"Ages are available only for bears from which a tooth was pulled. This increase does not come without a cost though, with the overall costs for the non-commercial treatments nearly doubling to over $1.5 million, as well as additional costs in personnel. In comparison, the four-day black bear rifle season netted 1,314. If you harvested a bear that was deemed a cub at the check station, no tooth was pulled and your bear was 10 months old at time of harvest. Alt served over 20 years as the Pennsylvania Game Commission's lead bear biologist, where he helped oversee a recovery of Ursa americanus from about 3,000 bears to 15,000 and the expansion of their range from about a dozen counties to over 60.Following on his success with bears, he was asked by then-Governor Tom Ridge to take on the demanding role of the lead whitetail biologist in a state . More: Pa. Game Commission gives bear hunters opportunities as bear population booms Hunters have already taken. That was the third time since 2005 that the harvest topped 4,000 animals. Junior and Senior license holders, those with disabled person permits, and Pennsylvania residents serving on active duty in the armed forces, may hunt bears or antlerless deer with a rifle during the special firearms season from Oct. 20-22. Great archery season:Pa. hunter reflects on whats in a name, harvests 3 deer, bear this fall. Our staff adapted to the challenges presented by the pandemic and found ways to overcome this adversity. The largest bear reported is the 722-pound male taken with a shotgun in the extended season, on Dec. 4, in Letterkenny Township in Franklin County, by Wade Glessner, of Shippensburg. For ages of bears with legal seals #2109265 21158652. A more stable funding structure is one in which the licenses and license fees are set by the Commission, with the ability to offer new types of licenses that we can better market to our hunters and trappers, and if needed, make small, incremental adjustments in license price when necessary. Here's the latest bear tallies as reported by the Pa. Game Commission. please click here to run a speed test and share your results in a support ticket. We have a governing Board of Commissioners that sets policy, hire a workforce to implement that policy, create our budget and allocate resources where necessary, and generate revenue primarily through license sales and natural-resource development on lands owned by the Commission. Because the current pandemic has placed additional human pressure on global bat populations, the Wildlife Futures and PGC developed and validated COVID-19 testing for bats. Its followed by Potter with 179, Pike at 167, Tioga with 165, Clinton had 155 andBradford at 135. Rounding out the top 10 were Bradford County (136), Sullivan County (127), Wayne County (120), Centre County (118), and Huntingdon County (115). April 12, 2023 |Timber 2 Table Wild Game Recipes, April 5, 2023 |Timber 2 Table Wild Game Recipes, Pennsylvania Game Commission Posts Bear Age Data On Website. The second component of Pennsylvania bear hunting is the regular statewide bear season. April 17, 2023 |The Realblog with Stephanie Mallory. Report an issue with another viewer by hovering over their post and clicking the down-arrow on the right, then selecting "Report". The population increases and decreases depending on a variety of factors. Overall the bear population is healthy and doing well, Carrollo concluded. In addition, if nuisance bears are being attracted to an area by other wildlife feeding, game wardens can issue written notice to temporarily halt the activity. This is a significant accomplishment especially when compared to many other states across the nation that reported substantial increases in turnaround time and declines in CWD sampling caused by complications associated with COVID-19. Unlike in years past, though, on the Monday and Tuesday of that season when the harvest slows dramatically there will be no designated check stations. The next nine heaviest bears reported all topping 600 pounds came, in order, from Luzerne County, Armstrong County, Snyder County, Clearfield County, Lycoming County, Carbon County, Pike County, Clearfield County and Clinton County. In 1983, hunters first harvested more than 1,529 bears in Pennsylvania. Southwest 247 (260): Armstrong, 58 (56); Somerset, 58 (70); Fayette, 49 (43); Westmoreland, 41 (32); Cambria, 19 (24); Indiana, 12 (30); Allegheny, 7 (3); and Greene, 3 (2). According to a release Pennsylvanians took 3,659 bears across last year's various seasons. No maximum draw weight currently exists in Pennsylvania. Check out this video. COVID-19 significantly interrupted mail service in 2020, and in some instances negatively impacted the chances of hunters to acquire licenses for their preferred Wildlife Management Units. Hunters should also go into the woods with a plan for how to get a bear out if they harvest one. Our grouse biologist, Lisa Williams, was awarded the Association of Fish and Wildlife Associations Ernest Thompson Seton Award, given to to the state, provincial, or federal agency which has best promoted a public awareness of the need to support the science and practice of wildlife management. Additionally, the Game Commission development team, including Lisa, that developed this siting tool received the Governors Award for Excellence for their collaboration on developing this novel tool. WMU. The agency works to balance the number of bears based on what the habitat can sustain along with the needs of the public and farmers. On the wildlife protection front, 103 full-time state game wardens, assisted by 247 deputy game wardens, were active across the state in 2020. From increasing the penalties for poachers, to joining the Interstate Wildlife Violators Compact, to providing equitable retirement for our game wardens, to expanding Sunday hunting opportunities all these changes have benefited wildlife, our customers, and the agency. A total of 215,219 people bought a bear license in 2021; that was not far off 2020's record sales of 220,471. The CWD-infected materials from these trials are also being used for two additional studies to try to detect CWD in several different deer tissues and in deer feces. As part of our license-modernization focus, we also would like to work with this Committee on providing the Game Commission the authority to modernize our license sales, similar to Act 56 of 2020, which provided this authority to the Fish and Boat Commission. BLACK BEAR, ARCHERY (WMUs 1A, 1B, 2A, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 2H, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E and 5A):Oct. 15-Nov. 5. The heaviest bear ever taken in Pennsylvania was an 875-pounder harvested in 2010 in Middle Smithfield Township, Pike County. I am happy to answer any questions you may have. Learn moreabout Pennsylvania black bears at Pennsylvania Game Commission's website. Sign up for Outdoor stories:Go Outdoors PA free newsletter. We're sorry to hear that you are experiencing an issue! On February 13th, a class of 27 cadets graduated from the Ross Leffler School of Conservation and were deployed to fill some of the vacant districts. It is worth noting that a recent report from the National Deer Association credited Pennsylvania as one of only three states in the entire U.S. to harvest more than 300,000 deer annually. For the first time, bear season can be monitored in real-time. But added together, those seasons provide a lot of opportunity. Currently, females comprise 22 percent of the harvest. 2023 PA Bear Den goes live in January from a new location in Pike County. Other large bears from the 2021 bear seasons, all but one taken with a rifle, include: a 681-pound male taken with a bow in archery season in Newport Township, Luzerne County, by Neil Minnich of Nanticoke; a 676-pound male taken in the regular statewide season in West Franklin Township, Armstrong County, by Paul Skanderson, of Freeport; a 649-pound make taken in the extended season in Spring Township, Snyder County, by Ashton McIlroy, of McClure; a 640-pound male taken in the regular season in Pike Township, Clearfield County, by Brandon Knee, of Houtzdale; a 640-pound male taken in the extended season in Gamble Township, Lycoming County, by Matthew Aikey, of Trout Run; a 615-pound male taken in the extended season in Penn Forest Township, Carbon County, by Ryan Hausman, of Jim Thorpe; a 614-pound male taken in the extended season in Lehmen Township, Pike County, by Matthew Romig, of Bethlehem; a 605-pound male taken in the regular season in Bradford Township, Clearfield County, by Storm Bumbarger, of Woodland; and a 602-pound male taken in the regular season in Beech Creek Township, Clinton County, by Jacob Rembold, of Lock Haven. To access the data and learn the age of their bear, a hunter will need to have their legal seal number from the check station certificate. The statewide regular bear season accounted for the largest part of the 2021 bear harvest. Join us in celebrating Pennsylvanias bountiful black bears. Northcentral 1,219 (1,310): Lycoming, 211 (186); Potter, 180 (188); Tioga, 166 (185); Clinton, 156 (150); Centre, 118 (117); McKean, 107 (87); Clearfield, 94 (158); Elk, 80 (140); Cameron, 68 (61); and Union, 39 (38). The audit stated: The data shows that revenues per capita and revenues per licensee are not, at this time, placing an undue burden on huntersThat said, the Pennsylvania Game Commission has not received an increase in the price of a license since 1999. Its likely that the high harvests of 2020 and 2021 account for the lower population estimate. This footage was days before the sow decided to take the bear family outside the den and into the woods. What to know about bears:The bear facts about summer bruins. This habitat type continues to be in serious decline across Pennsylvania and we are working toward a long-term goal of balancing our age class distribution of forests at the landscape level on our game lands. Although our human-dimensions research is still ongoing, we believe that providing Sunday hunting is at least partially to be credited for the increase in license buyers in 2020. Therefore, providing more weekend hunting opportunities is one of the best steps we can take to address the issue of declining hunter participation. This past year, we impacted over 16,000 acres of state game lands through commercial and non-commercial forestry activities, which is an increase from approximately 7,000 acres in just six years. Join us in celebrating Pennsylvania's bountiful black bears. Second, hunters have been taking more female bears. Hunters took 1,315 bears in that four-day hunt. HARRISBURG, PA - The Pennsylvania Game Commission today reported results from the 2021-22 deer seasons, which ended in January. Only 1 bear may be taken during the license year. Considering the changes that have occurred in hunting and trapping over the past three decades, it is time to modernize this statute to reflect those changes. Hunters can go to thiswebsiteand click on the black bear harvest under the "quick links" section. We believe it is time for such a system to be adopted and I look forward to the opportunity to work with the Committee on making this change. The decline in numbers is nothing to be concerned about, says Pennsylvania Game Commission black bear specialist Emily Carollo, who points out that the states population is healthy at nearly 16,000. And this past year we continued our efforts to provide more opportunities for Pennsylvanias hunters. The total. The average over the last 10 to 15 years has been a little over 3,000 bears. The 2020 bear harvest, for comparison's sake, was 3,621. Bear season lasts from Nov. 21-25,including a day of Sunday hunting. If your issue is not resolved by clearing your browser cache, please follow our comprehensive troubleshooting tips for errors and buffering or other stream issues. Lycoming County gave up 212 bears to rank first among counties for bear harvest. If theres ever been a great time to be a Pennsylvania bear hunter, this is it, right now.. Keystone State. PA Game Commission photo. The legal seal number is also found on the plastic tag the Pennsylvania Game Commission official at the check station put through the ear of your bear. Only through natural-resource development have we been able to meet our financial obligations. Hunters took 1,315 bears in that four-day hunt. The running tally of bears killed by Pennsylvania hunters in 2021, maintained through the Pennsylvania Game Commission's online link to its bear check stations across the state, passed. Just six years later, Pennsylvania broke the 2,000 bear harvest mark with 2,213. The archery bear season added another 680, while the muzzleloader/special firearms bear season harvest was 536. Postal Service delivers the application in a timely manner to a county treasurer. Creamy Hungarian Turkey Leg and Mushroom Soup, Preparing for the Beginning of Another Archery Season, North American Super Slam: 29 Big Game Animals You Need, Strut Report: Southern Hunters Successful Despite Cold and Wind, Wyoming and Colorado Wildlife Managers Adjust Hunting License and Season Proposals Due to Harsh Winter, 8 Reasons You Wont Kill a Public-Land Gobbler. More people wanted to hunt and trap, visit state game lands, and purchase our products. Thank you, Representative Maloney. Pennsylvania Game Commission Posts Bear Age Data On Website HARRISBURG, PA -- Hunters interested in learning the age of the bear they harvested during the 2009 seasons can log onto the Pennsylvania Game Commission's website ( www.pgc.state.pa.us ). more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here. Learn If you do not recall your legal seal number, the second set of tables list the ages by region based on the county of harvest and data are then sorted by date, weight, sex, and legal seal. Hunters should call the aforementioned numbers to get their bear checked. Pennsylvania hunters recorded their all-time best bear season in 2019, when they harvested 4,653. more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here. More people purchased hunting and furtaking licenses, applied for an elk license, hunted over managed dove fields, bought a pheasant permit, used our shooting ranges, and found time to hunt and trap. The map will constantly update with hunters checking in their bears. Even smaller bears can be difficult for one person to handle. Continue to check back here for updates, exclusive images/video, information and more! But, Carrollo said, hunters who find the food sources bears are keying on at various times throughout the fall, and hunt those spots hard, always have a chance. The agency stocked over 221,231 pheasants this year, which were hunted by 49,613 adults and 13,220 juniors for a total of 62,833 permit holders. The 2021-2022 Bear Age Table is sorted by . We have a very dedicated and committed workforce; their response to COVID-19 clearly demonstrated this devotion. For ages of bears with legal seals #4411-2105019, For ages of bears with legal seals #2105020 2109264, For ages of bears with legal seals #2109265 21158652, For ages of bears harvested in the NW region, For ages of bears harvested in the SW region, For ages of bears harvested in the NC region, For ages of bears harvested in the SC region, For ages of bears harvested in the NE region, For ages of bears harvested in the SE region, Special Requests to Use State Game Lands Information, Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP). The statewide buck harvest was estimated at 145,320 and the antlerless harvest at 231,490. Hunters have already taken almost 2,000 bears, according to a press release. Licenses purchased online cannot be used until they are received through the mail because bear licenses contain harvest ear tags. 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