From staff reports
After two days, 1,310 black bears have been harvested as part of Pennsylvania’s statewide bear season, according to preliminary totals released Tuesday by the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Archery and other early bear season harvest data is not available at this time.
Bears have been harvested in 54 counties during the statewide season so far.
The largest of those bears – a male estimated at 700 pounds – was taken in Oil Creek Township, Venango County, by Chad A. Wagner, of Titusville. He took it with a rifle at about 8 a.m. on Nov. 18, the season’s opening day.
The 2017 two-day preliminary harvest is a decrease compared to 1,893 bears taken during the statewide season’s first two days in 2016. Hunters in 2015 harvested 2,224 bears on the season’s first two days.
The top bear-hunting county in the state over the first two days of the season was Tioga County with 93.
Two-day preliminary harvests by county in the Northwest Region are Warren, 61; Jefferson, 41; Venango, 37; Clarion, 25; Forest, 23; Crawford, 19; Butler, 6; Mercer, 6; and Erie, 5. A total of 223 bears were harvested in the region.