{"id":172888,"date":"2026-03-24T02:24:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T02:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/172888\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T02:24:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T02:24:29","slug":"1759-black-bears-harvested-in-new-yorks-2025-26-hunting-seasons-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/172888\/","title":{"rendered":"1,759 Black Bears Harvested in New York’s 2025-26 Hunting Seasons | Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"New<\/p>\n

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Image Courtesy of DEC<\/p>\n

UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) — Hunters harvested an estimated 1,759 black bears across New York during the 2025-26 hunting seasons, marking one of the highest totals in State history.<\/p>\n

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation reported that the 2025 bear harvest was second only to the 2003 season, with the Southern Zone setting a new record for bears taken.<\/p>\n

Hunters Statewide harvested about 4% more bears than in 2024 and 18% above the 10-year average, according to DEC data.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Southern Zone accounted for an estimated 1,202 bears, including the 10 heaviest recorded for the year.<\/p>\n

The Northern Zone saw 557 bears harvested, which was slightly lower than 2024 but still above the 10-year average.<\/p>\n

\"1,759<\/p>\n

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NYSDEC<\/p>\n

DEC noted that bear populations have expanded across New York over the past 70 years.<\/p>\n

In the 1950s, bears were found only in remote mountain regions but now occupy most areas of the state except Long Island and New York City.<\/p>\n

The Southern Zone has led the state in bear harvests for the past 20 years, surpassing the Northern Zone for the first time in 1998.<\/p>\n

The Northern Zone remains popular among hunters, with bears there tending to live longer, according to the DEC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2025, 74 out of 88 Wildlife Management Units reported bear harvests.<\/p>\n

The heaviest bear, weighing 562 pounds dressed, was taken in Ulster County.<\/p>\n

DEC received pre-molar teeth from 668 harvested bears to determine age.<\/p>\n

The oldest bear on record, harvested in 2024 in Mooers, Clinton County, was 26 years old.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"Documented
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

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Yes, there was another black bear sighting in Oneida County. Viewers have been sending us their videos and pictures from when they spotted a bear in their yard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n \"1,685
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has released statistics regarding bear hunting from last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image Courtesy of DEC UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) — Hunters harvested an estimated 1,759 black bears across New York…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172889,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[70482,70483,70484,22478,9,70485,11,10,49,2968],"class_list":["post-172888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-bear","tag-bear-hunting","tag-hunting-bear","tag-hunting-season","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-bears","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-state-of-new-york"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}