My First PA Bear Hunt - 2016

[zack.klan]

This past weekend my girlfriend and I went camping in the Cooks Forest and Allegheny National Forest area. I was telling some of the guys at work where I was headed and they asked me, "Are you going bear hunting?". I told them that I wasn't planning on it but the thought was stewing in my head. I started asking one guy who goes every year for some tips and basic understanding. I figured that I should probably get the OK from my girlfriend being that we were going down for "us" time. Surprisingly she said yes as long as she gets to tag along. Once I got the OK, I was pumped and went to go get my bear tag.

On the way down, I was able to stop and meet up with some of the locals that I haven't seen in about 15 years. It took them a few minutes but they finally remembered who I was and said I've come a long way from the little kid who would come running across the field just to come say hi. I told them that we were going to go after a bear and asked if they could give me some insight as to how the population was in the area and to point me in the right direction to better my odds. They started showing me pictures of bear on there porch, under their house, and even on their swing. Sizes ranging from cubs to big ole' 500 + pounders. They have been seeing the bear more than deer which hasn't happened in years they said.

The next morning, my girlfriend an I got up bright and early to start hiking and scouting. We went to a trail that we hiked last year that I had a feeling would give me pretty good chances. Once we started walking and we passed the first row of trees, we came across huge bear tracks leading right down the trail. Some logging company was working in the area in the beginning of the year so we had a nice clear cut off to the right and down a little more was a nice holler with tons of mountain laurel, a few downed trees, and a creek bed down at the bottom. The whole area was screaming bear habitat. We walked a little more and found tons of scat, ripped up logs, more tracks, and mauled trees. I had my heart set on this place.

We woke up and headed out to the "honey hole". We got to the spot and 3 feet away from where we were going to sit was someone already perched up on a rock. My stomach sunk thinking that my whole hunt was ruined being that that was the only place I really scouted. I pressed on and moved to plan b, logging roads down where we use to have our own camp. I kinda knew the area but so much changed since the last time I was down there which was 15 years ago. We still gave it a shot though. You can't hunt them bumming around camp. We drove around for a bit until we found a spot that nobody was at. We walked the logging trails for a couple hours but still came up empty handed. On the drive back to camp, we stopped and talked to other hunters to see if they had any luck. Nobody was really seeing anything.

Before we went back to the cabin, we decided to got check out the bear weigh station in Marienville. We pulled in and a couple people were there with bears. We strolled up to a kid about my age and he had a huge boar in his truck bed. He asked me if I thought it was a good one as he didn't know being that it was his first bear. I told him "This is my first year and I've honestly never even seen a bear in the wild but judging by the size of the skull and just the body size in general that you have a hell of a bear." He said him, his dad and 4 other people helped drag it out and load it up. His bear weighed 411 pounds field dressed which gave it about a 450-460 pounds live weight.

Things I learned in just one day, don't get hung up on just 1 "honey hole", scout more even though this was a last minute hunt, keep moving, and there will always be another hunt some other day.

[Hawks Feather]

Thanks for taking us along on your hunt.  Only hunted bear once which was in Canada many years ago.  Didn't see any, but had a good time.

Jerry

[Okanagan]

Good read!  Sounds like you know how to scout out a good spot and too bad that someone else had the same idea.

It is so different out here that I have no idea how to hunt bear in your country.  I have called several bears and I'd be curious if you ever give that a try.

[Tikaani]

Good read, liked the comment "You can't hunt them bumming around camp." That is the truth, get out there and you will get them. Thanks for the again for the read.

John

[Coulter]

Some valuable lessons there Zack. Learning from them is what really matters. Good write up too. Time to prep for some deer hunting now...or duck, just sayin

[zack.klan]

I've been ready for ducks and deer but unfortunately I won't be making it out on opening day of deer. Stupid work

[zack.klan]

Here's some pictures from the hunt too.

[FinsnFur]

That looks like some nice country That second picture is awesome