It was a large harvest, and a heavy one. Pennsylvania hunters harvested 3,748 bears in 2015, the third highest tally in state history. A whopping 68 of those bears topped the 500-pound mark.
The harvest total represents an increase compared to 2014, when 3,371 bears were taken.
With the 2015 total now official, the eight largest bear harvests all have occurred in the past decade.
The all-time high was recorded in 2011, when 4,350 bears were harvested. Hunters harvested 4,164 in 2005 and 3,510 bears in 2013.
Hunters in 2015 harvested bears in 57 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, an increase compared to 2014, when bears were taken in 56 counties. Bears were taken in 20 of the state’s 23 Wildlife Management Units, and each of the Game Commission’s six regions saw a larger harvest in 2015 compared to the previous year.
The 68 bears harvested weighing 500 pounds or more represents a sharp increase from 2014, when 41 bears taken by hunters reached or exceeded the 500-pound mark. And 18 bears in the 2015 harvest topped 600 pounds.
Two bears tied for heaviest in the harvest, each weighing an estimated 713 pounds. The four-day general season again set the pace for the overall harvest, with 2,724 bears being taken during that season. But the extended seasons and the archery bear season also contributed to the totals.
Statewide, 803 bears were harvested in extended seasons while 209 were taken during the archery bear season.
The Game Commission handled and tagged more than 900 bears statewide in Pennsylvania last year, and the percentage of those bears harvested by hunters suggests the state’s bear population grew between 2014 and 2015, said agency bear biologist Mark Ternent.
The state’s bear population had held stable at about 18,000 from 2008 to 2014.
In 2014, harsh weather greeted bear hunters in much of the state during the general bear season opener, and this likely contributes to the bear population bumping to an estimated 20,000 animals, Ternent said.
The last time the population bumped after several years of a stable population trend, it also did so after a year after harsh weather during bear season, Ternent said.