LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa - Pennsylvania's fall 2007 hunting seasons shift into another gear beginning today.
First up is the state's second archery bear season, which runs through Friday in wildlife management units (WMU) 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 3A, 4A, 4B and 4D.
In WMUs where the archery bear season and fall wild turkey season run concurrently, bowhunters when moving are required to wear a hat containing 100 square inches of solid fluorescent orange. The hat may be removed when the hunter is stationary or on stand.
WMUs affected by this requirement are 2D, 2G, 3A and 4D.
The success rate among all Pennsylvania bear hunters is pretty low — about 1 in 30 — whether those hunters are using firearms or archery gear.
But the success rate is especially low for bowhunters.
Last year, about 7,500 hunters participated in the new two-day season, according to the Game Commission's Game-Take Survey. They took 79 bears.
That means roughly one in 95 hunters bagged a bear during the archery season last year.
But it's not about the odds, is it?
It's about the hunt. And you never know when you're number will be called.
One thing is for certain, though. You definitely won't bag a bear sitting at home or at work.
Also beginning today in the greater Lancaster County area are waterfowl seasons.
The second leg of the South Zone's 2007 duck season opens today and runs through Jan. 15.
Lancaster County is in the South Zone.
And the Canada goose season in the Atlantic Population Zone opens today and runs through Nov. 24. All of Lancaster County, except a tiny sliver in the northwest corner of the county, is in this zone.
Local goose hunters can bag three birds per day in the Atlantic Population Zone, except on State Game Lands 46, where the bag limit is one goose per day.
Now back to bears.
The statewide firearms bear season opens Monday and runs through Wednesday.
An extended season will be held in WMU 3C, portions of WMUs 3B, 4E, and 2G and on the Rockview State Prison grounds, from Nov. 26 to Dec. 1. In WMU 3D, an extended season will run Nov. 28 to Dec. 1.
About 100,000 hunters are expected to head afield to pursue the state's 15,000 black bears.
Last year, hunters bagged 3,122 bruins during all seasons in 52 of the state's 67 counties and 16 of the 22 WMUs.
Most of those bears (2,569) were shot during the statewide three-day season.
WMU 2G led all units last year, surrendering 724 bears to hunters.
The next best unit was WMU 3B, where hunters bagged 372 bears, and then WMU 4D, where hunters shot 299.
No bears were taken in WMU 5B, which covers Lancaster County, but hunters shot 70 bears in WMU 4C, which covers parts of neighboring Dauphin, Lebanon and Berks counties.
Pennsylvania is the envy of bear hunters across North America because we have arguably the biggest black bears on the continent.
Nearly every year, Pennsylvania coughs up an 800-pounder to some lucky bear hunter.
"Over the past four years, four bears exceeding 800 pounds were taken by hunters," said the Game Commission's chief bear biologist, Mark Ternent. "On average, 60 hunters a year take a bear 500 pounds or larger. Last year, 11 bears weighing 600 pounds or more were taken."
Just two years ago, Andrew Seman Jr. of Dunbar shot a 733-pounder in Fayette County that ties as the largest black bear ever shot by a hunter, according to the Boone & Crockett Club's record book.
The skull of Seman's bear, which is what Boone & Crockett measures for entry into its record book, scored 23 and 3/16.
That score is tied with another black bear shot in California in 1993.
Both of those bears are the largest ever killed by hunters, but they are tied for third in Boone & Crockett's overall rankings.
The number one black bear in the record book was found dead in Utah in 1975. And the second-place bear was shot by a poacher in Pennsylvania in 1987.
A quick look at Boone & Crockett's overall records for black bears show that five of the top 10 entries came from Pennsylvania, including the one that was poached.
And the four shot legally by hunters here, including Seman's, all were taken since 2003.
So now is a good time to bag a record-class bear in Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania ranks second only to Wisconsin for placing the most black bears ever in the Boone & Crockett record book.
A total of 183 Pennsylvania bears are in the book, as compared to Wisconsin's 299.
When the Pennsylvania Game Commission talks about the state's "biggest" bears, the agency usually refers to an animal's weight, rather than its skull size.
And so, the largest black bear killed in 2006 was a 693-pound male taken in Potter County's West Branch Township by John Eppinette of Adamstown on the first day of the three-day bear season.
E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com
