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November 19, 2010
World Record Bear? - 10
by Gerry Bethge
 The fact that black bears grow big in Pennsylvania is not news. Outdoor Life has been reporting on giant bear kills forever, but here's one that might take the grand prize according to our sources in the Keystone State. The bear and circumstances around its demise are currently being checked out by the Pennsylvania Game & Fish Department, but holy cow what a bruin....the Pocono Record reports... The heaviest black bear ever recorded in Pennsylvania was shot and killed by a bowhunter just north of Fernwood Resort in Pike County on Monday. The Pennsylvania Game Commission confirmed that David Price of Barrett Township killed the 17-year-old bruin, which had an estimated live weight of 879 pounds. The bear had a field-dressed weight of 744 pounds. Price's bear was 15 pounds heavier than the state's previous record holder, a 864-pound bear killed by Doug Kristiansen of Dingman Township in 2003. That bear was also shot in Pike County. "This bear could be No. 1 in the world," game commission spokesman Tim Conway said of Price's bear. The world record is determined by skull size. After 60 days, the bear's skull will be measured to determine where it will stand in the record books. The world record skull is more than 23 inches wide, Conway said. Attempts to reach Price on Thursday were unsuccessful. Every year bears killed in Pennsylvania are entered into the Boone and Crocket rifle record books. Bears that have a skull measurement of 20 inches or greater are eligible. This bear is unique and will be remembered because it was killed during Pennsylvania's first statewide archery hunt and could be ranked as high as No. 1 in the Pope and Young archery records. Since 1992, six bears weighing at least 800 pounds have been killed in Pennsylvania. Price's bear was known to game officers in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It was captured and tagged in New Jersey, but never in Pennsylvania, Conway said. Click here for another giant black bear. More Giant Bear Galleries |
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Comments (10)
Well, the NJ bear season is over. New Jersey Fish & Game did a wonderful job in setting this season up and monitoring it by all accounts that I have read. So, a 661 pound field dressed boar is the largest confirmed kill at this point. My understanding is that this bear and the Pennsy giant were killed relatively close to each other with the Delaware River being the major divide between the two. NJ F&G has released the tentative total bear harvest at 591 bears. To my knowledge they have not released any insight as to what makes those numbers up so far. This is understandable; F&G conducted a wonderful hunt and I'm sure that they want all the data they release to be accurate. It may be a while before we see more data.
Finally, I read that NJ F&G purposely held this hunt later into the year so that the denning process would have been underway and some bears would have been denned up. I believe that was done in order to keep the bear harvest within their target range of 500 to 700 bears; good work F&G!
NJ bear season will be open the middle week of December, watch the results. It will be the first (full)bear season in NJ since 1969(if not 1969, it is pretty close to that).
Say what you may. I talked to a NJ F&G Warden in Oct'09. We were in Jersey, about 5 miles from the area that bear was killed. That Warden told me,"We removed a bear this winter/spring(09) for research. It weighed 740lbs. in the den! We have NO doubt, that if we opened the season in NJ tomorrow, that we would have the World Record black bear in NJ the next day!" I don't know if this bear is the same bear(there are plenty of reports of monster black bear sightings here), however, any bear that dens in NJ, uses the Delaware River as his swimming pool and vacations in the Pocono's: IS WILD! Make no mistake about that! Go walk some of that country! The Kittatiny Ridge is not to be taken lightly. I walk back in there and I am sure that I am going places that people haven't seen in decades. That IS true Big Country. I know that it is hard to believe in NJ, however the Kittatiny Ridge and the Ramapo Ridge are WILD! I don't know the particulars of this kill and law enforcements interest in the kill, however I believe this bear was as wild as the come!
The final word from the Pa. Game Commission says the kill was legal.
The bear is (was) a wild animal. Feeding a wild animal is not only a bad idea but illegal and potentially dangerous for all nearby.
It is also being investigated at this time. It was raised since it was a cub by a man named Leroy,
No, this was not a caged bear. It was raised by a fellow and everyone in the area knew of this bear, there are actually pictures of the man with the bear, which is easily identified by its markings on its chest.
Was this bear in a cage or just huge around the neighborhood?
The truth is this may never be found to be illegally killed, or may be, but this was a bear known to many in the area to have been fed and raised since its mother was killed in a car accident when it was a cub. The hunters knew of this also and the ethics of the hunt are not of which to be proud of.
Controversy abounds for sure and the Pennsylvania Game Commission is in the midst of investigated the particulars on this giant black bear. We here at Outdoorlife.com are merely trying our best to present information as it is presented to us. We promise to follow up with information regarding this potential record bear.
This bear won't be allowed in the P&Y record books as it was shot with a crossbow. It is also being investigated at this time. It was raised since it was a cub by a man named Leroy, it was basically a tame bear.
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Controversy abounds for sure and the Pennsylvania Game Commission is in the midst of investigated the particulars on this giant black bear. We here at Outdoorlife.com are merely trying our best to present information as it is presented to us. We promise to follow up with information regarding this potential record bear.
The final word from the Pa. Game Commission says the kill was legal.
The bear is (was) a wild animal. Feeding a wild animal is not only a bad idea but illegal and potentially dangerous for all nearby.
Say what you may. I talked to a NJ F&G Warden in Oct'09. We were in Jersey, about 5 miles from the area that bear was killed. That Warden told me,"We removed a bear this winter/spring(09) for research. It weighed 740lbs. in the den! We have NO doubt, that if we opened the season in NJ tomorrow, that we would have the World Record black bear in NJ the next day!" I don't know if this bear is the same bear(there are plenty of reports of monster black bear sightings here), however, any bear that dens in NJ, uses the Delaware River as his swimming pool and vacations in the Pocono's: IS WILD! Make no mistake about that! Go walk some of that country! The Kittatiny Ridge is not to be taken lightly. I walk back in there and I am sure that I am going places that people haven't seen in decades. That IS true Big Country. I know that it is hard to believe in NJ, however the Kittatiny Ridge and the Ramapo Ridge are WILD! I don't know the particulars of this kill and law enforcements interest in the kill, however I believe this bear was as wild as the come!
NJ bear season will be open the middle week of December, watch the results. It will be the first (full)bear season in NJ since 1969(if not 1969, it is pretty close to that).
The truth is this may never be found to be illegally killed, or may be, but this was a bear known to many in the area to have been fed and raised since its mother was killed in a car accident when it was a cub. The hunters knew of this also and the ethics of the hunt are not of which to be proud of.
Was this bear in a cage or just huge around the neighborhood?
No, this was not a caged bear. It was raised by a fellow and everyone in the area knew of this bear, there are actually pictures of the man with the bear, which is easily identified by its markings on its chest.
Well, the NJ bear season is over. New Jersey Fish & Game did a wonderful job in setting this season up and monitoring it by all accounts that I have read. So, a 661 pound field dressed boar is the largest confirmed kill at this point. My understanding is that this bear and the Pennsy giant were killed relatively close to each other with the Delaware River being the major divide between the two. NJ F&G has released the tentative total bear harvest at 591 bears. To my knowledge they have not released any insight as to what makes those numbers up so far. This is understandable; F&G conducted a wonderful hunt and I'm sure that they want all the data they release to be accurate. It may be a while before we see more data.
Finally, I read that NJ F&G purposely held this hunt later into the year so that the denning process would have been underway and some bears would have been denned up. I believe that was done in order to keep the bear harvest within their target range of 500 to 700 bears; good work F&G!
This bear won't be allowed in the P&Y record books as it was shot with a crossbow. It is also being investigated at this time. It was raised since it was a cub by a man named Leroy, it was basically a tame bear.
It is also being investigated at this time. It was raised since it was a cub by a man named Leroy,
Post a Comment (200 characters or less)