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Caught on Camera

Holiday weekend travelers can look forward to clear conditions on area roadways

<p>We have too many bears.</p><p>There&#8217;s plenty of evidence to back up the claim.</p><p>Local wildlife conservation officers have been busy dealing with bruins, including a sow with four cubs that was trapped for nuisance reasons. That bear had also been trapped and relocated previously in response to complaints.</p><p>Another bear was captured after trying to break into a house. That bear has been trapped and relocated three times now.</p><p>There have been complaints of bears trying to break into garages to rummage the trash cans inside, and on the stretch of turnpike between the White Haven and Bear Creek exits five yearling bears have been hit by vehicles.</p><p>All within the last few weeks.</p><p>I see evidence of an over-abundance of bears with the &#8220;Caught on Camera&#8221; feature that runs on this page every Sunday.</p><p>It wasn&#8217;t that long ago that any bear photos I received from readers were taken by trail cameras deep in the woods.</p><p>Now, most of the bear photos sent in are taken in backyards, neighborhoods and city streets.</p><p>Bears are turning up in places that, not that long ago, they were rarely seen.</p><p>Last week, a neighbor called to inform me of a large bear passing through the fields nearby. The next day another neighbor called to report a sow with three cubs in the area.</p><p>It&#8217;s clear to me that bear numbers in the area have increased and, as a result, their range has expanded.</p><p>And so have the problems that result.</p><p>I find it hard to lay blame on bears when garbage cans and bird feeders are demolished. After all, they were here first and we continue to encroach on their habitat with every new housing development that&#8217;s built.</p><p>But they still need to be controlled.</p><p>Managed.</p><p>But how?</p><p>Currently, hunting seasons for bears are pretty liberal.</p><p>There is a five-day statewide archery season in November, followed immediately by a four-day firearms season that begins on a Saturday. In some areas, there&#8217;s an extended season which runs concurrently with the first week, or the entire length of deer season.</p><p>In the southeast and southwest where bears can be a problem in urban areas, there&#8217;s an expanded archery season that runs from Oct. 1 to Nov. 18, a one-week muzzleloader season in October and a three-day early firearms season for junior, senior and disabled hunters.</p><p>That&#8217;s a lot of time, and opportunity, to harvest a bear. But is it very effective?</p><p>Managing bear populations through hunting is the best tool the Pennsylvania Game Commission has, but it&#8217;s also one that&#8217;s highly variable.</p><p>I know of many hunters who are content to quit bear hunting after they harvest their first bruin. I understand the &#8220;one-and-done&#8221; approach as bear hunting can be a lot of work. Sometimes getting a harvested bear out of the woods can be a brutal task, and the meat from one bear can be more than enough to fill a freezer. Plus, it&#8217;s not cheap to get a bear mounted or have a rug made, as many successful hunters choose to do.</p><p>Even the extended seasons are limited in their effectiveness. If a hunter on stand for the first day of deer season squeezes the trigger on a bear, the work that follows means their day is done. While the extended seasons do add to the harvest, there are plenty of hunters reluctant to give up a day of deer hunting to harvest a bear.</p><p>Still, there are options that may increase the bear harvest and help to get numbers in check.</p><p>An extended archery season - one that runs in conjunction with the entire archery season for deer, could help.</p><p>Maybe even a special spring season for bears - similar to what is done in Canada, Maine and some western states, would work for Pennsylvania.</p><p>Something needs to be done because while yearly bear harvests under the current seasons continue to produce at record highs, the evidence that bruin numbers are too high continues to mount.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Venesky </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_Venesky-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Venesky </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Venesky</p><p>tvenesky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Outdoors with Tom Venesky: One bear too many