Hunters harvest 3,170 bears in 2022; 3 over 700 lbs., 11 topped 600 lbs.

Pennsylvania hunters harvested some tremendous black bears in the 2022 seasons, including three of more than 700 pounds and 11 more that topped 600 pounds.

Those were among 3,170 taken overall — down from 3,621 in 2021 — but still enough to rank the harvest as the 14th largest all time.

Hunters in 2022 took bears in 58 of the state’s 67 counties and 22 of its 23 Wildlife Management Units (WMUs).

Hunters took 737 bears in the archery season, 712 in the muzzleloader/special firearms season, 1,051 in the general season and 663 in the extended season. Another seven were taken in the early season.

In 2022, 213,639 individuals — 203,922 Pennsylvania residents, 9,717 nonresidents — bought a bear license. That was the third-most ever.

The largest taken in 2022 was the 755-pounder harvested by Cory Bennett, of Toms River, N.J. He got it with a muzzleloader on Oct. 15 in Middle Smithfield Township, Monroe County.

The heaviest bear ever taken in Pennsylvania was an 875-pounder harvested in 2010 in Pike County. Since 1992, seven black bears weighing at least 800 pounds have been lawfully harvested in Pennsylvania hunting seasons.

https://americanmilitarynews.com/20...n-2022-3-over-700-lbs-11-topped-600-lbs/

1.5% success rate, but some real pigs in those numbers.

Yeah, but how big were they?

🤔

Wish they would grow that big in Colorado. 300 pounds is big bear here. PA has more abundant and diverse feed. Same with the transplanted elk there.

I hunted every legal hour of this year’s PA bear season. No luck. But had 2 shot within 300 yards of me in Oil Creek State Park.

Seems like the guys who put on drives 20-25 people at a time have the best odds.

Here’s a link to the detailed harvest data

https://www.pgc.pa.gov/HuntTrap/Hun...ackBearAgeHarvestData/Pages/default.aspx

Interesting on the age differences, with some bears over 15 years old harvested. The other thing noticeable is males are much larger than females. I didn’t realize that 200lb is about all the bigger females get.

Out of state PA hunting licenses are $102. This includes 1 buck, and unlimited small game. Out of state bear is over the counter - with no limit on number of sales. I believe it was around $30.

Skull size over 20" is exceptional

Over 18" is good.

For eastern black bear.

That 1.5% success rate has meant exactly two opportunities for me in 35 years of hard hunting for them

Very hard to draw a tag in my area of Michigan

We have to chase them off the picnic table

God forbid you leave out some garbage or clean fish

Damn nuisance like raccoons here

I've hunted bears in PA 3 times in the last 10 years, first time one of our party shot one about 500 yards from me but it ran towards me in a swamp and I heard its' death moan, second time I did not see a thing, the third time I heard some branches breaking in the laurel and it was either a bear or noisy deer. It seems like somebody I know gets one every year somewhere in PA.

I hope to devote time to it once I retire, definitely on my bucket list though, along with a moose.

I've killed too many whitetails to count and am lucky enough to killed have 2 caribou and 2 bull elk with a bow (5X5 and 6X5). If I don't get a bear soon I might have to pay for a hunt up in Maine.

It seems all they report from PA is weight.

Are there even tags available down there?

I've been stockpiling preference points since the last time I hunted bears in 2004. I probably have 15 or so points now and am being cautious about when to spend the for a tag.

That's all we care about. Nobody ever talks skull size

My county (Centre) has a high harvest count, but the norther tier counties are even better.

Im in the BALDWIN bear unit

Few tags

Lots of nuisance bears

They only report weight because they are using data from field dressed bears at the check station. Skull measurement are used in the PA record books.

How are you allowed to hunt in MI? Baiting? Hounds?

In PA neither baiting or hounds are legal, which makes hunting harder, but everyone gets a chance.

Spent several days in muzzleloader and three days in rifle season in Clinton county. Good bear area.

Never heard a shot. Only saw two other hunters in the rifle season.

Rough year for me. But I know I'm in the right spot. I'm right at 10% success rate after this past season lol. So I'm due for another in about four years.
-Jake

SupFoo gets an A+ on this news report.

Pa black bears are the biggeat youll find. Some absolute monsters here. Have seen many, many bears, but only 2 were easily 500lb plus

Here in the northeast the population has really took off. Ten years ago it was really rare to see a bear. Two years ago I saw 14 different bear throughout the summer. Last summer there was a mother with 4 cubs living on a farm we rent.

I've killed 3 bear, and had opportunities on a couple more. A guy who hunts my farm has killed three in the last four years.

Not even hide square?

Can’t come out in pieces?

Never heard anyone talk about hide squared and we always get them out whole

Thanks.

Interesting different methods in different places.

1.5% success seems low. Just took a glance at ours and most WMU’s run about a 30% success rate

They can, no law against it, but I've never heard of it. PA is a bring out whole state it seems. Seems like noone even quarters elk...

I grew in the Clarion, PENN area in the 80s and my dad would always see bears cross the road by his house. He never hunted them and thought nothing of it. Guys would tell my dad about bear sightings in archery season, but come small game season they would disappear like ghosts. Plenty of posted property in the area, so they were safe. Now in the past few years, I see the bear kill in Clarion is pretty good

My buddy has 15 pts for our area Baldwin unit, up by Caddy. He should draw this Sept. I'll bait for him. I baited 3 years ago for my 74 year buddy , 20 mins into the hunt he shot a 250 lb boar he had 15 pts . I'll be going in this season with 11pts I'm on the fence if I want to keep putting in iv killed 3 bears in Canda all ready.

Wow. You be at the epicenter of bear territory.

No bait and no dogs.

Until recently you had to bring the whole bear out.

It's legal now to quarter them up but few do it still. Just tradition I guess. But all you have to bring is the tagged head and hide to the check station now.

Elk still have to come out whole and be brought to the check station.

Which is why this is a pretty common sight in elk season for the successful hunters.


My only bear was downhill the entire way to the truck. Way down hill. Give it a kick and watch it disappear.


-Jake

Baiting and hounds are legal in Michigan....

In over 40 years as a guide the largest bear I have harvested myself weighted 480 lbs field dressed it was 7 years old.....many weighting 200-300 lbs 3-5 years old....

Here in Michigan it get harder and harder to draw a permit....I went from getting a permit every year to 2-3 years wait and that is for the last hunting period in the UP....
If a person needs to wait up to 14 years in some areas paying $5 to apply every year there going to shoot the first bear they see....

No baiting in Virginia, but hounds are legal in certain portions[counties], son is a hound hunter.
His group took 4 bear opening week of hound season.
Our #'s are starting to get out of control[like deer]

He killed this one while bow hunting[deer] on a 70 degree day.
#300+
It about killed his azz getting it out that day.



Here is a huge male in front of our house.

That's about the same as Idaho.

THIS. 18 is Book for Maine Skull & Antler

Ah, good ol' PA. I've been away long enough now that when I go back all my relatives have accents! To think I grew up never putting an "s" at the end of the words "buck" or "doe" for plural usage, and thinking that's just how it's done, as in "I seen 37 doe, but no buck." Knowing what I know now, there were several deer I should have packed out rather than dragging them, but it was all I knew at the time. Nothing wrong with any of that, just different.

Is bear hunting in PA still a free-fire zone with sows with cubs and cubs themselves being legal game?

New Jersey has the highest population density of black bears of all states, according to a professor emeritus of biology from Rutgers I talked to about ten years ago. A friend of mine shot a big bear during the 2016 archery bear season. It field dressed at 679.5 lbs. I would guess it would be around 800 lbs. on the hoof. I live about 20 miles from NYC, and he took the bear only a few miles from here. Do we have a bear problem? You betcha....

Yes.

-Jake

The eastern states have a lot more good food sources for bears than the western states do. Idaho, for instance, has almost no hardwood forests, only conifers. We have 10x the number of bears in NJ, but we have almost 10x more land. Much of it doesn't have good food sources for bears as the southern part of Idaho is vast areas of arid sagebrush deserts and mountains.
Id allows bear hunting over bait and with dogs. We also have both a fall and spring season. NJ's problem isn't the bears. It's the liberals who won't let the bear numbers be reduced to safe levels.

Plenty of bear around here, they dog 'em mostly but bait is legal the first part of the season.

I heard there was a 900 pounder taken in North Carolina

I saw pictures of a big one. I don't remember the weight

The well fed bear killed last year?
That ^^^^ was in the western NC mountains, they don't get that large there naturally.

NC's big bears are along the coast[soybean, corn country].

I usually have at least one opportunity per season on our PA farm in Bradford County. I passed on 2 bears this season, my daughter passed on one and my buddy also passed on one. Used to be a rare sighting when I was a kid here 40 years ago and people went to the mountains to hunt them. They are everywhere now and instead of a 3 day season, you can shoot them in deer archery, during the early muzzleloader doe season in October and during deer rifle season. A ton more opportunities. This one almost got shot during early muzzleloader season but I was all alone and didn't feel like screwing with it. They have been ripping up our apple trees, bluebird houses and bee hives so they won't be getting a pass from here on out. I am not a big bear meat guy and can't see shooting one if I won't eat it, but found a guy who wants the meat so my sightings are probably over, lol.

Pleasantly plump:

My son in law got this one in Wyoming County Pa. a few years back in a corn field that had just been picked. 435 lb. field dressed. Taxidermist ripped him off, took his deposit & hide. Never got anything back. He does have the skull but never had it scored.

That taxidermist needs a beating

yes they can be brought out quartered. but they still take measurements and record the approximate liveweight.

Yeah it was 700 lbs and had been dumpster diving or living in a corn bin or something.

I'd say northern Wayne county or the Poconos, always has quite a few big ones.

Feeders create pigs. Waiting to harvest over them is OK, it’s not hunting.

There was a cinnamon bear here this year. My neighbor saw it in one of my fields, then a buddy saw it during archery season. It was killed 7-8 miles away during the early muzzleloader season. The guy got busted baiting it.


Here's a game cam pic, taken from my cellphone of the computer. (Not the best)

That thing is a pig, what part of Wyoming county?

I don't think I've ever killed a bear that could have been brought out whole . Usually skinned and best meat cuts saved. Many times by the second trip the meat is spoiled.