PROSPECT — Experience is overrated. Just ask Travis Felsing.

Felsing, 12, of Prospect bagged a 176-pound black bear hours into the first day of the three-day season Nov. 21.

Unofficially, he became the youngest hunter to kill a bear in Pennsylvania this year.

"When I checked with the Game Commission, the previous youngest was 15," said Travis' father, Jeff Felsing. "I haven't gotten confirmation whether anyone younger has gotten one since."

Regardless, the young Felsing succeeded where generations of hunters in his family never have: He is the first to get a bear.

Felsing shot the bear at Dentes Run in Elk County, where his family has camped and hunted for decades.

"They built that camp in 1925," said G. Glenn Felsing, 93. "I started going up there in 1931. My father hunted there; so did my uncle and cousins.

"My grandfather, John Peters, once won a bear in a shooting match. He took it home, raised it for a year, and then sold it. The bear eventually killed the man who bought it."

That was generations ago, as Peters died in 1850.

Four generations of Felsing hunters — G. Glenn Felsing, Glenn Felsing, 66, Jeff Felsing, 43, and 12-year-old Travis — were at the camp the day the youngest Felsing got the family's first bear.

"That's what meant the most to me," Jeff Felsing said. "Travis' great-grandfather and grandfather were there. We had 212 years of hunting experience between us."

Travis had all of four hours hunting experience before cashing in.

"Dad and I walked up to the top of the mountain behind camp that morning and sat there for four hours," Travis Felsing said. "We hadn't seen anything, so we started walking.

"After about 10 minutes, I heard something — but it was only a deer."

A few seconds later, he heard something again.

"A bear just walked out in front of us, about 100 yards away," Felsing said.

"I told Travis to wait until he had a clear shot and go for it," his father said.

Three of eight shots struck the bear. It eventually rolled down a hill and died along the path. The bear was taken at 11:20 a.m.

Felsing turned 12 in October. The bear was the first game of any kind he's taken.

"I was in complete amazement when it happened," his father said. "The first thing to enter my mind was my father is here, my grandfather is here. They're not going to believe this."

The 93-year-old Felsing no longer hunts, but still accompanies family members to camp.

"They knocked on my door (at camp) and told me to come down to their place," the elder Felsing said. "I was surprised, very surprised."

Travis Felsing nearly repeated his good fortune on the first day of deer gun season.

Returning to the camp in Elk County, he joined his father on the hunting trails again.

"We were in the woods about 10 minutes and two bucks came out of a field, running right at us," Travis Felsing said.

Only this time, he didn't pull the trigger. His father wouldn't let him.

"It wasn't a safe shot," his father said. "There were people around. We're probably talking 8-point or 10-point bucks, but I couldn't let him do it."

The 12-year-old Felsing will have plenty of other opportunities.

"We're probably going back up to the camp this weekend, so who knows?" Jeff Felsing said.

Jeff Felsing last bagged a deer four years ago. The family's hunting history included deer, turkeys, rabbits, squirrels, grouse — but no bears.

Until this year.

"I think it's the hat," Travis Felsing said, grinning as he pointed to his orange hat. "I had it on again when we saw those bucks.

"I'm gonna have it on the next time, too, I know that."