Kittanning, PA, hunter bags 600-pound black bear [View all]

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After 13 years of trying, a Kittanning hunter bagged his first bear — a 601-pound bruin that was among the largest taken in the state during the four-day hunting season, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

The bear taken by Bo Bowser of Kittanning in nearby Valley Township, Armstrong County, was among a dozen harvested large bears that the game commission cited in its report.
Bowser, 25, was hunting alone Nov. 20 in a wooded area and was able to sneak up on the bear.

“I was lucky that way,” he said Wednesday.

Although the heaviest bears typically are taken in the northern part of the state, Bowser was excited to find one so large in his own backyard.

Bowser's bear was so big that he called Kittanning friends Austin Baum, Cam Wolfe and others to help carry his harvest — which first had to be floated across Pine Creek.
“It took five of us to drag it 15 yards in 45 minutes, and then fit him on top of an ATV,” Bowser said.

Bowser gave the bear's meat to friends.

The statewide harvest of 1,796 fell short of last season's 2,579 during the four-day season.
... rain storms dampened hunters' bear takes this year, the game commission said.

http://triblive.com/local/valleynewsdispatch/13007811-74/kittanning-hunter-bags-600-pound-black-bear