Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Albino bear would you shoot it? They did in PA

True....and I've passed on 2 bucks over the years because of it. There's always more bucks around and I'd like to keep my privilege to hunt.

Something special about 'em anyway..........

I think I posted this earlier in the thread, but maybe it was a different thread....anyway, in Washington state albino animals are no longer protected. I believe that law was repealed in 1998. Take a look in the current hunting regulations and you won't see anything in there that says albinos are protected.

pahick,

I still don't think the hunting pressure justifies shooting cubs. Same argument for guys shooting button bucks and settling for a small buck every year. That argument don't work. It's an excuse................

In BC, it is illegal to shoot a 2 year old or younger bear, or any bear in its company. Reason being, 1 year old bears won't live through the winter because they don't know what to do. So I can't see why they would know what to do in Pa...

Far be it from me to tell someone that they can't shoot a legal critter in their area. However, you wouldn't catch me posing with the little critter, or doing it myself...And it sure doesn't mean I have to like it just because its legal or "accepted" somewhere else.

Like most of you, I would not want to shoot a cub. However, because we want to THINK there is something wrong with doing so, does not mean it has any long term effect on the overall population of bears. You can express your anger or frustration at the act, but that doesn't change the biological facts as they pretain to healthy and increasing bear numbers, and that should be the ultimate trump card in the deck. As in all wildlife management, you don't manage for the individual, but for the entire population. That is when you are doing what is best for the animal. Back in the 70's Pa. used to kill approx 300 bears per year. Today that number is around 3000, depending on weather. Somebody must be doing something right.

And you that lump every hunter in the state into your pot of disgust only prove that you are prone to generalization, simplification and emotionalism. Some of you are from locations where you bait bears. Oh yea lay out the molassis, fat and donuts and come on up and get your bear. Not much effort either, just sit your fat ass in the treestand. Or we will take the hounds out and chase those deer. Wack one when it runs by. Great hunting that is. See regional differences also play a part in what is acceptable and whats not. It doesn't mean Canadian or Southern hunters have lesser ethical standards.
I have two good friends who passed on shooting around 300 to 400lbs bears because they were wtih cubs. I commend them, because a black bear is an elusive trophy in Pa. If those cubs were in their first year, they wouldn't have made it if they had killed the sow. They made the right decision, but if they didn't it would not have any effect on the overall population of bears in Pa.

Battue

It used to be illegal to shoot a sow with cubs in Pa. I cannot commend the game management that now allows shooting any bears that move. You critize baiting but if allowed in Pa. fewer sows with cubs would be shot and the management of bears could be better controlled. I doubt that the pa. game commision can take any credit for the increase in the bear population I surmise that the more recent trend in fewer hunters would more likely be the contributing factor.

carmicle: I didn't critize baiting, I just used it as an example of different acceptable regional customs. I'm not for or against baiting of deer or bear. I'm just not that hungry or frail yet that it is a necessary or an enjoyable way to hunt. Now chase one thru the woods on foot behind a pack of dogs for a long ways and you might have a hunt I'd be interested in. I suspect at the end I would be both hungry and frail. And your right the baiting of bears probably would decrease the number of cubs shot. However, the low numbers being shot now, does not effect the overall population. That is the point of my previous entry.

Well put.

Since I eat what I kill, I would be more interested in a young bear than a large, old, "trophy" bear. In fact, that's what I'm hunting for- a relatively young bear.

That's not to say I'd shoot cubs though. And since I'm really not THAT fired up to kill a bear anyway, I'd let an albino of any age walk, myself. No real rational reason, just how I'd do it.

-jeff

Here in Pa. we have to take every bear to a check station. Many times the road near the station is lined with curious onlookers. Newspaper reporters and television cameras are present at times. The station I went to this year even had bleachers set up inside so everyone could get a good look. Don't worry if you forgot your camera, there will be more than one person glad to snapa few pics.

I'm from PA and I do hunt bears, and I'd shoot away a mother and her cubs just as quick as I would a 500lb boar. But, it would be with a digital camera or video camera, not a rifle or bow.

I definitely DO NOT personally agree with the shooting of cubs, but to each his own. It's all a matter of regional ethics as battue said. Many find baiting unethical, as well as hunting with hounds, but in those areas it is one of the few ways to do so. The same can be said for Western hunters that find treestand hunting unethical. Hunters in the Lower 48 may find float hunting trips in Canada and Alaska to be absurd. In Africa, I've read many hunters find the use of game calls unethical yet shooting at night with a spotlight to be perfectly acceptable. Maybe some wouldn't be so quick to judge others if they would consider they're hunting methods and how they may be viewed in other areas of the country.

This is no way a defense of the shooting of the cubs, but to each his own.

Also, the Bear Management Program can be criticized plenty, but obviously something is going correct as we have a very good bear harvest and a sizable population to boot. While I know the record books measure skull size and that's what counts, some of the largest by weight black bears come from PA. A guy I know shot one that weighed over 600lbs and a friend of mine just showed me his shoulder mount of the 414lb bear he shot two years ago.

Happy Hunting

I'm origionally from PA, and I'd personally be ashamned to be photographed with, let alone shoot any bear that small.

I was at a check station in Vermont one year when a couple of guys from Mass. came in with their "trophy". It was a cub that tipped the scales at a whopping 38 lbs. The store owner weighed the cub, since her General Store was a check in station. She then told the guys to never come back.

Albno=yes
<125~150#'s or so=no

I only hunt the first day for bear so I have leave time for deer season. We always go to Huntington to the check station to see what other hunters got the first day. This year was slow and as usual it was sad to see the number of 60 to 80 lb bears on the "score board". When to guy lifts the bear out of the truck with 1 hand thats nothing to be proud of. There was a young man, I think 15 years old that they announced had a 220 lb bear to go with his deer and turkey this year. PA grand slam at 15. Not bad.

6guntom, what part of PA you from, as I'm not too far from Huntingdon myself?

Scorpion, I live pretty close to Huntingdon also.

the though would have never entered my mind given the size of that bear. Bears under 400 don't interest me at all. If it was that size I would be flingin' copper at it.

Cubs are not my cup of tea, aside from them being illegal in my area.

That aside, I would bet -No, I would guarantee- there are a goodly number of 2 year old bears shot each year because they looked bigger, especially if they are alone with no other bear to reference to(ie the sow). Bears are far and away the most misjudged big game animal, when it comes to size, that I can think of. Mind you, this guy thinking it was a coyote at first, should've had a pretty good idea it was a small bear.

Following the killing of a cub up with a picture shoot though, is what blows me away.

RO

Having no use for a bear rug, a young(er) berry-fed bear is really the only bear I'm interested in ... I'm gonna eat the dang thing after all.

But not THAT young...

-jeff