PA Black Bear Scents/Lures Legality
Pennsylvania
"The use of scents or lures while hunting black bears is prohibited."
Does this mean that I cannot cook myself bacon and eggs for breakfast while hunting? Or put anise oil into my peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Would not any food be considered a scent/lure then?
I consider myself an ethical, law-abiding hunter. However, it is not my fault if the law is poorly written and vague, and I am able to interpret it to my advantage.
I love black licorice........................................but sometimes I am clumsy and drop them out of my stand! ;-)
But seriously, I always interpreted that to mean any commercially produced scent product.
Just might be vague on purpose. Gives the CO more leeway in determining, what is scent or lure!!
Did you call your neighboring WCO or regional headquarters and ask him/them? That usually works for me.
Or are you just looking to support your own viewpoint/skewed values... or maybe just to make conversation?
"The use of scent or lure is prohibited."
Act like an adult... a responsible, accountable adult... or suffer the consequences.
If I were the WCO standing next to you and your Almighty Bear Kill, I'd stand there and watch you eat the entire Bacon/Anise oil/peanut butter/jelly stale bread sandwhich.... and THEN fine your A#$. LOL
"Does this mean that I cannot cook myself bacon and eggs for breakfast while hunting?"
Do you plan to bring a grill out in the woods? Statement is kind of vague :)
@Jeff Durnell. I have called and asked for a return call with confirmation. The preliminary conversation was what I had expected--vague leaning towards legal. Vagueness in law is almost never to the favor of the enforcer. You are quite the spunky one.
@tobywon. A sterno and metal can would suffice haha
@Rut Nut. Right? Because any food is technically a scent. What gray area.
@stick n string Haha what an interesting scenario. Would love to pick someone's brain on that.
Spunky? Funny, but I'm more just a realist.
Justin... hmm cool, turns out you do have a good sense of humor. The answer might depend on who wanted squirrel(or bear) dinner more. But maybe you're getting to know me too well :^) You shoulda been there when I got the squirrels the other day. I left bear bait on a dinner plate right in their dining room.
Sadly, I asked the PGC about baiting, specifically mineral licks, and what is considered a safe/legal distance to hunt away from one. Gave specific example that if I put one mineral lick on a 100 acre parcel, how far away can I legally hunt. They would never give me an answer.
I wonder how many bears are killed over a gutpile from a deer that was killed a day or 2 before?
All, just heard back from game commission. This is a gray area, but anything that puts scent in the air would be considered illegal--therefore cooking is illegal. This is quite the fine line given that a homemade vanilla PB&J would probably smell far stronger/better than scrambled eggs cooked on the field. But obviously, they are trying to prevent honey burns, so I get it.
So I'm smoking a cherry flavored cigar, "checking the wind", guess that's considered illegal? OMG, the guy who ate a can of baked beans the night before, illegal? Again, a shame the PGC is so vague on declaring what their definition of law is. And they don't seem to want to provide an answer to concerned hunters.
If you have to ask if it's okay, then likely it isn't...and likely you already know that. Baiting is pretty much anything purposefully used to attract game that is not a natural source. Baiters always look for loop holes...not surprising. Just wipe the donut sugar from off it's mouth before you take it to the check station.
Well, I got a tip on a HUGE bear in Pike County last week. If reports are true it is well over 700 lbs. Walking thru private property on a regular basis. Neighbors want it gone.
I got pretty excited when one of the property owners gave me permission to hunt it. Then I started thinking.....................neighbor across the street has a bird feeder(on a cable 9 ft off ground strung between 2 trees). Bear got the first 2 feeders he put up. Also, I would be hunting on a 2 acre lot that borders 150 acres of private woods. No way to check to make sure others are not baiting it. And I’m sure when you shoot a 700 lb bear, PGC will go over everything with a fine tooth comb, much more so than if you shot a 200 lb’er. So after much deliberation, I decided not to hunt this bear. Just not worth the possible headaches! : (
I consider myself an ethical, law-abiding hunter.
However, it is not my fault if the law is poorly written and vague, and I am able to interpret it to my advantage.
Would that be considered on the verge of cheating?:)
Yeah, you’re always looking for the EASY way, Roy! ;-)
That went over your head rutty boy..
I'm sure you guys are just kidding about not knowing if your lunch is considered an outlawed scent or lure. But seriously, say one of us shot a deer this week, then hung a stand over the gut pile to hunt bear. Would that be hunting over bait? Even if the guts were not placed there as an enticement to attract wildlife?
No. The bear I killed in 2013 was visiting what was a gutpile at one time. A young man killed a doe in the same location as where I Shot the bear, on the previous tuesday. I Killed the bear on friday eve. The feller that shot the doe walked the blood trail with us and thats when we found out about the gutpile.
Now he also stated there were quite a few coyotes there as well. There were no remnants of the Gutpile as the shot scene. Of course I told all of this to the PGC at the checkin station.
Where that deer died was not planned nor an executed ploy. Now I Would also bet if a feller was to go get a roadkilled deer gut and carry the innards into the woods specifically to lure a bear, THAT is a different story.
