With nearly 1,200 black bears killed by Pennsylvania hunters already this fall, the hunting seasons that will draw the most hunters into woodlands across the state — the firearms hunting seasons for bear and deer — are about to begin.
The firearms season for bear opens today and continues through Tuesday.
The firearms season for deer will open Nov. 27 and continues through Dec. 11.
More hunters will hit the woods on the first and second days in each of these seasons than on any other days of the year.
A record 220,471 hunters — 211,627 of them Pennsylvania residents — bought bear hunting licenses in 2020. That was up from the previous record of 202,043 in 2019 and 174,869 in 2018. The total likely will be higher again this year.
But, even before the firearms seasons began, preliminary statistics tallied by the Pennsylvania Game Commission show that 1,186 hunter-harvested bears have been checked by the commission since this year’s early hunting seasons for the species began Sept. 18 in the southeastern and southwestern corners of the state.
The top harvest counties so far this year are Potter, with 67 reported bears killed; Clinton, 60; Lycoming, 60; Tioga, 59; Pike, 56; Carbon, 48; Luzerne, 45; Bradford, 43; Venango, 40; and Monroe, 36.
The largest bears to date and the counties where they were harvested are 681 pounds, Luzerne; 590, Potter; 588, Potter; 544, Carbon; 544, Armstrong; 544, Wayne; 539, Lycoming; 423, Luzerne; 522, Pike; and 522, Pike.
Despite increasing numbers of hunters with expanding hunting opportunities, Pennsylvania’s bear population continues at near historic levels.
“We’ve got many, many black bears, including some of the biggest in the country, spread across the Commonwealth and within reach of hunters everywhere,” said Bryan Burhans, executive director of the Pennsylvania Game Commission. “Plus, our various bear seasons give hunters the opportunity to pursue them in numerous ways throughout the fall.
“This is an exciting time to be a bear hunter. It’s no wonder more and more people are taking to the bear woods every autumn.”
Emily Carrollo, commission bear biologist added, “Pennsylvania has been a bear hunting destination for many, many years. I don’t expect that to change. Despite large harvests in the past, we’ve still got plenty of bears, and lots of big ones, out there.”
Annual bear harvests also continue at historically high levels. In the six and a half decades between 1915 and 1979, hunters typically harvested 424 bears per year. Hunters didn’t harvest more than 1,000 bears in a single year until 1984, more than 2,000 bears until 1989 and more than 3,000 bears until 2000. They harvested more than 4,000 bears in a single year three times since 2005, two of those since 2011, with the record of 4,653 coming in 2019. Nine of the 10 largest harvests ever occurred in the past 13 years, with the 2020 harvest of 3,621 bears ranking sixth.
Pennsylvania’s hunters took 3,608 black bears in the 2020 seasons. That was down from the 2019 record of 4,653 but still the second-largest harvest in the past five years.
Hunters took bears in 59 of 67 counties and 22 of Pennsylvania’s 23 wildlife management units.
Potter County led the state in bear harvest; hunters killed 188 there. Lycoming County was next best, producing 186 bears, followed by Tioga, with 185; Clearfield, with 158; Monroe, with 152; Clinton, with 150; Elk, with 140; Luzerne, with 125; Centre, with 117; Bradford, with 108; Pike County, with 105; Wayne, with 100; and Carbon, with 97.
The largest bear harvested was a the 719-pound male taken with a crossbow last Nov. 7 in Ayr Township, Fulton County, by Abby Strayer, of McConnellsburg. Hunters also took numerous other bears exceeding 600 pounds.
