A black bear going through undergrowth makes a continuous sound, like to pulling a sled, rather than footsteps.
Scott Price shot a black bear this fall during the hunting season, and it made a lot of noise for an animal with about six inches of fat on its body.
With a lot of assistance from his hunting friends, whom he calls the gang, Price managed to haul it out of the woods. The bear weighed 774 pounds when it was alive.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s list of the largest bears shot during the 2024–25 licensing year has been topped by the bear that was killed in Monroe County. In some areas of the state, bear hunting is still going on till December 14.
Going forward, Price toldlehighvalleylive.com, it’s going to be an amazing year. I may never be able to surpass it.
Price, 34, has a loving wife and two children at home, ages one and two. I joke that she’s a single mother during hunting season, he said.
He sells roofs for an independent contractor Price says is very understanding of his fixation with hunting as much as he can during this season.
Price remarked, “I’m just an outdoors guy in general,” adding that he enjoys riding, kayaking, fishing, and hiking. I simply enjoy being outside. For me, hunting consists of everything merged into one.
He resides in Lackawanna County, close to Moscow, with his wife Colleen and their family. He would rather refer to his territory for this year’s bear hunt as just Monroe County, which is a member of the Game Commission’s Wildlife Management Unit 3D.
Regarding this year’s four-day normal bear firearms season, which began on November 23, Price stated, “We had a rough time the first two days.” There were no kills for us. In fact, there weren’t many bears in sight.
On Day 2, they pursued one, but it was taken by someone not in their group.
Price was hunting on both private and public territory with perhaps 20 other men. Their strategy is to have eight or ten people go for a drive while the rest of the party remains still. In order to prevent burnout, we all cycle out, he remarked.
Price stated, “I think that part of the reason we’re a successful gang is that all of the guys in the gang are out there for all four days of the season.”
There was snow on the ground on Monday, Day 3, after the morning drizzle had ended.
A good 300-pound bear was spotted during the day’s second-to-last drive, but no one was shot. When they found the location where it had fled, Price’s uncle David Price kicked up the 774-pound beast.
When it comes to hunting black bears, David Price has established himself. His bear from 2010 is tied for sixth place in Pennsylvania’s archery large game records.Skull circumference, not weight, is rewarded in those records. However, the Game Commission claims that, at 875 pounds, he is still the largest in Pennsylvania. It was caught in Middle Smithfield Township, Monroe County.
On the day his uncle established the record, Scott Price was enrolled in classes at East Stroudsburg University. After receiving the call, he and a friend decided to skip school in order to help bring it out of the woods.
David Price, who had previously gotten a bear this year, was unarmed when the large bear that shocked him this year came within five yards of him. Pennsylvania only allows one bear per year and forbids carrying sporting guns during the remaining bear season.
At this stage of the hunt, the bear’s chances briefly changed in its favor as it ran alongside Scott Price’s cousin Michael Price, who was likewise unarmed, and then father Jeff Price. He was also without a gun.
At last, Ryan Price, Scott Price’s brother, received an injection that cut through the abdominal fat.
According to Scott Price, he came very close to claiming that bear as his own.
It was perhaps 3:30 or 4 p.m., when nightfall is approaching and shadows start to cover the voids in Pennsylvania’s woodlands.
At that moment, Scott Price heard what I already knew was true—a noise akin to a sled being pulled through the underbrush. He stated it was a bear. His father had bought him a Marlin 336 in.35 Remington lever action when he was around thirty years old, and he prepared it.
Scott Price aimed just behind the shoulder, a hair back farther than you would shoot at a deer, as the bear got closer, about 15 yards distant amid the mountain laurels.
He claimed, “The lever action was quick with a second round,” and I did fire him twice because I could see how large he was. I would want to give him a happy ending, even if I don’t think he needed it.
After roughly ten yards, the bear fell, exactly as I had intended. I didn’t want things to take longer than absolutely necessary. He claimed that it was the fourth bear in his life and that it weighed more than the first three put together.
On Monday, November 25, 2024, Scott Price, from the right, lies next to a 774-pound black bear that he and his brother Ryan Price shot in Monroe County, Pennsylvania.Levi Kauffman provided the image.
As evening descended, friend Levi Kauffman took some pictures of Scott and brother Ryan Price beside a small fire that was lit for comfort and illumination.
Ropes were tied off by the group, with two men tugging around the bear’s head, two more men pulling on each of the bear’s front legs, and one or two more men pulling around the back legs. The distance to a friend’s Ford F-250 was roughly 650 yards.
Fortunately, two or three inches of snow remained to make the task easier, according to Scott Price. Since we had a lot of aid and there were a lot of moist leaves instead of snow, it wasn’t that bad.
The bear weighed 774 pounds whole when the wildlife warden visited the family’s barn to inspect it. Applying the chest measurement to an achart that levels out at about 800 is another method of determining a bear’s weight. Scott Price stated that he anticipates receiving a report in August that will determine the bear’s age based on a tooth that the state official has pulled.
Since the bear’s teeth were in decent condition, he doesn’t believe it was too old. Weight isn’t a good indicator of age; he’s seen a 720-pound bear turn out to be 6 years old and a 150-pounder judged to be 17. With an abundance of acorns and beechnuts available as part of their opportunistic, mostly vegetarian diet, this year simply provided wonderful food for wildlife.
When the bear was skinned inside the barn, all of the hunters were permitted to cut off some meat to take home. Scott Price prepares the meat he saves for roasts and stews, while a butchering neighbor is preparing him a ton of bologna. Lamparter’s Wildlife Design in Gouldsboro is where he intends to have a mount completed.
The day after he bagged a doe, Scott Price was following a white-tailed buck on December 4 when he stopped for lunch in his pickup truck for an interview for this article.
He remarked that aside from spending time with friends and family, hunting is almost the only activity he enjoys.
2024-25 firearms season for bear
The four-day Black Bear firearms season in Pennsylvania began on November 23 and ran until November 26. In certain regions of the state, the extended guns season began on November 30 and ends on December 14.
As of Thursday, 2,505 bears had been killed during the 2024–25 season using early archery, archery, muzzleloaders, special firearms, conventional firearms, and extended guns, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
The total number of bruins taken by hunters last year was 2,920, the fewest in 15 years. The 2023 harvest was down from the 3,170 bears taken the previous year and well off the all-time-record harvest of 4,653 in 2019.
Kurt Bresswein may be reached [email protected].
The Great Outdoors
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