2024 PA Bear Season

[Lurch12]

Bear Season 2024, will be a special one for me and a lot of others. 5 camps from north central PA joined together to hunt Bear together. Right around 25 guys in total and we ended up taking 6 bears, the heaviest being 204 lbs. and the lightest being 75 lbs. All 6 guys who harvested were 1st time PA Black Bear Kills.

My dad and I did not get into camp until late Saturday night, due to my son's 6th birthday party. The crew had killed 3 on Saturday before we arrived.
Then on Sunday we joined their group, and we took another 3.

2 brothers led the crew, and it was very impressive how they organized everyone, placed drivers and posters and were just great people to be around. These guys have an obsession with Black Bear and are darn good at hunting them!

My Father harvested his 1st bear after hunting them since 1980 and missing very few seasons. I was beyond excited when I finished the drive and headed up over the mtn to help drag 2 bears out when someone asked if he was my father or father in-law with me and that he had one down. At 66 years old he marched right beside me through the laurel and did not lag behind at all. His bear ended up at an estimated live weight of 89 lbs.

Sundays Group with 3 Bears


My father and I


His Bear hanging at Camp (1st camp kill)


Saturdays Group with 3 Bears

 

[Zak406]

@Lurch12

Looks awesome. Also looks like a blast. Congrats.

Couple questions if you don’t mind answering.

How many drives do you guys do a day with that group?

How far do you on average travel between drives?

Do you drive the same patches day after day? Or focus on new areas day in and day out.


What would you say is the average length and width of a drive ?

 

[Lurch12]

@Lurch12

Looks awesome. Also looks like a blast. Congrats.

Couple questions if you don’t mind answering.

How many drives do you guys do a day with that group?

How far do you on average travel between drives?

Do you drive the same patches day after day? Or focus on new areas day in and day out.


What would you say is the average length and width of a drive ?

Number of drives depends on set up time, length, and results.

Average travel between could be the next hollow over, to a 30 minute truck ride.

Some times you may have a mile hike in to set up, this could be the drivers or the posters..

Same patch of woods sometimes 2 days in a row. Again this depends on results and sightings..

I’m normally a driver and usually around 2 miles of ground covered for me. Length and width change a lot. Drivers may start off pretty tight together then by the end be spread out 50 yards or so between drivers.

So much goes into each drive but they are all different. Sometimes we may drive 2 hallows at one time that converge into one.

This year was 2 drives per day.

 

[Homan]

Looks awesome thanks for sharing

 

[RS3579]

Congratulations!