountains this year. The deer and bear moved because of no food. Then somebody dumped deer parts and the bear was feeding. I also heard it was a female with cubs and the dog went after the bear. The lady ran after the dog and i heard got between mom and cubs. This came from local people.

We had 18 plus inches of snow in those mountains and it stayed all through bear and most of deer season. It was cold in Lycoming county, I hunted there. Trucks were stuck all over the place and I pulled two of them out. It was slippey and hard to find a place to park.

In deer seson, by 9 o'clock the first day shooting was over. Nobody out hunting and the two Saturdays that doe was in was no better. Matt
 
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