Last year’s bear harvest was the sixth most in state history.
According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, 3,608 bears were harvested in 2020. That figure is a decrease of over 1,000 from 2019, which set the record for largest bear harvest in state history.
This marks the second time in 20 years that the bear harvest has decreased by more than 1,000 bears in back to back years with a big drop regularly occurring the year after a record breaking harvest.
Our local total did not decrease too much with 42 bears harvested in Butler County last year compared to 44 bears harvested in 2019.
A new harvest record was set thanks to an extra week added to bear archery season, with 948 which blew past 2019’s record total of 561.
