(Photo courtesy of Pocono Record)
Bow hunter David Price bagged a 17-year-old black bear weighing 879 pounds the largest bear ever recorded in Pennsylvania near Fernwood Resort on Monday.
Update:
It is now being reported "Bozo" as he was well known and lovingly labeled by the folks at Fernwood Resort was more a pet than a real live-in-the-wild bear. This of course is nothing new in Pennsylvania where fed bears are the norm a far cry from out here in Montana where "a fed bear is dead bear" meaning of course if a bear, black or grizzly, starts showing anything more than a passing interest in human food a death sentence is almost always the outcome--meted out swiftly by agents of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
Pennsylvania does not allow "baiting" and if you are caught feeding deer, turkeys or bears as I recall something like 30 days before season you are subject to fines and almost always no hunting is enforced within several hundred yards of the bait/feed station for the duration. It is not however illegal to "feed" wildlife in the off-season and as such has become a popular activity wherever wildlife and humans interact, which in a populous state such as PA is almost everywhere. Our sons both have rural properties and feed during the off season much to the delight of all concerned, especially the grandsons who often sleep on the hunting camp roof to insure a bird's eye view of the nightly wildlife show. In this case the feeders are long empty when hunting season rolls around but of course this is not always true. Back to Bozo.
Fernwood apparently allows no hunting and so the feeder remains full throughout. The young man who shot the bear was not hunting on Fernwood property, no where close to the feeder (according to reports) and according to Game Commission officials "did nothing wrong." So there you have it, Bozo is dead fair and square and remains as reported a really big mother...over and out...
Chuck
The heaviest black bear ever recorded in Pennsylvania was shot and killed by a bow hunter 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............................................
By MIKE KUHNS
Record Sports Editor
November 19, 2010
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