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black bear harvest 2017

I see the DEC has released the black bear harvest for 2017. Southern zone where i hunt was 1037. Anyone ever have any success with the bears? Where my camp is in Belfast, Allegany county i always have a few on the trail cameras throughout the summer, then they seem to disappear once archery season starts. I've only seen one bear while archery hunting. Maybe rite spot, rite time?

4H Albany Co. I get a bear picture every year and have seen some tracks and scat but only one hunter has actually seen a bear during any hunting season the last ten years. If I see a bear in the woods it would just be by chance.

Gaffer1, Westerlo is in 4H ? My ex lives out there and has seen a few.

Gaffer1, Westerlo is in 4H ? My ex lives out there and has seen a few.

Yes Droiptine10, Westerlo is in 4H

I hunt 4B and 4J I always get a few pics early when apples are good and corn is up. I have also seen two while hunting and passed one last year. No desire to shoot even a big bear. Shawn

Once you except the fact that bears will negatively affect your deer herd. You will shoot them. Here on Tug Hill where the deer herd has always been knocked back by winter kill, the deer herd would always recover in a couple of average winter years. Since the reintroduction of B bears here, our deer population recovery is stagnant.

If the chance came I would take one if it was big enough. Kind of a bucket list kind of thing.

I would take one, if it was big enough. Shawn, bear pics in 4J ??

I have some on an SD card if I can dig them up. Several bears always around Bethlehem each year. Studies shows bears do not have a big impact on the deer population, very little in fact. Coyotes on the other hand have a huge impact. Shawn

I should of said in NY as far as studies go, they do have an impact in many areas of the country but not so much in NY. Shawn

Shawn, I and many other NZ hunters couldn’t disagree more. There are also many studies that show black and grizzly bears take up to50% of moose calves each year in Alaska. Why would it be any different with B bear on whitetail fawns ?

Black bears have a better sense of smell than a coyote, when bears come out of hibernation they are very hungry. They can Easily detect a cow moose or whitetail doe that is about to freshen. They will follow them until they drop their calf or fawn and simply take it.

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