PENNSYLVANIA

PENNSYLVANIA
2003 bear seasonmay be best ever
The 2003 bear seasons may yet become the best harvest year Pennsylvania hunters have ever had, according to harvest reports from Pennsylvania Game Commission check stations. Through Tuesday, hunters had already taken 2,952 bears and still had four more days of extended season in Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) 3D to topple the state record of 3,075 bears set in 2000.
Equally intriguing is the incredible number of huge bears hunters are shooting this fall. This week, three bears exceeding 800 pounds were taken in Pike and Monroe counties. The largest was a hard-to-believe 864-pound male bear taken in Dingman Township, Pike County, on Monday at 9 a.m. by Douglas Kristiansen of Milford.
The Game Commission for the second consecutive year is holding an extended bear season in the Poconos to reduce the area's overabundant bear population in communities and resort areas. This year it's being held in all or parts of eight counties that comprise WMU 3D.
The harvest by WMU for the statewide three-day season was as follows: WMA 1A, 3; WMA 1B, 39; WMU 2C, 218; WMU 2D, 139; WMU 2E, 100; WMU 2F, 204; WMU 2G, 716; WMU 3A, 153; WMU 3B, 298; WMU 3C, 129; WMU 3D, 371; WMU 4A, 62; WMU 4B, 16; WMU 4C, 119; WMU 4D, 315; and WMU 4E, 70.
OHIO
Deer numbers up and down
While the first day of hunting season produced a decrease in the number of deer harvested by hunters statewide, Northeast Ohio hunters, including those in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, were generally more successful.
Hunters took 43,052 deer Monday, opening day of the popular statewide deer-gun season. The deer-gun season remains open through today.
The preliminary figure obtained from deer check stations throughout the state represents a 5 percent decrease from last year's opening day total of 45,296.
However, for deer checked and tagged by hunters in the Northeast Ohio area (2002 figures in parenthesis) the opening day figures were higher in most every county:
Ashtabula, 905 (856); Carroll, 712 (660); Columbiana, 698 (687); Coshocton, 1,901 (1,824); Geauga, 352 (304); Mahoning, 222 (206); Portage, 213 (194);Stark, 376 (332); Summit, 65 (64) ;Trumbull, 686 (645).
Counties reporting the highest numbers of deer checked on Monday included Coshocton, 1,901; Tuscarawas, 1,590; Guernsey, 1,536; Muskingum, 1,436; Harrison, 1,400; Washington, 1,374; Holmes, 1,301; Licking, 1,257; Athens, 1,208; and Jackson, 1,153.
Despite strong, gusty winds hunters experienced a great opening day. A covering of snow in many Northeast Ohio counties, some of which went from a one-deer to two-deer limit this year, generated an increase in the number of deer taken in that region. In northwest Ohio, the number of deer taken increased 11 percent. Last year hunters took a record total of 204,652 deer during all the hunting seasons.
Early numbers from the deer-archery season showed hunters took advantage of days afield before the deer-gun season. In the first six weeks of archery season, hunters harvested 36,241 deer. And 5,208 deer were taken in last weekend's first youth deer-gun season.
A total of five hunting incidents were reported opening day. One was a fatality in Knox County that is still under investigation.
Deer hunting contributes an estimated $266 million during the season to Ohio's economy and helps to support thousands of jobs.