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Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Game Commission released the black bear harvest totals for the various bear hunting seasons throughout the state.
The final tally revealed Pennsylvania bear hunters bagged 2,920 bears, which amounts to 250 bears fewer than the 3,170 taken in the 2022 seasons. The all-time record bear harvest for Pennsylvania occurred in 2019 when hunters bagged 4,653 bears.
Hunters have several different opportunities to hunt bears in Pennsylvania. Bowhunters took 702 bears during the archery seasons in September and October. Also in October, the muzzleloader season produced 424 bears and the special firearms season 117 bears.
The traditional statewide firearms season in November accounted for 1,086 bears, and the extended season that ran concurrently with the firearms deer season in designated Wildlife Management Units. The Game Commission eliminated the extended bear season in five WMUs -- 1B, 2C, 4A, 4B and 4D -- for 2023.
"So I think this decrease in the overall harvest is mostly explained by the removal of the extended season in those five WMUs," said Emily Carrollo, the Game Commission's Black Bear Program Specialist. "Obviously, there are many other things that affect a harvest season for any wildlife species. But most of it can be explained by the removal of those five WMUs."
Bear hunters continue to find success throughout Pennsylvania as bears were taken in 2023 in 58 of the state's 67 counties. Tioga County Lycoming County were again the top two producers with 176 and 170 bears respectively. The rest of the top 10 bear counties for 2023 were Potter with 155, Pike with 142, Bradford with 138, Luzerne with 135, Monroe with 127, Wayne with 124, Clinton with 108 and Carbon with 101.
Most of the counties in our region posted harvest totals well below those of 2022. They include, with 2022 harvest total in parentheses, Blair, 11 (33); Bedford, 34 (71); Huntingdon, 25 (81); Centre, 71 (122); Cambria, 5 (44); and Clearfield, 72 (114).
Pennsylvania has produced 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, but no bears tipped the scales more than 700 pounds in 2023 bear seasons. That seems somewhat surprising given the reports of an especially abundant acorn crop last fall. Apparently, the bears didn't fatten up on all those acorns.
The largest bear harvested in 2023 was a 691-pounder taken in the extended rifle season in Porter Township, Pike County, with five other bears weighing more than 600 pounds.
The other nine heaviest bears in the statewide top 10 were: a 645-pounder taken in the archery season in Foster Township, Schuylkill County; a 636-pounder taken in the firearms season in Roaring Brook Township, Lackawanna County; a 630-pounder taken in the firearms season in Hamilton Township, Monroe County; a 616-pounder taken in archery season in Nesquehoning Borough, Carbon County; a 605-pounder taken in the firearms season in Upper Mount Bethel Township, Northampton County; a 589-pounder taken in the firearms season in Washington Township, Jefferson County; a 581-pounder taken in the firearms season in Watson Township, Lycoming County; a 581-pounder taken in the firearms season in Cherry Township, Sullivan County; and a 576-pounder taken in the firearms season in Cherry Township.
Only deer hunting draws more hunters in Pennsylvania than does bear hunting at present with bear license sales that have topped 200,000 for the fifth consecutive year. That popularity should continue given the combination of widespread abundance and the prospects of bagging a world-class trophy black bear.
Special presentation
The John Kennedy Chapter of Trout Unlimited will hold its next monthly meeting at the Allegheny Township Volunteer Fire Department Hall, 651 Sugar Run Rd, Altoona, on Tuesday, March 5, from 7-9 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.
The featured speaker for the evening will be Frank Nale. His presentation will be "Spin Fishing for Trout." Nale is an expert on the subject with 45 years of experience fishing and crafting spinning lures for trout. He will offer valuable insight on tackle, fishing techniques and stream selection. Also a talented photographer, he uses many of the photographs included in his program to express the enjoyment of fishing beyond just catching trout.