Pennsylvania bear hunters didn’t bring the heat they did in 2019, but it still wasn’t a bad year in 2020.

According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the 2020 PA Bear season was the sixth-best harvest report in the state’s history.

The commission stated that hunters took 3,608 bears during the 2020 season, a 20% decrease from the previous year when they took 4,653. BUT the 2020 bear season had the 2nd highest harvest over the last five years.

The archery season lasted a week longer than usual, resulting in a record setting harvest of 948 bears. In 2019, that number was on 561 bears, which was the previous record.

The PA Game Commission said due to the “fall food availability, weather and hunter actions,” it is normal to see drastic changes in harvest reports from year to year.

“This ebb-and-flow has appeared in Pennsylvania bear harvests for the past century,” Emily Carrollo, a bear biologist with the state’s Game Commission, said in a statement. “It’s the nature and reality of bear hunting.”

Also reported by the PA Game Commission, the largest bear taken in the 2020 season was in Fulton County with a crossbow resulting in a 719-pound male.

Have you ever gone bear hunted or wanted to?!

Let me know in the comments!