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The Pennsylvania Game Commission recently released the bear harvest figures for the 2022 bear hunting seasons, indicating that hunters harvested 3, 170 Pennsylvania black bears.
That total is 451 bears fewer than the 3,621 taken in 2021 and ranks as the 14th highest season total of all time. The all-time record bear harvest for Pennsylvania occurred in 2019 when hunters bagged 4,653 bears.
Bear hunting continues to enjoy a wave of popularity in Pennsylvania with sales of bear licenses for 2022 totaling 213,639, the third most ever. Pennsylvania residents bought 203,922 bear licenses and nonresidents accounted for another 9,717 bear licenses.
With four statewide bear seasons, bear hunters now have more opportunities than ever to take a Pennsylvania black bear. Bowhunters took 737 bears during the three-week archery season in late October and early November. A week of muzzleloader season and three days of a special firearms season in mid-October accounted for another 712 bears.
Hunters bagged 1,051 bears in the four-day general bear season during the weekend before Thanksgiving. The extended seasons that run concurrently with the regular firearms deer season produced 663 bears. And an additional seven bears were taken during a special early season in Wildlife Management Units 2B, 5B, 5C and 5D.
Harvest records also indicate that black bears are found just about everywhere in Pennsylvania with bears being taken in 58 of the state's 67 counties and 22 of the 23 WMUs. Tioga County with 187 bears and Lycoming County with 152 bears were the top two bear producers in 2022.
Here in our region, Centre County ranked fifth overall with 122 bears, and Clearfield County tied with Monroe County at seventh overall with 114 bears. Huntingdon County produced 81 bears, Bedford County 71, Cambria County 44 and Blair County 33.
Pennsylvania also produces some of the biggest black bears in the world. The heaviest bear ever bagged in Pennsylvania weighed a staggering 875 pounds and was taken in Pike County in 2010.
Pennsylvania hunters have taken seven black bears weighing more than 800 pounds since 1992. In 2022, three bears weighing more than 700 pounds were taken. The heaviest weighed 755 pounds and was taken with a muzzleloader Oct. 15. Next was a 746-pounder taken with a rifle on Nov. 22. And the third was a 705-pounder taken on Oct. 15 with a muzzleloader. All three of those huge bruins were taken in Monroe County.
Eleven bears weighing 600 pounds or more were also harvested during 2022. One of those was a a 681-pounder taken with a bow on Oct. 21 in Bedford County.
The widespread abundance and the prospects of bagging a world-class trophy black bear makes a strong case that now is the golden age of bear hunting in Pennsylvania. As a hunter who has experienced the thrill of taking Pennsylvania black bear, it is gratifying to know that many of my fellow hunters will have ample opportunity to enjoy a successful bear hunt for seasons to come.
The deer harvest numbers will probably be released later this month, as usual. Along with the statistics regarding the success of deer hunters last season, there will undoubtedly be the inevitable news about the ongoing threat of chronic wasting disease.
Most of the news about CWD is the continued expansion of the disease and increased infection rates in south-central Pennsylvania where the disease was first detected in 2012. This year, however, several research projects will be starting to better understand CWD and its effects on our wild deer herd.
Bedford and Fulton counties have accounted for 90 percent of the deer found to be CWD positive since 2012, and infection rates in the deer herd there are now thought to be approaching 20 percent. During the next three winters, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, in cooperation with the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Penn State University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine's (Penn Vet) Wildlife Futures Program, will be capturing and fitting deer with GPS collars to monitor them during the study.
"Although it is unfortunate that CWD is now found in about one of every five hunter-harvested adult deer in these counties, these circumstances do provide a higher probability of capturing, marking and monitoring individual CWD-infected deer," said Andrea Korman, the Game Commission's CWD Section Supervisor. "It will give us insight into the effects of CWD on Pennsylvania's deer population."
Other research projects are underway to improve the detection of CWD. Currently, there is no method for testing live animals for CWD. The disease also has a long incubation period, as long as two years or more from the time an animal is infected until it begins to exhibit symptoms. During that time, however, it can be spreading the infection to other animals.
The Wildlife Futures Program is also now working to train dogs to sniff out CWD. The first phase of this research has validated that dogs can feces of deer infected with CWD from those that are not infected. The second phase of the project will involve taking dogs into the field to determine their CWD scent detection on the landscape.
After more than a decade of gloomy news about CWD here in Pennsylvania, these new are a refreshing change. While they are unlikely to produce quick answers for controlling the spread of CWD, there could be some hope that day will occur a little sooner.