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Sullivan leads NYS in bear harvest; numbers declining

Fred Stabbert III
Posted 3/28/23

NEW YORK STATE — Sullivan County led the entire state in bear harvest during the 2022 seasons.

In a recently released report by the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation …

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Sullivan leads NYS in bear harvest; numbers declining

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NEW YORK STATE — Sullivan County led the entire state in bear harvest during the 2022 seasons.

In a recently released report by the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Sullivan County harvested 120 bears last fall, outpacing Ulster County, which reported 111 harvests and Delaware County at 106. 

Orange County was fourth in the state with 97 bears taken.

But the statewide harvest of bears in 2022 was 1,318, the second lowest total in the past 11 years. 

Only 2018, with 1,295 harvests, had less bears taken.

The report covers all five seasons – early, bowhunting, regular, muzzleloader and youth.

“New York’s black bear populations remain robust, particularly in the Catskill and Adirondack regions,” DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said. “Regulated bear hunting is a necessary tool for population management, especially with numbers increasing in recent years. I’m pleased to see hunters across the state logged another successful and safe bear hunting season.”

Hunters harvested an estimated 458 bears in the Northern Zone and an estimated 860 bears in the Southern Zone – which includes all of Sullivan County – an increase of about 14 percent in the north compared to the previous year and a decrease of approximately nine percent in the south. 

The total bear harvest was approximately 10 percent fewer than the five-year average. As in past years, the Catskill region produced the greatest bear densities. In Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) 3C, 3H, 3K, 3M, and 4R, hunters took more than 10 bears per 100 square miles, with hunters taking more than 15 bears per 100 miles in WMU 4R.

Notable Numbers

13 and 93: the ages of the youngest and oldest hunters who successfully harvested a bear in 2022.

15.5: the number of bears harvested per 100 square miles in WMU 4R (western Greene County and portions of Schoharie, Delaware, and Ulster Counties), which had the greatest bear harvest density of any WMU.

11.8: the number of bears harvested per 10 square miles in the town of Port Jervis, Orange County, which had the greatest bear harvest density of any town.

520 pounds: the heaviest dressed-weight bear reported to DEC in 2022, taken in the town of Windsor, Broome County, WMU 7S. Scaled weights of dressed bears were submitted for 26 percent of bears taken in 2022.

612: the number of hunter-harvested bears in 2022 from which DEC collected teeth to determine the bear’s age.

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