Pennsylvania has become known not only for sizable deer, but large bears as well. And it will be interesting to see what this year has to offer when the firearms season kicks off Saturday Nov. 23.

The firearms season follows the opener on Sunday, Nov. 24 and continues through Nov. 26. The extended bear season - which runs concurrently with portions of the firearms deer season - goes from Nov. 30 to Dec. 7 including and additional Sunday, Dec. 1 in WMUs 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4C, 4E and 5A, and from Nov. 30 through Dec. 14 including Dec. 1 in WMUs 2B, 5B, 5C and 5D.

Last year, hunters took 2,920 black bears in Pennsylvania, getting one in 58 of the state’s 67 counties and 20 of it 22 WMUs. That’s out of an estimated population of 18,000 said the Pennsylvania Game Commission. And more than 200,000 hunters pursued them. Even with that number fewer than 3 percent of them fill their tag.

The breakdown last year was that hunters took seven in the early season, 541 in muzzleloader season and special firearms seasons, 1,086 in the regular firearms season and 591 in the extended seasons.

According to the PGC, the average female bear weighed 152 pounds; with the average male weighing 198.

Last year’s largest bear was a 691-pounder taken in Pike County while five other hunters checked in bruins weighing 600 pounds with each of the top 10 heaviest weighted at least 576 pounds. The PGC says that every year at least one or two topping 700 pounds are taken and seven exceeding 800 pounds have been taken since 1992. The largest was an 875-pounder taken in 2010 in Pike County.

For hunters trying to increase their odds of scoring, the PGC recommends hunting places bears rest like swamps, mountain laurel, hemlock stands, regenerating clear-cuts, riparian thickets and areas with downed trees. The closest woodlands that have a bear or two and anywhere along the Blue Mountain.

Coincidentally, last week a black bear was spotted around Lily Sushi Restaurant located at N. 19th Street and Walbert Avenue. And was seen again on a residents Ring camera walking across their driveway at Washington and 27th Street, both in South Whitehall Township.

As for the top counties that produced the most bear were Tioga, 176; followed by Lycoming, 170; Potter, 155; Pike, 142; Bradford, 138; Luzerne, 135; Monroe, 127; Wayne, 124; Clinton, 108; and Carbon, 101.

Final county harvests locally here in the Southeast with 2022 figures in parenthesis, Southeast, 159 (131); Schuylkill, 65 (65); Dauphin, 42 (27); Northampton, 21 (12); Berks, 16 (11); Lebanon, 10 (14); and Lehigh, 5 (2).

For local Wildlife Management Units (WMU), the totals in 3D 451 (344); 4C, 220 (190); 5C, 15 (8).

The PGC reminds hunters that their bears must be checked at a PGC authorized check station that are listed in the PA Hunting/Trapping Digest. The only change of what was printed was that the Trout Run Fire Hall in Lycoming County, is closed as the fire hall was destroyed by a flood in August. Hunters in that area should now take their bear to Hepburn Township Fire Co.’s hall at 615, Route 973, Cogan Station, or another check station. The PGC also asks hunters to use a stick to prop open their bear’s mouth soon after harvest before the jaw stiffens to allow agency staff to remove a tooth to determine the bear’s age.