Nov 22, 2009 By Herald Standard Staff 6 min read

The archers kicked off the state’s annual bear seasons last Wednesday and Thursday with hunts in selected WMUs, including 2C. “I didn’t get any reports of kills in my district,” Northern Fayette County Wildlife Conservation Officer Jason Farabaugh said.

“I do know there was a 606-pound (live weight) bear killed in Somerset County, and there was one killed in Indiana County that weighed over 500 pounds.

“I heard of two that were killed in Fayette County, but I can’t confirm that.

“Wednesday morning there were 8 or 9 vehicles parked on Game Land 51 near Zebley Flats. The area did get a little bit of pressure.”

In the past, Fayette County archers have done well. In the inaugural season of 2006, nine bears were killed in WMU 2C, and three of those were in Fayette, which had the best kill by county.

The kill went up to 12 in 2007 with Fayette hunters bagging five.

Last year it dipped back to 11 with three harvested in Fayette County.

Fayette County’s largest bear harvest since the season opened statewide came in 2007 when 78 bears were taken in the combined gun (73) and archery (5) seasons.

Prior to that the best year was 2005 when 75 were taken in the regular three-day season – still the record by my standards.

Last year wildlife conservation officers had hopes of a record harvest close to 100 with all the bear complaints and sightings they received all year long.

Each year hunters hope for a tracking snow and never get it. Last years those annual hopes became a nightmare in this region as temperatures dipped rapidly and several inches of snow fell just prior to and on opening day of the season, depressing the first-day kill in some areas as hunters had trouble getting to the woods in many cases. Still, the statewide kill was one of the best ever.

Locally, the cold and snow kept some hunters home, but while others ventured out, they found the going tough, as many of the bears found a place to hunker down and wait out the bad weather.

In the end, only 43 bears were taken in the county, half of what was expected.

Again, expectations are high for this year’s statewide season, which runs Monday through Wednesday.

Hopefully, this year will be better. Farabaugh said, “They are calling for highs in the 50s with a slight chance of rain on Monday. I don’t see any snow in the forecast, but it looks like it should be good for hunting.”

Farabaugh had a bear killed on the road as late as last week near Perryopolis. “It was a 140-pound female that was killed by the Layton Bridge,” he said.

Fayette County’s four most recent bear harvests were 43 (2008); 78 (2007); 67 (2006) and 75 (2005).

Earlier Farabaugh reported on some 500-pound bears in the Dunbar Area, while confirming one 403-pounder he trapped near Henry Clay Villa on Route 40 in July.

Just when we think the bears should be hibernating, Southern Fayette County Wildlife Conservation Officer Steve Leiendecker reported trapping two on a farm in the Dawson area last Dec. 21.

Prior to 1981 every hunter had the right to go bear hunting and received a bear tag with his/her general hunting license.

Bear hunters were first required to purchase a bear specific license for the 1981 season.

At that time only 32 counties were open to bear hunting, and the licenses were limited to 125,000.

The limit on licenses was dropped after a couple of years after it became evident that the allocation was not going to sell out.

Each applicant had to complete an individual application and mail it to the Game Commission in a red envelope that was provided that was much like the dedicated ones used today to apply for antlerless deer licenses.

There are still counties in which a bear hasn’t been harvested.

It was that way in Fayette County for the first couple years of statewide bear hunting until a hunter from Washington County broke the ice in 1989, killing the first legal bear in the county in modern times.

Note! I said legal kill.

Over the years several bears were killed illegally as the local population began to grow. Some of the persons responsible were caught, but others never were apprehended.

Harold McCormick, who lived in Lagonda, killed that first modern-day bear in Fayette County.

McCormick was 41 years old at the time. He came to Fayette County to hunt turkeys in the Chalk Hill and Dunbar areas.

Washington County had a very large turkey population at the time, but the county only had a spring gobbler season. A fall season had not yet been implemented for Washington or Greene counties.

After bagging a fall turkey, McCormick said, “I’d been up to Fayette turkey hunting earlier in the season and got an old gobbler. I sent another fellow up, and he got one a week later. While we were looking around for turkeys, I saw bear sign. Then I talked with a couple of pipeline workers in the area, and they said they had seen bears.”

McCormick was one of those hunters who made the trek north for 15 to 17 years to hunt bear in Cameron County.

While a stranger to the area, he was no stranger to bear hunting. He knew what to look for and how to go about it.

After first seeing sign, McCormick returned to Fayette County the Sunday before bear season began to do a little scouting on Game Land 51.

At that time he related, “I saw one set of tracks in the snow and saw where he had crossed the road. I went right back to the same place on Monday. I knew there were bears around there, so I had an edge on the other guys.”

McCormick bagged that historic bear at 2 p.m. on Nov. 20. He had been sitting for about 1 1/2 hours when the bear came up to him.

The adult female bear field-dressed at 161 pounds.

It was McCormick’s first bear, and you might say’s Fayette’s first.

Bear hunting in Fayette County has come a long way since that icebreaker as Andrew Seman Jr. of Dunbar bagged a huge 733-pound bear in Game Land 51 in 2006.

The bear’s skull measured 233/16 inches (Boone and Crockett Club scoring), which officially places it as the highest-scoring black bear ever taken legally by a hunter in Pennsylvania, tying for world-record status with a bear killed in California.

With deer season just around the corner, Farabaugh has is still seeing some nice bucks while on patrol.

“I only got a glimpse of him, but I saw a real nice one running on Game Land 51 Wednesday,” he said.

Also his plea for some help from the public to help curtail poaching activity has been paying off.

He noted that last week he was able to corral two groups of poachers.

Herald-Standard Outdoor Editor Rod Schoener can be reached on line at rschoener@heraldstandard.com