HARRISBURG — During the firearms hunting season for bear Nov. 19-22 hunters killed a reported 1,018 bruins, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
On the first day of the season, Nov. 19, hunters brought 658 bruins into the commission’s bear-check stations across the state.
They followed that with 198 bears on Nov. 20; 101 on. Nov. 21; and 61 on Nov.22.
In the ongoing extended bear season, which coincides with the firearms hunting season for deer in many parts of the state, hunters have harvested 367 bears.
The extended bear season will continue through this Saturday in most of the state, and through Dec. 10 in the southwestern and southeastern corners of the state.
With the six bears killed in an early archery season in the southwestern and southeastern corners of the state, the 1,448 killed in the archery, muzzleloader and special firearms seasons earlier this fall, the 2022 bear harvest stood at 2,839 as of Monday morning.
That’s tracking down substantially from either of the two previous years, the only previous years since the commission moved to a weekend-long opener to the firearms season.
Last year hunters killed 3,619 bruins, the fifth top harvest. The total 2020 harvest, after all seasons, was 3,608, which was about 20% lower than the record harvest of 4,653 bears in 2019 and ranked as the state’s sixth best.
An estimated 200,000-plus hunters purchased bear hunting licenses in addition to their regular Pennsylvania hunting licenses. Only the white-tailed deer draws more hunters into the Pennsylvania woods each fall and winter.
The top bear-producing counties to date this year are Tioga, 178; Lycoming, 140; Luzerne, 117; Bradford, 113; Clearfield, 109; Potter, 109; Clinton, 106; Centre, 103; Monroe, 102; and Elk, 85.
The largest bears killed this year have weighed 755 pounds, Monroe County; 705 pounds, Monroe County; 693 pounds, Potter County; 681 pounds, Bedford County; 681 pounds, Clearfield County; 657 pounds, Clinton County; 650 pounds, Luzerne County; 634 pounds, Bradford County; 633 pounds, Luzerne County; and 632 pounds, Monroe County.
