Local bear sightings increasing

Black bears have been getting themselves into trouble and showing up in unusual places around the region.

A bear had to be shot in Westmoreland County after trying not once, but three times in the same afternoon, to get into a pen that was holding some large antlered deer.

There apparently were some complaints about the shooting, but Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife conservation officer Rod Ansell, who investigated the incident, said the person raising the deer was justified in his actions, given the high value of the deer and the bear's insistence on eating them.

"The deer at this time of the year are in velvet, and the antlers can be damaged very easily just by bumping them into something, like the fence of the pen if they panic and try to get away," Ansell said.

Ansell's working with the deer propagator to get him to improve his pen using electric fence.

"Not only should this stop the bears, but it will also keep the raccoons out of the deer feed, as well, thus saving the propagator money in the long run and saving some bears, too," Ansell said.

In Cambria County, meanwhile, a 100-pound male bear had to be moved to a state forest area after it decided to investigate a barbecue at the Richland Fire Hall, and a 300-pound male had to be removed from Pitt-Johnstown campus.

Bears even have been causing a stir in Greene County, which hasn't traditionally had a resident population of bears, but at least one is believed to have wintered over there.

Several others were seen passing through, however, especially around Mt. Morris. Most were spotted around the usual garbage cans, but one spent two hours swimming around a local pond.

Top gun

A Latrobe shooter can rightfully lay claim to being one of the best shots in the state.

Ronald Kikel recently won the state doubles title at the 117th Pennsylvania State Trapshooting Championship.

He broke 99-of-100 targets initially, then outlasted two other shooters in a two-round shoot-off.

"I was pretty confident, but it's tough when you have 800 competitors," Kikel said. "I had shot well the day before, so I thought I had a chance to put up a good score, but it's tough."

That was just a part of what was a special weekend for the Menasha Packaging employee, though.

A day earlier, Kikel won a two-round shoot-off to take the trophy in the Class A doubles championship. And ultimately, he won the Class A high overall award, which was based on shooting at 1,100 targets in three trapshooting disciplines: singles, handicap and doubles.

Lost opportunities

The trend of losing more land to hunting isn't specific to Pennsylvania.

A national survey of hunters conducted earlier this year found that sportsmen across the country are finding fewer places to hunt.

The survey, performed by Southwick Associates, a polling firm specializing in outdoor issues, involved about 2,000 hunters.

Thirty-four percent of hunters said their access to land had been reduced over the past three seasons, with most of that land owned by private individuals rather than public entities.

In 58 percent of those cases, a change in ownership was to blame for the lost access, said the hunters polled. Sometimes, according to the survey, the new landowner was keeping all hunters out. In about 28 percent of cases, though, the land had been leased to a specific few hunters.

Article by Bob Frye,
Everybody Adventures, http://www.everybodyadventures.com

Copyright © 535media, LLC