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With a record number of both bears and hunters, Pennsylvania has established itself as a top bear state in the country.
It’s an accomplishment that hasn’t gone unnoticed by hunters and biologists in other states.
Mark Ternent, bear biologist for the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said just about every bear management program in other states contains components similar to the way bruins are managed in Pennsylvania.
But Ternent said Pennsylvania manages bears at a much higher magnitude considering the number of bear hunters is approaching 180,000, much larger than other top bear states such as Maine, Washington and Oregon.
“We do everything at such a larger scale because of the large population of hunters and bears that we have here,” Ternent said.
For example, in neighboring states such as New Jersey and Maryland there are only a handful of check stations, while Pennsylvania has 26. Even when it comes to yearly harvests, Pennsylvania ranks among the top.
In 2014, Pennsylvania’s bear harvest was 3,366, while in Maine the 2014 harvest was 3,238, in New York it was 1,628 and 1,386 in Washington. Wisconsin exceeded Pennsylvania’s bear harvest last year with 4,526, but the bear season is much longer, running from Sept. 9 to Oct. 13. The use of dogs and bait are allowed in some areas of Wisconsin as well.
As far as Pennsylvania becoming a destination state for bear hunters, Ternent said there’s interest and non-resident licenses account for 4 to 5 percent of all bear license sales.