With the primary bear and deer hunting seasons about to begin - bear on Saturday, November 17, and deer on Monday, November 26 - hunters in Pennsylvania will have a range of specialized regulations to remember as they take to forests across the state.

Limited harvest

The basic hunting license ($20.90 for a resident adult hunter) allows a hunter the opportunity to harvest one antlered deer (buck) per license year (July 1-June30). That hunter also may harvest one antlerless deer (doe) for each antlerless permit ($6.90) or Deer Management Assistance Program permit ($10.90) he holds.

A hunter may harvest only one bear per year. But, to hunt bear in Pennsylvania, that hunter must purchase the basic hunting license ($20.90 for a resident adult hunter) and a bear license ($16.90).

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Most other species off the table

During the regular firearms deer hunting season - Monday, November 26, through Saturday, December 8 - hunters may not harvest or attempt to harvest most other wild birds and mammals, except gamebirds on private hunting preserves, migratory waterfowl, coyotes, feral swine and wild boar, and bears, when and where permitted.

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No baiting

Baiting is allowed for deer hunting in southeastern Pennsylvania, but only with special permit from the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Other than that, it is unlawful to hunt in or around any area where artificial or natural bait, food, hay, grain, fruit, nuts, salt, chemicals or minerals, including their residues, are used, or have been used within the past 30 days to lure game or wildlife.

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Not knowing is no excuse

Each hunter is responsible for ensuring that the area he is hunting has not been baited during his hunt or within 30 days prior to his hunt.

According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, before beginning a hunt, the hunter should physically inspect the area and question landowners, guides and caretakers.

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Scents and lures

No scents or lures may be used while hunting bears.

Deer hunters may use deer urine, estrous scents and similar lures, and non-food source cover scents anywhere in Pennsylvania outside the chronic wasting disease management areas in parts of Bedford, Berks, Blair, Cambria, Clearfield, Fulton, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Lancaster and Lebanon counties.

Scents and lures that contain any form of natural or artificial food stuff, including corn, apple and acorns, are not legal.

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Safety zones

Hunters may not "hunt for, shoot at, trap, take, chase or disturb wildlife within 150 yards of any occupied residence, camp, industrial or commercial building, farmhouse or farm building, or school or playground without the permission of the occupants," according to Pennsylvania's Game and Wildlife Code.

It also is unlawful to shoot into such a safety zone, even if you are outside of the zone, and to drive game, even without a firearm or bow in possession, within a safety zone without permission.

For archery hunters the safety zone is 50 yards.

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Spotlighting

Not only hunters, but no one may spotlight wildlife after 11 p.m. or before sunrise, or at all during the regular firearms deer season, which is Monday, November 26, through Saturday, December 8, this year.

Spotlighting also is unlawful while in possession of a firearm, bow and arrow, or "other device capable of killing wildlife," but someone with a license to carry firearms may have the firearm authorized by the permit.

In addition, anyone spotlighting may not cast their light onto a building, farm animal or photoelectric cell.

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Not on Sundays

In Pennsylvania, only coyotes, crows and foxes may be hunted on Sundays.

An all-volunteer group, Hunters United for Sunday Hunting, is the latest to take on the challenge of expanding Sunday hunting opportunities in Pennsylvania. Many previous attempts have been blocked by the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, hiking and backpacking organizations, and some hunters opposed to the change.

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Blaze orange

From November 15-December 15, except on Sundays, anyone on state game lands must wear at least 250 square inches of fluorescent orange material on head, chest and back combined. The orange must be visible 360 degrees.

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Not in a den

It is unlawful to kill a bear in a den in Pennsylvania.

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Electronics are out

No one other than authorized researchers and Game Commission personnel may use a radio to locate a bear to which a radio transmitter.

The commission has radio-collared hundreds, probably thousands, of bears through decades of research and population monitoring.

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Hiding in wait

Hunters may use blinds to pursue deer and bear, but they must also display at least 100 square inches of fluorescent orange material within 15 feet of the blind and visible in 360 degrees.

They also must wear orange while in the blind.

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Dogs, after the shot

Dogs may not be used to hunt deer or bear, but for the first time this year leashed tracking dogs may be used to track and recover deer, bear or elk that have been legally killed or wounded during any open hunting season for those species.

The handler of the tracking dog must follow most regulations as though he were hunting the animal and may not dispatch a wounded animal for another hunter. He also may not charge for the service if it's performed on state game lands.

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Limited numbers

Groups of deer, bear or elk hunters may not exceed 25.

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No damage to trees

Except for a landowner on his own property, a hunter may not damage any tree by constructing a tree stand or using a portable tree stand or device to climb a tree, or occupy a tree stand that damages a tree.

On state game lands, tree stands may be placed out no more than two weeks before the first deer hunting season and must be removed no later than two weeks after the final deer season of the hunting license year. The tree stand must be marked with a durable and legible identification tag that includes the owner's first and last name and legal home address or bears the CID number that appears on the owner's hunting license or a number issued by the Game Commission to the stand or blind owner.

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Reporting requirements

A successful bear hunter must take his bruin to a Game Commission check station within 24 hours of making the kill.

Although it's ignored by more than half of all successful deer hunters, Pennsylvania's game law requires every hunter who harvests a deer to report it to the Game Commission within 10 days by sending in a postage-paid report card or making a report online or over the phone.

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Antler requirements

Prior to 2002, the antler restriction was 2 points to an antler or a spike at least 3 inches in length. From 2002 to 2010, the antler point restrictions were 3 or 4 points-to-an-antler depending on the area of the state. Starting in 2011, the 4-point area changed to 3 points to an antler, not including the brow tine. The 3 points-to-an-antler area did not change.

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Mistake kills

Any hunter who by accident or mistake kills an antlerless deer in mistake for an antlered deer, an antlered deer in mistake for an antlerless deer, or an antlered deer that does not meet required antler restrictions must within 24 hours deliver and surrender the entire carcass, less entrails, to any game warden in the county in which it is killed and make a written, sworn statement explaining when, where and how the accident or mistake occurred. There also is a $25 restitution fee for each mistake kill.

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Tagging requirements

Immediately after a hunter harvests a deer, bear, elk or turkey, he must follow instructions printed on the tag supplied with his license and attach the tag to the animal.

It must be attached to the ear of a deer or bear, the body of an elk, or the leg of a turkey, and remain attached until the animal is processed for consumption or prepared for mounting.

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Sale restrictions

Successful hunters may sell not edible parts of any game animal they harvest in Pennsylvania. That ban includes the gallbladders of bears, for which there is a ready market in Asian folk medicine.

Non-edible parts, including hide, skull, bones and claws, may be sold by the hunter who harvested the animal within 90 days after the close of the season in which the animal was harvested.

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