With about 1,000 black bears harvested so far during the rifle season, a hunter who got a 717-pound bruin and five other hunters share their success stories.
Pennsylvania’s four-day rifle bear season opened Nov. 22 and since then, 1,008 bears have been registered with the Game Commission as of Monday afternoon. For this fall, also including the archery, muzzleloader and special firearms seasons, hunters have harvested at least 2,181 bears in the Keystone State.
Nate Miller of Beaver County had no idea he would be getting the largest bear so far when he went hunting Saturday in Moraine State Park in Butler County. “The big man upstairs sent me a gift,” he said.
The 38-year-old from Rochester Township was hunting by himself when he downed a bear that has an estimated live weight of 717 pounds. That’s roughly the equivalent of four large whitetail bucks combined in Pennsylvania.
Nate Miller sits with his 717-pound bear he harvested Nov. 22, 2025, in Butler County.
Bear season preview: With rifle season soon getting underway, here’s how many bears were taken so far in Pa.
As of Monday afternoon, it was the heaviest bear of the year registered by the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The second heaviest weighs in at 649 pounds from Potter County.
“I didn’t know if I would be seeing anything,” he said. A friend shared some locations that might be good places for him to watch for bears.
When he walked up a ridge shortly after 9 a.m. where there were plenty of acorns, he saw something dark about 60 to 80 yards away and he raised his binoculars to get a closer look. “Sure enough, I could see black hair,” he said. He picked up his .30-06 rifle and walked over to a tree to get a steady rest. “I identified my target, made sure it was a bear, and there was a good back stop,” he said.
He fired his rifle three times. “In the excitement, the bear disappeared. So, I stood there for what seemed like an eternity, I didn’t see it running anywhere,” Miller said. He called his wife, Ashley, and told her what happened as he started going through his backpack to find more bullets. “I didn’t want to go after a bear with an empty gun,” he said.
As he eased his way toward where he shot, he soon found the bear near several logs lying dead. “I just kind of stood there for about 20 minutes,” he said.
Miller didn’t realize how large the bear really was until he walked up on it. Even then, he didn’t expect it to be the heaviest bear of the year so far. When he was making the initial phone calls his friends wanted him to guess the weight and he said he estimated from his experience that it may weigh 300 pounds. “I’m not sure, I don’t know if I was in shock or what,” he said.
After making calls to several people and taking photos, he marked the location on his phone and headed back to his truck to wait for help to arrive.
With the help of his family and friends and four people from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources who work at the park and provided a Gator ATV, they were able to retrieve the massive beast. “They helped us the last 100 to 150 yards to get it to a trail and then we hooked the rope around the bear’s neck to the buggy and they took it to a parking lot,” Miller explained.
Then it was time to celebrate. “Friends and family and their families came and young kids and newborns, everybody wanted to come see the bear,” he said.
2025 bear season: Pennsylvania hunters get more than 1,100 black bears, one hunter gets fourth with recurve
Nate Miller harvested this 717-pound bear while hunting Nov. 22, 2025, in Moraine State Park in Butler County.
At the Game Commission’s weigh station, he finally realized the significance of his animal. “Once I saw it go up on the scale and my brother pulled the truck out from underneath of it, and it went from 200, to 300 to 400, it was like playing a slot machine as the numbers kept getting higher,” he said.
The bear had a field dressed weight of 608 pounds and estimated live weight of 717. “They said it’s the biggest one we’ve had in the state today,” he said.
During a telephone interview Sunday evening, he said, “It really hasn’t sunk in yet.”
Saturday evening, Miller worked with his taxidermist, Tyler Marker of Marker’s Taxidermy in Harmony, until 3 a.m. Sunday removing the hide from the heavy bear. “It’s 7-foot-5 from nose to tail,” he said. He’s planning to have a full mount of the bear made with it stepping over some rocks and a piece of wood. “It’s going to be as natural as possible,” Miller said.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime bear. I would have been just as happy it was a 200-pound bear or an 80-pound bear,” he said. Less than 3% of Pennsylvania bear hunters each year get a bear.
While it’s his first Pennsylvania bear, it’s not his first successful bear hunt. He and his wife each harvested black bears in Maine in 2019 as part of their honeymoon trip.
Here are the insights of five other successful hunters.
Conrad Bevan of Greensburg holds his 487-pound bear Nov. 22, 2025. He was able to get the bear in Fayette County during a morning hunt.
A 487-pounder in Fayette County
Conrad Bevan, 27, of Greensburg shot a 487-pound bear Nov. 22 in Springfield Township, Fayette County. “I walked through some pines and a laurel thicket,” he said. “I thought it was a deer coming, he was 15 yards away coming around a tree and that’s when I shot him the first time. He got up on his hind legs and ran a bit and then he turned back around and started walking at me like nothing happened,” he said. Bevan shot four times to make sure the large animal expired. “It was a roller coaster. I didn’t know if I wanted to cry or laugh. Getting it out of there was fun, too. I ran into some good guys who helped get it out. We were falling down the mountain trying to drag him out. It was a good time,” he said about the more than 4-hour recovery.
He’s planning to have a full mount made of the bear. “He’s my first, the rest will be rugs if there are any.”
Dylan Teets of Meyersdale sits Nov. 22, 2025, with his 304-pound bear at the bear check station in New Centerville.
Somerset County bear
Dylan Teets, 18, of Meyersdale harvested a 304-pound bear Nov. 22 in Summit Township, Somerset County. “We were on drive No. 3. I walked the last two drives and so I sat on this one,” he said. “I was sitting there a little bit and the drivers got about 50 yards into the woods and I heard something heavy coming. I looked to my left and right there he was like 20 yards away and I got my gun,” he said. He fired four times and the bear fell by a creek. “I was really happy, proud. It was my first one,” he said. He’s planning to have a half-mount made of the bear as it has a white blaze area on its chest.
Scott Leister of Glencoe holds is 262-pound bear at the Pennsylvania Game Commission check station Nov. 22, 2025, in the New Centerville Fire Hall.
New Baltimore bear
Scott Leister, 35, of Glencoe, harvested a 262-pound boar while hunting in New Baltimore, Somerset County. It was his first bear. “I hiked up a very steep hill and had seen some deer. We were actually watching the deer,” he said. “The bear came sneaking through, slowly. We got a shot at him and missed. He came out through and ran towards us and then at 50 yards I shot and that’s where he laid,” Leister said. “It was a good, successful, quick hunt.”
Thinking about the encounter, he said, “It’s an adrenaline rush. I know my leg was shaking when we were done.”
Devin Walls of Brownsville holds his 229-pound bear Nov. 22, 2025, at the Pennsylvania Game Commission check station in the New Centerville Fire Hall.
Bear in Dunbar
Devin Walls, 29, of Brownsville, bagged a 229-pound sow in Dunbar, Fayette County. It was the third year he hunted this section of state Game Lands property. He was walking with his friend Lars Kisner, who told him there was a bear. “He didn’t want to shoot it because I took him there for the first time. He let me shoot it. I couldn’t believe it. He’s one hell of a friend for that,” Walls said. The bear was grazing about 70 yards away when he made the shot.
They had an uphill drag to the road and they called friends to help. “It took us five hours to get him out of there,” he said. Walls is having a rug made from the bear to remember the hunt. “It couldn’t have happened faster, it was 7 o’clock,” he said about the morning hunt.
Cody Brown of Somerset stands near his 155-pound bear Nov. 22, 2025, at the bear check station in New Centerville.
Brown gets black bear
Cody Brown, 28, of Somerset was hunting Nov. 22 in Jefferson Township, Somerset County, when he harvested a 155-pound boar. “We were doing a bear drive, and another bear came through before this one and another guy shot at it,” he said.
“This one came through about 15 minutes later and I was able to get a shot at this one.”
He made the shot from about 60 yards away. “I was shocked to even see one,” Brown said. “I’ve been buying my bear tag since I was 12 and I never saw one until today,” he said. “The first successful bear hunt I was ever part of.” He’s planning to have a rug made from the bruin.
Mollie Bryne, Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife disease technician, stands to a bear being weighed Nov. 22, 2025, at the bear check station in the New Centerville Fire Hall.
Game Commission bear checks
Successful hunters are required to have their bears inspected by the Game Commission.
Mollie Byrne, wildlife disease technician for the Game Commission, worked the check station at the New Centerville Fire Hall in Somerset County.
“There are a few reasons we do bear checks every year. One of the main reasons is we get population information from these harvested bears and that helps us make informed management decisions on their behalf,” she said.
The agency places a tag on its ear, weighs the animal and pulls a tooth to properly age the bear. “It has rings just like tree does,” she said.
The top 10 bears in Pennsylvania as of Monday range from 717 pounds in Butler County to 583 pounds in Clinton County. Tioga County so far has the most bears with 139, followed by Clinton County with 124.
Rifle bear season continues through Nov. 25 and extended bear seasons continue in several parts of the state on Nov. 29.
Alexis Batista, Pennsylvania Game Commission intern, weighs a black bear Nov. 22, 2025, at the check station in the New Centerville Fire Hall.
Brian Whipkey is the outdoors columnist for USA TODAY Network sites in Pennsylvania. Contact him at bwhipkey@gannett.com and sign up for our weekly Go Outdoors PA newsletter email on this website’s homepage under your login name. Follow him on Facebook @whipkeyoutdoors.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Pennsylvania rifle bear hunters get 1,000 including a 717 pound bruin