I took my 2 daughters for walk earlier today on a trail through the woods behind my house. I decided to go down a section of trail that I don't normally travel and happened across a chain link fence that had been bent in half with blackberry bushes on the other side (didn't think much of it at first glance). We kept on walking and about 10 feet down from there I noticed a rather large pile of feces, it was black and scattered with a variety of small berries and blackberry seeds. The feces were very fresh, no bugs and still very moist. This is about the time of year that bears seek out as many berries as they can to get fat for the winter. At this time I put 2 and 2 together and got my kids the heck out of there.
My question is, if I had to shoot a bear on my walk in self defense would I be allowed to harvest it? It was not on my property. I'm not going to go looking for trouble with a bear, and definitely not going to shoot one unless absolutely necessary. I'm thanking God that I did not see it and would never want to be put in that position(definitely not with just my Glock 22, which I was carrying, albeit better than nothing). The whole situation just got me thinking. Also, is that an event that I would have to report to the authorities (sheriff, game warden etc)? What about if the bear comes on my property?
(Moderators sorry this isn't exactly "hunting" related but I figure that hunters would be the most likely to know the answer to my questions, please move or remove if necessary)
My question is, if I had to shoot a bear on my walk in self defense would I be allowed to harvest it? It was not on my property. I'm not going to go looking for trouble with a bear, and definitely not going to shoot one unless absolutely necessary. I'm thanking God that I did not see it and would never want to be put in that position(definitely not with just my Glock 22, which I was carrying, albeit better than nothing). The whole situation just got me thinking. Also, is that an event that I would have to report to the authorities (sheriff, game warden etc)? What about if the bear comes on my property?
(Moderators sorry this isn't exactly "hunting" related but I figure that hunters would be the most likely to know the answer to my questions, please move or remove if necessary)