The numbers got a little better with yesterday’s release of the bear harvest, now covering two days of the state’s four-day bear season. Nonetheless, with fewer hunters on Monday than Saturday, it does not appear we’ll even come close to the harvest of recent years.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission yesterday said 1,310 bears have been taken in the state. That compares to 1,884 for the same two-day period last year. Two years ago, hunters took 2,224 in the season’s first two days.
The harvest this year was severely impacted by Saturday’s state-wide rain storms, which kept hunters out of the woods.
With only one bear taken in Indiana County on Saturday, hunters took four more on Monday. Last year in the first two days, 19 bears were taken in the county.
Jefferson County hunters had a good Monday, closing the gap to within five bears of last year’s two-day harvest. Hunters there took 26 bears yesterday, for a total of 41 so far. Armstrong County hunters did even better, overtaking last year’s total. After four bears taken on Saturday, hunters in Armstrong County took 21 Monday. They’d taken only 11 at the same point last year. Six have been taken in Westmoreland County, five in Cambria County, and forty in Clearfield County, which is a traditional hot spot for bears.
The largest bear taken in the area this year was a 601 pound male shot by Bo Bowser of Kittanning on Monday in Valley Township, Armstrong County.
Bear season ends today.
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