Pa. bear hunters having a great season so far [column] | Outdoors

Pennsylvania bear hunters are having an incredible fall already, and the big hunt is still three weeks away.

According to Pennsylvania Game Commission harvest data for the 2026-27 hunting season, bear hunters have checked in 1,292 bears so far this year.

Before 2015, this wouldn’t have been possible, since the only bear hunt was the three-day firearms season held at the start of Thanksgiving week.

But since then, the Game Commission has expanded bear hunting opportunities in order to keep up with an ever-expanding bear population.

Hunters who have taken bears so far this year could have taken them during the archery bear season, which started as early as Sept. 19 in some Wildlife Management Units, and continues in some units through Nov. 27.

Or there was the statewide muzzleloader bear season that ran Oct. 22-25, which coincided with the special, early firearms bear hunt for junior and senior license holders during the same dates.

The big hunt is the statewide, firearms bear season scheduled for Nov. 21-24.

That will be followed by extended bear season in WMUs 2B, 5B, 5C and 5D from Nov. 28-Dec. 13.

Again, when the big firearms season kicks off, and camps fill up in the mountains to do giant drives that keep bears moving across huge landscapes, that’s when Pennsylvania typically sees the most – and biggest – bears taken.

Already, early season hunters have tagged some pretty impressive bruins, most likely with primitive weapons.

The biggest one recorded so far is a 656-pound beast that was taken in Monroe County.

The next heaviest weight recorded is 588 pounds, and three bears are listed at that weight – one each taken in Monroe, Pike and Potter counties.

Monroe County in the Poconos is well-known for producing giant bears.

The heaviest bear ever recorded in Pennsylvania came from Monroe County.

It was a bear weighing an estimated 879 pounds, shot by David Price in 2010.

The Game Commission estimated that bear – a male – was 17 years old.

While state wildlife agencies often track bears by weight, the Boone & Crockett Club, which keeps records for trophy game all over the world, tracks bear records according to skull size.

And while bears with the biggest skulls are sure to be heavy bears, they might not be the heaviest.

The largest hunter-killed black bear reported by Boone & Crokett across North America is a bear with a skull measuring 23 9/16 inches, taken by Robert Christian in Monroe County in 2011.

That bear actually ranks second in the Boone & Crockett record book behind the world record with a skull measuring 23 10/16 inches.

That skull from the already-dead bear was picked up by someone in 1975 in Utah.

The Pennsylvania county that has produced the most bears so far this year is Clinton County, where hunters have tagged 90 bears.

Following are Bradford County, with 65, and Luzerne with 63.

Southeast Pennsylvania is the largest area of Pennsylvania that historically doesn’t produce bears.

That’s not surprising, given all the development and lack of mountains and dense forest.

Lancaster County produced its first and only hunter-killed bear in 2024, but it was taken illegally.

John Stoltzfus, 48, of Drumore Township, shot and killed a 240-pound bear near his home on Dec. 10, 2024.

Though he held the proper licenses to take the bear, and bears were in season at the time, a county judge determined Stoltzfus was trespassing on Constellation Energy property when he shot the bear, which Game Commission officials said traveled north into Lancaster County from Maryland.

Around Lancaster County this year, two bears have been taken in Lebanon County, seven bears have been shot in Dauphin County and six bears have been tagged in Berks County.

Pennsylvania bears can live a long time.

Every bear tagged must be checked in with the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Usually, a tooth is pulled from each bear to send away for laboratory testing to determine age.

During the 2025-26 hunting season, four bears were taken that were at least 20 years old, according to Game Commission data, with two of them being aged at 27 years each.

Both were fairly large sows – a 350-pounder from Luzerne County and a 275-pounder from Clinton County.

There were dozens of bears shot that were at least 15 years old.

Last year’s total bear harvest was 2,890. We’re almost halfway to that mark this year, and the big gun season is still coming.

The all-time record year for bears taken in Pennsylvania is 2019, when 4,653 bears were reported.

That year was one of three since 2005 when the bear take topped 4,000.

Since 2000, the annual harvest has fluctuated between 2,600 and 3,600 bears.

For 2023, 2024 and 2025, the annual bear kill was below 3,000 each year.

Might Pennsylvania move back over 3,000 bears again this year?

Time will tell, but we’re off to a great start.

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