Pennsylvania hunters take in record number of bears in 2019

The Pennsylvania Game Commission reported the state’s highest bear harvest ever this year as the agency tries to slow a growing bear population.

Locally, hunters took the most bears in Armstrong and Butler counties, with numbers in Westmoreland and Allegheny counties holding steady.

Expanded hunting opportunities doubled the number of bear-hunting days with new special-firearms and muzzleloader seasons and an expanded archery season. Bear license sales broke records this year. These factors led to the all-time-high harvest of 4,577 bears for 2019, according to preliminary results released by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

“The response from hunters to the expanded seasons and the success they enjoyed afield were exciting to see,” Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans said.

The commission estimated the statewide bear population to be about 20,000 at the start of the hunting season.

Local bear harvest preliminary results by county:

• Allegheny: 2 bears

• Armstrong: 56 bears

• Butler: 44 bears

• Westmoreland: 28 bears

The top bear-hunting county in the state was Lycoming with 118 bears, followed by Tioga with 113.

The cornfields in Armstrong County proved mighty attractive to bears who have fed voraciously on the late harvest, Game Warden Denton Schellhammer said.

“Big cornfields are ideal areas for bears to hang out,” he said. “The complaints I got from farmers for crop damage were numerous.”

Most farmers gave hunters permission to go after the bears on their property, Schellhammer added. Most bears taken in Armstrong County this year were in the East Brady area and around Worthington, he said.

A lot of younger bears were harvested, including several males with the largest close to 400 pounds, according to Schellhammer.

The bear population has been growing in Armstrong County in places along the Allegheny River, he said.

“They like the steep hillsides along the river with mountain laurel and rhododendron,” Schellhammer said.

Although bears live throughout Armstrong County, they typically don’t spill into the towns and the number of nuisance calls is low, Schellhammer said.

“I don’t think the population has grown to a level to come into urban areas,” he said. “There’s plenty of space and food for them to stay in the space they are — the woodlands and the agricultural lands.”

In Allegheny County, hunters took only two bears in the Indiana Township and Fawn area, according to Game Warden Zeb Campbell.

Campbell said one hunter this year who was bow hunting for deer while he held a bear license happened upon a black bear at his uncle’s farm in Indiana Township and took the bear.

The Game Commission wants to keep down the numbers of bears in Allegheny County, according to Samara Trusso, wildlife management supervisor for the Game Commission’s southwest region. To minimize bear-human conflicts, the commission has provided for more hunting opportunities in the Allegheny County area, she said.

The bears reported annually in the Pittsburgh area are generally just passing through. According to bear sightings this year from Bethel Park, Jefferson Hills and South Park, the animals were yearlings looking for new territory, Game Warden Douglas Bergman said.

“They’re lost and they are trying to get away from the traffic, just like we do,” he said.