A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a piece asking the question, “Could this be a record bear season harvest?” Since then, I’ve also had a number of people ask if the harvest numbers were available yet for this year.

Well, the new bear harvest numbers are in, and indeed it is a new record bear take for Pennsylvania. While the final figures are still being compiled, this year’s bear harvest has exceeded the previous record by more than 200 bruins. The previous high was set in 2011 with 4,350 harvested, and for this year, we are looking at a harvest of 4,587 bears. This is the third time we have topped over 4,000 bears in a single season, with 4,164 taken in 2005.

It’s interesting to note that our own Lycoming County led the list of the top ten bear harvests with a total of 283; Lycoming is frequently at the top or near the top in bear harvests. Clinton County was second with 267, and Tioga County was third with 263.

It’s also been a good year for big bears. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about Reuben Kennel’s 620 pounder taken in Union County, but there were at least another dozen in the 600 plus category including one of 747 pounds taken in Luzerne County and one of 813 pounds taken in Monroe County. The largest bear ever taken in Pennsylvania was an 875 pounder taken in Pike County in 2010.

There may be a few people wondering if we are taking too many bears, but I seriously doubt that’s the case. With an estimated 20,000 bears roaming the countryside in Pennsylvania, taking four or five thousand will not have a permanent effect since it is highly likely that there will be four or five thousand new cubs introduced to the population next spring. If anything, I can see the population continuing to expand, especially as bears move into new areas. Actually, I have had more people telling me of bear sightings and nuisance bears than ever before.

My own observations over the past two weeks have been a bit telling regarding bear numbers. As I was traveling west on Route 220 just before I passed Aldi’s on the strip in Williamsport, I saw a dead bear lying on the on-ramp; I estimated it to be around 200 pounds. When I reported the incident to my wife at her workplace, someone there told me they also saw a dead black bear on the highway coming south on Route 15 that same morning. If that were not enough coming east on 220 less than a mile from the Lycoming Mall exit, I saw what looked like someone checking a dead black bear down over the sloping bank; someone else told me they saw it as well. All of these sightings were after the close of bear season.

It’s a pretty safe bet the bear population is in good shape; in fact, I think I’m going to wait another couple of weeks to put feed in my bird feeders — I’m tired of finding my broken bird feeders back in the woods behind the house.