Hunters during the third day of Pennsylvania’s statewide bear season harvested 415 bears, raising the three-day total to 2,308 – an about 8 percent decrease compared to the 2,487 bears taken during the first three days of the 2015 season.
Bears have been harvested in 53 counties during the statewide season so far.
The top 10 bears processed at check stations by Wednesday were either estimated or confirmed to have live weights of 616 pounds or more.
One bear taken on Tuesday joined the state’s top 10.
Gregory S. Fuller, of Williamsport, Pa., harvested a male estimated at 649 pounds Tuesday in Armstrong Township, Lycoming County.
The largest of the state’s heaviest bears – a male estimated at 700 pounds – was taken in Barrett Township, Monroe County, by Chad D. Nauman, of Cresco, Pa. He took it with a rifle at about 7 a.m. on Nov. 19, the season’s opening day.
The overall 2015 bear harvest was 3,748, the third-largest in state history. In 2014, hunters took a total of 3,366 bears – the seventh-largest harvest all time. The largest harvest – 4,350 bears – happened in 2011, when preliminary two-day totals numbered 2,709.
Archery and other early bear season harvest data still is being entered into the Game Commission’s database and is not available at this time.
The top bear hunting county in the state after three days of season was Clinton County, with 179. It held off Lycoming County, where hunters took 156 bears the first three days of the season. In a typical Pennsylvania bear season, these counties often are the top two.
Three-day harvests by region are the Northwest (407), Southwest (215); Northcentral (995); Southcentral (256); Northeast (389) and Southeast (46).
Season extended in many parts of the state
In many parts of Pennsylvania, black bears may be hunted and harvested by properly licensed hunters during all or a portion of the firearms deer season.
Extended bear seasons can easily be found in the 2016-17 Pennsylvania Hunting & Trapping Digest, available online.
Hunters should be aware for 2016-17, the extended bear season has been eliminated in Wildlife Management Unit 3A, north of U.S. Route 6 in McKean, Potter, Tioga and Bradford counties.
Additionally, an extended bear season has been added in Wildlife Management Unit 1B, which includes Erie County and parts of Warren, Venango and Crawford counties. This season, which runs from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, was established to prevent further expansion of bears into the western portion of WMU 1B, where the potential for bear-human conflicts is high.
To participate in the extended bear season, hunters need a general license and a bear license. A general license costs $20.90 for resident adults and $101.90 for nonresident adults, and a bear license costs $16.90 for residents and $36.90 for nonresidents.
Both licenses must be in possession while hunting deer and bears concurrently, and all deer and bears must be tagged and reported as required by law and explained in the 2016-17 Pennsylvania Hunting & Trapping Digest.
Extended bear seasons will be open in WMUs 2B, 5B, 5C and 5D – Nov. 28 to Dec. 10; WMUs 3B, 3C and 3D – Nov. 28 to Dec. 3; and WMUs 1B, 2C, 4B, 4C, 4D and 4E – Nov. 30 to Dec. 3.