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"A Pennsylvania man reportedly killed a 679-pound black bear that was five yards away with a .357 handgun during last weekend's opening of the state's four-day bear harvest." ...

https://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoors/ ... 57-handgun

Man, that's a lot of bears in PA!

Missouri's total black bear population is about 350.

Oregon, about 25,000 to 30,000 black bears.

Pa. has some of the largest bears in the lower 48. They also have a pretty high harvest rate each year. The most killed on the first day was in 2005 with 2026 being taken on the season opener. 2011 was the second best opening day with 1936 and 4350 for the season which I think is three days. The heaviest bear taken in Pa. is a huge 17 year old. Here is a picture of that one. How about 879 lbs. for a Black bear?
http://www.poconorecord.com/article/201 ... S/11190341

We used to see bears here on the farm, that wandered in from the state forest land in front of us or the state park behind. In the last five years or so, i don't think we have seen even one. We no longer have the various livestock we used to, therefore, no food for the bears to share. They scratched us off their loops.

bandit1250 wrote:Pa. has some of the largest bears in the lower 48. They also have a pretty high harvest rate each year. The most killed on the first day was in 2005 with 2026 being taken on the season opener. 2011 was the second best opening day with 1936 and 4350 for the season which I think is three days. The heaviest bear taken in Pa. is a huge 17 year old. Here is a picture of that one. How about 879 lbs. for a Black bear?
http://www.poconorecord.com/article/201 ... S/11190341

And taken by a bow hunter. Unreal.

I see so many I hardly even pay them any notice anymore.

What does bear meat taste like? Please don't tell me it taste like chicken.

The Wiz wrote:What does bear meat taste like? Please don't tell me it taste like chicken.

the meat is darker and the tissue strands are much thicker than beef .... its taste, as with most wild game, much depends on how it is prepared .... the closest I can come is beef where close doesn't mean an exact copy

I saw that bear in our local paper. They had to get it out of the woods with a backhoe. We have some big black bears in Pa. Especially in Pike County.