So close

Just wanted to follow up the story of Reed Bamberbger's bull. The bull came in with an official Boone & Crockett score of 423 6/8" making it the second biggest bull taken in PA. That's five bulls now netting over 400" taken from PA and all of them coming during or after the 2005 hunting season. Just more concrete evidence that the herd and the bulls are getting bigger and healthier thanks to good management. At the heart of that managemnet plan, the PA elk hunting season.
So thank you PGC, your biologists, and especially hunters and their dollars for the great success story that is the PA elk herd. So whether you are about to pull the trigger or snap a photo please remember, you have hunters to thank for those impressive animals.
281 days and counting to the 2010 elk season. The next step in a healthier herd.

Reed Bamberger's 2009 bull elk.

On January 2nd, 2010 Reed Bamberger' s bull was officially scored for both Boone & Crockett and Safari Club International record books. The state record here in PA is 425 2/8" taken by John Shirk in 2006, Reed's bull came in with a net non-typical Boone & Crockett score of 423 6/8" just missimg the state record by 1 5/8". His bull scores 438 6/8" by the S.C.I. method.

The elk hunt: Creating a healthier herd and thus bigger bulls.

Opponents of the PA elk hunt have stated the adverse effects that the recent elk hunts have had on the herd and in paticular the number of "monster bulls" that are present for tourist's easy viewing pleasure. It has been stated that if the hunt is to go on unchanged we will hurt the herd and that not only will there be less but there will be no more mature bulls to view. This will then cause a halt to the tourist business in and around the Winslow Hill area. If this were true than a look at the bulls harvested from the first year of the hunt to the most recent hunt would show a decline in the size of the bulls taken. In fact if you have a animal that had not been hunted for seventy years, the first few years of the hunt there should have been bulls of grandiose proportions to go around to all hunters. Let's face it with no hunting the elk would have been dying off of old age and reaching the peak of their size.Over the next few posts I will comprise a grouping of bulls from the most recent years and heading back to the first year of the hunt. Even with stacking the odds in favor of the early years of the hunt (the no hunting for seventy-years), I doubt these people are right. If they are than we will see that the bulls taken in the early years of the hunt are larger on average than those taken now. This would be concrete proof that there are fewer large bulls now than there were in the past.

I already know the answer to this part of the debate, follow along and I will show you the real story of the PA elk hunt.

2009 Hunt (Here are twelve to start with, more to follow)

438"

320"

410"

350"

405"

350"

300"

375"

(Willard Hill photo, from PA Wildlife

Photographer Blog) 340"

350"

(Photo from Support

PA Elk Blog)

375"

300"

Thank You, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year

Jack

Elk County Outfitters: The Guys

These are some of the faces that you can see around Camp Nick both during the elk hunts and the regular hunting seasons. They are resposible for some of the best times I've ever had. Without them hunting seasons wouldn't be the same and the elk hunt would not be possible.
Thank you guys for letting me do this with you.

Jack Manack Sr.

Keith Manack

Tim Lennox

Jason Stecko

Tim Harvey
John Provident III

Bob Huff

Brady Schrecengost

Carey Bollman

Gary Couteret

Harry Smith

Eric McCarthy

Jarad McCarthy

Greg Monk

Ernie Earley

Denny Henry

Al Thoms

Donnie Smail

Dick Hribar

Tim Lennox Jr.

John Provident IV

Brad Lennox

For my first blog I would just like to welcome anyone that shares my interest, not necessarily my opinion, on the items listed in the descriptions of myself and my blog. After following along with several blogs concerning the Pa elk hunt I felt it was important to express the thoughts and facts behind a pro-elk hunt persons feelings. Though I'm sure it is not done intentionally alot of the statements made from the people that have a problem with the elk hunt are unsubstantiated and made out of anger or fear instead of fact. Hopefully the same passion that you have for the elk will allow you to open your mind to another point of view and let this blog educate you to the point that you have more of the facts than you do now. Maybe then you will be able to make a more enlightened opinion concerning the elk, their habitat, and the benefits that the hunt does for both.

Jack
12/14/09