The Pennsylvania Black Bear Season was reported by the PA Game Commission as a success as hunters harvested 3,170 bears across all seasons available to them.

The harvest was ranked as the 14th all time with bears being harvested in 58 counties and 22 out of 23 WMU’s in Pennsylvania. Butler County is not known as a big bear hunt county, but still provided 40 bears to the final count. The most bears ever harvested in the state was 4,653 in 2019.

What was impressive was that the PGC sold over 213,639 licenses, which was the 3rd most ever sold. The central northern tier counties continued to lead the state in bear harvest numbers and the largest bear taken in the 2022 season was a 755-pound bruiser on Oct. 15 in Monroe County during the muzzleloader season.

Though it was an impressive bear, it fell short of the all-time biggest bear taken in Pike County in 2010, weighing in at 875 pounds. Bears are measured by two categories; skull size measurement and also by their weight. Record books like Boone & Crockett use the skull measurement.

Sad farewell

Butler County lost one of its County Blue Bird Coordinators this past week with the passing of Darrell E. Daubenspeck. Daubie, as he was known by his friends, had been a wonderful advocate for the bluebird population in the county for many years.