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Hi Folks,
How do you handle a bear you’ve killed? In PA, you have to take the entire animal, minus guts, to a check station. That pretty much means working with at least two or three guys if the bear is of any size. thanks, d
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Yeah, and you didn’t mention the dwindling # of bear check stations in PA in recent years…
So you might have to drive a goodly way in increasingly odd warming weather to get it checked before you can skin it! 🙁
This year might be the exception… it’s cooling down nicely!
I guess packing them inside the body cavity with ice bags is the only way to preserve the meat.
I called MD cause they had the same rule years back about deer… gal at hdqrts told me, “REad the rules…hide must stay attached…skin it to the head and leave it attached so the body cools!”
Why can’t they just SAY that stuff…why make it so damn hard so you risk getting fined?
Oh, well…I don’t hunt bear anyway…always figure it was better to wear clothes when hunting!:shock:
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Pretty funny. I haven’t hunted bear either, either way. I’m curious, but truly not beary motivated. dwc
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A bunch of guys I know drive all the way from Lancaster County or this general area up to Potter to hunt just ONE DAY and then come home on Sunday… Seriously???
Given I’ve been hunting in PA since I was 12, been to the “mountains” of the northern tier several dozen times for deer, fishing, and back packing…I’ve only ever seen bears on 3 occasions in my whole life–2x in PA.
Once in Flinter season, I saw a mother with 3 grown cubs.
I kicked out one with 3 cubs to my buddy’s 12 yr old…he was white as a sheet as they came by him flat out at 12 yards in bow season! I never saw those but heard the kid hollarin 150 yard out and ran to see what was the matter!
I saw 2 grown cubs one evening in archery which made me a wee bit nervous slipping out in the dark worrying if Momma was about.
Only other bear I ever saw was in MT when I lived there. It was on the Sun River Game Range in late Spring…beautiful chocolate phase and only time I ever was out and about with NO weapon around at all. Bears were open about 10+ mo of the year in MT back then…
Given my time pounding the woods, big woods and small, fishing, hunting, trapping and camping, seeing that few bears, it just didn’t make sense to go HUNT them suckers!
I’ve read about hunts and bear antics and think it would be a flipping HOOT to hunt them critters!
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I see them a couple times a year raiding the can when I’m too dumb to throw the old left overs out in the woods, but I almost never see them when I’m hunting. I’d like to go sometime, mainly to see how guys do it. My neighbor lives to hunt bear. He’s pretty much given up on deer for lack of challenge.
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Requiring hunters to present a field dressed but otherwise intact bear for inspection regardless of weather conditions is ridiculous. How would I get a 1200 pound brown bear in the back of a Cub and fly it out of the Bush? Sounds like a PA problem to me. Don
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In Idaho you are required to present the skull and hide, with evidence of sex left intact.
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I’m sure it’s a pain to get the bear in to the check station, but PA does seem to incorporate a lot of science into the bear program. The scientist that really got the bear program going in PA was Gary Alt. He moved into the whitetail program and helped create the antler restriction we see in place now. Unfortunately, his program really messed with the Holy Grail of deer and he ended up retiring. He began wearing bullet protection at speaking engagements due to threats he received. I don’t blame him for getting out of it, but it’s a shame we lost a real scientist in a very subjective area, especially before all the facts were in. Here’s a link to a story about him. http://www.paenvironmentdigest.com/newsletter/default.asp?NewsletterArticleID=1279&SubjectID=
Anyway, looks like I highjacked my own thread. best, dwc
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Don, you got that right about it being a PA problem. OUR game commission has become a hot bed of political BS!
DWC, I got to know Gary and his lovely wife. I can’t speak for him, but I was fresh out of the West and “site specific mgmt”. When I questioned him about why the INCREASED the size of game management areas from county specific he just looked as his wife, then his toes and mumbled something about “politics” and said no more.
He DID do a great job on the bear research and tagging. The “Commissioners” (appointed, not elected) have done more to create the issues you speak of than any biologist or person of knowledge.
Last I heard, he was up in the Great Lake area states doing work…
We have met the enemy and he is us!
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The law that requires that is ridiculous. As is Georgia’s law that a bear has to weigh 75 lbs to be killed. GA wants bears killed so it makes no sense whatsoever to limit the size of bears. I wouldn’t kill a small one anyway, but it’s completely illogical. In ga, as long as you have 75lbs of the animal, you are good.
I killed a pretty good one this year and was all alone. If I wasn’t allowed to cut it up in the woods and pack it out, I’d never have been able to get it out. In Ga, the bear must be checked in with a warden within three days. The guy actually drove all the way to my house to pull a tooth. I thought that was pretty cool. I don’t know how many we kill every year but it’s definitely over 2000 by now.
As far as meat care goes, I think people are way too squeamish about it. I see guys on the GA hunting forums that say if the temperature doesn’t get down in the 30s, you cant leave a dead deer out overnight. That’s pure foolishness. You can leave a deer out overnight in the summer and have nothing to worry about. I’ve done it and it’s just fine.
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Etter, et al,
You’ll get no argument from me on that. VA and MD as stated, do that with deer… one chap was waaay back in on a rugged lease and shot a big buck… skinned it and left the head attached, quartered it and packed every last stitch out of the woods…
They fined him in VA at the check station…it wasn’t intact. Granted, that was some years back…enlightenment may have struck there since. He rebuilt the entire deer there on the spot on a tarp, bones and all… he busted tail to get it ALL out, but in pieces…still got fined!:shock:
As for the meat on the ground in warmer temps, might work with archery season deer in GA, but up North here, they have full winter coats… and lying on a side, it sours the meat… even in cooler temps…
Been there when they unzipped a few and peeled the bark off others… enough to gag a maggot.
To each his own… things vary but up here, I’d not chance it…but would try… bad meat lets you know by the smell…
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Anonymous
November 24, 2013 at 11:50 pmPost count: 124Doc Nock wrote: Etter, et al,
You’ll get no argument from me on that. VA and MD as stated, do that with deer… one chap was waaay back in on a rugged lease and shot a big buck… skinned it and left the head attached, quartered it and packed every last stitch out of the woods…
They fined him in VA at the check station…it wasn’t intact. Granted, that was some years back…enlightenment may have struck there since. He rebuilt the entire deer there on the spot on a tarp, bones and all… he busted tail to get it ALL out, but in pieces…still got fined!:shock:
As for the meat on the ground in warmer temps, might work with archery season deer in GA, but up North here, they have full winter coats… and lying on a side, it sours the meat… even in cooler temps…
Been there when they unzipped a few and peeled the bark off others… enough to gag a maggot.
To each his own… things vary but up here, I’d not chance it…but would try… bad meat lets you know by the smell…
It had to be more than a few years back. VA has been on a call-in check system for deer now for quite a few years.
As for bear, it’s still an intact (but gutted) animal with proof of sex attached that has to be presented to one of the very few bear check stations. PITA.
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LOL…guess “few” years is dependent on how many you’ve lived! To me it was a few… but yeah, it’s been 10 yrs anyway…maybe more. late 90’s! Md went to a call in system I believe too, since I quit spending $$ to hunt there!
I know you didn’t mean PETA when you type PITA, but they amount to the same thing and likely are related! 😯
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etter1 wrote: I don’t know how many we kill every year but it’s definitely over 2000 by now.
Hey Etter, How many bears do you think Georgia has? In CA, the statewide quota is 1700 bears a year, and I would think we have a lot more bears than Georgia. You mentioned the state is trying to reduce the bear population, why?
In regards to the original post. In CA, we have to present the skull, so a biologist can pull a tooth for aging, and we get the tag countersigned, which is attached to the ear of the skin. But it doesn’t matter how it comes in, which is good. I’ve had the opportunity to shoot, but didn’t, bears 4-5 miles from my truck in rugged country. No way I would get those animals out in one piece.
I don’t have a meat cooler, don’t go to a butchers, and its usually too warm to hang meat outside for very long. So once I get an animal home I butcher and package it as quickly as I can. That being said, I’ve shot a couple deer in the middle of a hot day (80’s+) and boned out the meat into game bags, gotten home at dusk. Those deer were in the game bags all afternoon, and the meat was great.
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Ptaylor wrote: [quote=etter1] I don’t know how many we kill every year but it’s definitely over 2000 by now.
Hey Etter, How many bears do you think Georgia has? In CA, the statewide quota is 1700 bears a year, and I would think we have a lot more bears than Georgia. You mentioned the state is trying to reduce the bear population, why?
In regards to the original post. In CA, we have to present the skull, so a biologist can pull a tooth for aging, and we get the tag countersigned, which is attached to the ear of the skin. But it doesn’t matter how it comes in, which is good. I’ve had the opportunity to shoot, but didn’t, bears 4-5 miles from my truck in rugged country. No way I would get those animals out in one piece.
I don’t have a meat cooler, don’t go to a butchers, and its usually too warm to hang meat outside for very long. So once I get an animal home I butcher and package it as quickly as I can. That being said, I’ve shot a couple deer in the middle of a hot day (80’s+) and boned out the meat into game bags, gotten home at dusk. Those deer were in the game bags all afternoon, and the meat was great.
I was high on the kill number. We killed 511 in 2011 in north ga. I dont know the estimated population but it is growing all the time and expanding out of the mtns and up from florida. I do know that i went on eight scouting hikes last summer and saw bears on every one of them.
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November 25, 2013 at 3:00 pmPost count: 124
Doc Nock wrote: LOL…guess “few” years is dependent on how many you’ve lived! To me it was a few… but yeah, it’s been 10 yrs anyway…maybe more. late 90’s! Md went to a call in system I believe too, since I quit spending $$ to hunt there!
I know you didn’t mean PETA when you type PITA, but they amount to the same thing and likely are related! 😯
Mid 90s would make sense; that was just before the state changed the management plan and check in completely.
PETA is a breed apart from PITA.
As for distance, you’re about 4 hours from Harrisonburg, VA, which would put you in bear country; so you’re probably 4-6 hours from being in the woods in that area.
For reference, there were 2,144 bears reported taken by hunters in VA last year. Results here: http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/bear/harvestsummary.asp
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Looking back at resumes, when I worked at CHKD in Norfolk, I guess I was outa there by 93’…so yea, it was a good while, but doesn’t seem that long! Or …longer! 😡
IF I were to run up to Harrisburg, our capital, and hit RT 81 and follow that t…Google does say around 4 hrs.. but in reality, that route would take longer…others would take even MORE time and distance…
But it’s good information to file away.
Like I said, driving there is one thing..humpin the Shenny and getting a critter out might be a whole other story!:shock:
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Dwcphoto,
This might help if you can’t use a game cart due to terrain to get the bear out.
We have carried a few bears out of the bush in Ontario using a arm medical stretcher and 2 guys. Worked very surprisingly easy. You can get the stretchers from army surplus stores for 25 bucks used. It was actually the outfitters “preferred method” to get bears out so you could get it far away from the bait sites to gut it. Definitely not as easy as skin and quarter. But if you have to keep intact this might be a consideration.
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etter1 wrote: I was high on the kill number. We killed 511 in 2011 in north ga. I dont know the estimated population but it is growing all the time and expanding out of the mtns and up from florida. I do know that i went on eight scouting hikes last summer and saw bears on every one of them.
That makes more sense. I checked out the GA Fish and Game website and they said there are estimated 5,000 bears in the state. So thats about a 10% harvest. Seems like most of them are concentrated in a couple areas, so the density is high. Sounds like a great place to watch with bears.
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Doc Noc,
My family has a deer camp in Perry county. It’s not very far from you and we have a bunch of bears now. Of course, they’re pretty much all killed during the three day rifle hunt by drivers, but we seem to have more every year.
Our camp is in the Tuscarora forest off of laurel run rd.
I was born up there at hershey medical and have spent a lot of time in both summer and winter in your area. My dad lives up there and used to visit him a lot. Spent a lot of hours fishing the susquehanna, stony creek, swattara creek, and the juniata. Favorite by far was pine creek up in tioga county.
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Funny–I just had a note from one of our regular contributors in the Midwest complaining about the awful uphill drag he faced when he shot a big buck down in the bottom of a hole. I asked why he didn’t just cut it up and pack it out. You guessed it–had to come out whole. This was in Indiana. These regulations are ridiculous. (Fortunately, neither Alaska nor Montana has them.) First, by making it hard to get game out of remote areas, they encourage road hunting. Second, spoilage of meat and hides will inevitably occur (and wasting game is illegal almost everywhere.) Sounds like you guys who live in these states need to go to work on your game departments. Don
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November 26, 2013 at 9:48 pmPost count: 124
donthomas wrote: Funny–I just had a note from one of our regular contributors in the Midwest complaining about the awful uphill drag he faced when he shot a big buck down in the bottom of a hole. I asked why he didn’t just cut it up and pack it out. You guessed it–had to come out whole. This was in Indiana. These regulations are ridiculous. (Fortunately, neither Alaska nor Montana has them.) First, by making it hard to get game out of remote areas, they encourage road hunting. Second, spoilage of meat and hides will inevitably occur (and wasting game is illegal almost everywhere.) Sounds like you guys who live in these states need to go to work on your game departments. Don
I agree that there is work to be done. I’ll bring this up to BHA and see whether it is an issue the organization wants to address.
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Don,
The PA game commission has been behind the times for ages. The only thing I really respect about them is that they work hard to catch violators and stick them hard when they get caught. They still don’t allow hunting on sundays. That, to me, is the most ridiculous slap in the face that we have to deal with. What year is it anyway?
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November 27, 2013 at 10:58 amPost count: 124
etter1 wrote: Don,
The PA game commission has been behind the times for ages. The only thing I really respect about them is that they work hard to catch violators and stick them hard when they get caught. They still don’t allow hunting on sundays. That, to me, is the most ridiculous slap in the face that we have to deal with. What year is it anyway?
PA isn’t the only one with that ridiculous “Blue Law” still on the books. VA’s version of it will be under litigation after this legislative session of the General Assembly doesn’t repeal it.
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November 27, 2013 at 1:14 pmPost count: 124
Forager wrote: [quote=donthomas]Funny–I just had a note from one of our regular contributors in the Midwest complaining about the awful uphill drag he faced when he shot a big buck down in the bottom of a hole. I asked why he didn’t just cut it up and pack it out. You guessed it–had to come out whole. This was in Indiana. These regulations are ridiculous. (Fortunately, neither Alaska nor Montana has them.) First, by making it hard to get game out of remote areas, they encourage road hunting. Second, spoilage of meat and hides will inevitably occur (and wasting game is illegal almost everywhere.) Sounds like you guys who live in these states need to go to work on your game departments. Don
I agree that there is work to be done. I’ll bring this up to BHA and see whether it is an issue the organization wants to address.
I stand corrected on VA regs; they’ve changed again. Here’s the new rules allowing packing out of game:
VDGIF wrote: It is unlawful to destroy the identity (sex) of any animal until it is checked. After the appropriate tag has been validated (notched), successful hunters are allowed to dismember the carcass to pack it out from the place of kill as long as they do not destroy the identity of the sex and all the parts of the carcass (excluding internal organs) are present when the animal is checked.
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You guys make me glad I live where I do! And yes, I think this would be a great issue for BHA. How are you going to hunt the backcountry if you have to bring game out whole?? Don
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donthomas wrote: How are you going to hunt the backcountry if you have to bring game out whole?? Don
With four wheels and a motor, duh 🙄 😉
Jim
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