Moving from WA to PA

[Spoonman]

Looks like I am moving to PA this summer from Washington. Washington has been amazing as far as outdoor activities are concerned. Rivers,lakes,ocean,deer,bear, and elk are all things I’ve enjoyed here. Haven’t had time yet to research much in PA but from what I’ve seen it’s pretty much just a whitetail show. For guys out that way what do you guys do for elk and bear hunting? Thanks in advance.

 

[BBarnett13]

Where at in PA are you moving to?

 

[camping1601]

I travel out west for Elk. Yes Deer are king here, but get into hunting the mountain areas and you can have a blast. Plenty of bear but no easy task to kill one.

Fwiw I wouldn't give up hunting Deer here to hunt Elk out west if forced to make a choice.

 

[Spoonman]

I’ll be northwest of Philly about a hour.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Drive out west. JK…not kidding.

White tails are easy enough. Some areas more than others. Actually the most public land per Capita west of the Mississippi and lots of opportunity on private as well.

you can get into some good black bear action. It is a lot about figuring out where they den and setting up ambush more than any kind of stalking.

there are elk in the western part of the state but tags are hard to come by.

lots of options for squirrels and ducks. Some wing shooting if you can find it. Another advantage of the east is it is theoretically feasible to hunt multiple states more easily. 3 hours of driving theoretically gives me PA, NY, CT, NJ, DE, Maryland, VA and WV.

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

It depends if your raised here. I was raised near Warren. Embrace the backwoods hill people life brother. I left with the army for awhile, experienced the west and had to move home. Big woods bucks are a sub species their own in my opinion. Bear numbers are great. Snowshoe hare I hear is fun. Lots of hidden trout streams, Allegheny River has everything. Turkeys in spring. Lots of Fishers, Bobcats, all assortment of critters to trap. Coyotes in the big woods I’m slowly getting into, seems like a blast.

I came home with an out west mindset. I’ve seen more bucks than ever before but I suck at killing them lol.

More riflemen than most places in the country.

 

[Spoonman]

I’ll probably come back to Washington every August for bear but figured I’d see if there is much going on close to the area I’m moving to.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Look for a local rod and gun club. Good way to get connected to hunters and shooters. Mine also has about 300 acres of huntable land available to club members.

 

[BBarnett13]

Depending on how far you're willing to travel to hunt in PA, bobcat is fairly predominant in central to western PA, elk is an option but not an easy draw (lottery), black bear has significantly picked up statewide (I can personally attest to this as I have seen +500lb black bears), coyote hunting has picked up (no thanks to the Game Commission), with the antler restrictions bagging a decent size whitetail has significantly increased, pheasant hunting isn't bad but they are stocked birds, if you can make your way up to the northern part of the state along the NY border the grouse hunting isn't awful.

 

[camping1601]

I’ll probably come back to Washington every August for bear but figured I’d see if there is much going on close to the area I’m moving to.

Your in a good spot for Deer numbers but a tough spot to find ground to hunt. There's a lot of competition for private land and not much public. Many people travel to Central and Norther mountains because of this.

 

[RS3579]

Get a inline muzzleloader. Deer (doe) and bear season together for 1week. It’s a good chance to get 1.

 

[Spoonman]

Get a inline muzzleloader. Deer (doe) and bear season together for 1week. It’s a good chance to get 1.

Got one! When is that season?

 

[RS3579]

Got one! When is that season?

Mid October.

 

[RMM]

Coming from someone who has killed an elk and 4 bears in PA, you don't need to go anywhere to hunt them. You just have to be extremely luck or extremely good. I fall into the first category.

 

[tcpip95]

I’ll be northwest of Philly about a hour.

Reading/Allentown area?

 

[Spoonman]

Reading/Allentown area?

Collegeville/Pottstown area I think. We are going for my wife’s job and that’s the general area. I’ll be mr mom till I get a job there.

 

[JMatt]

If you’re going to be an hour NW of Philly, you’ll be near me. The bow hunting is good here in the southeast and it’s not that hard to connect with someone who has ground. I bow hunted close to home for twenty years before I got bored with hunting small wood lots. For the last five years I have been going up north to Sullivan and Potter Counties to hunt the bigger woods, much of it public. Bear, deer, turkey, pheasant, ducks and geese are what most hunt in PA. We have Elk but getting a tag is extremely difficult. Locating herds not so much.

The PA Game Commission website is fairly informative.

 

[Spoonman]

I’m also pretty big into steelhead, looks like the northwest side of the state. Rivers and creeks that dump into the lake up there seem to be about the only place in the state ?

 

[Spoonman]

Coming from someone who has killed an elk and 4 bears in PA, you don't need to go anywhere to hunt them. You just have to be extremely luck or extremely good. I fall into the first category.

Here in Wa I’m use to seeing multiple bear in a day. It’s all back country 4000-7000’ in the cascade mountains. It’s also open for several months starting August 1st and we can use any weapon for the whole season.

 

[Mosby]

PA has some of the best bear hunting in the US. Half the state is State Game Lands, so there is a lot of ground to hunt. It also has some great trout and small mouth bass fishing in the central part of the state. I grew up hunting and fishing in Lycoming County. Beautiful area. Pennsylvania was once described by James Carville as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Alabama in between and what made it funny...was it's true.