Even two days of rain, fog and little acorn crop in Centre County and throughout much of the state did not prevent the state’s bear hunters from making a near-record kill. Preliminary four-day season harvest figures were not yet available, however, all indications point to the likelihood that Pennsylvania hunters will have logged the second highest bear kill ever by the close of the extended bear season on Saturday.

Beautiful, clear weather greeted hunters on the opener on Nov. 19, and they responded by taking 1,936 bruins — Pennsylvania’s second-highest tally ever on the first day. However, the majority of the harvest occurred in the northern tier counties as a result of a large beechnut crop this fall. The kill was actually down in many of the southcentral and southwestern counties.

In the Southcentral Region, Pennsylvania Game Commission biologist Steve Repasky reported that only 35 bears were weighed on the opening Saturday at the Reedsville bear check station. Personnel at the Mifflin County station handle many Centre County bruins.

“This is one of the lowest opening day totals that we have recorded in recent years at this check station,” Repasky said. “There was no mast crop in the southcentral counties and bears might be in large areas of standing corn where hunters have no access. This is only speculation, but I think that this contributed to a lower harvest in the southcentral.”

Biologist Justin Vreeland had a similar experience at the Huntingdon check station where only 58 bears were checked on the opening day.

“This is our second lowest total since 2003,” Vreeland said. Vreeland also suggested that the reason was the area’s poor hard mast crop.

According to Northcentral Regional Information and Education supervisor Dave Carlini, the lack of acorns even affected the kill in Centre County and in the remainder of the northcentral region.

“Most of the harvest was in the northern tier counties — Potter, Tioga and McKean — where there were lots of beechnuts,” Carlini explained. “Our bear harvest numbers were actually down in the southern end of the region. There is some speculation that bears from the south moved to the north to take advantage of the beechnuts.”

Fighting heavy rain and fog in some places, Pennsylvania hunters logged 773 bears on Monday — the second day of the season. The worst weather occurred on Tuesday, and hunters only added 314 more bears to bring the rifle season total to 3,029 through the first three days.

Centre bears

Preliminary reports indicate that hunters harvested at least 88 bears in Centre County during the first three days of the four-day rifle season. This ranks Centre County 12th among the top-producing black bear counties. The heaviest bear harvested in the county was most likely a 533-pound male that was shot in Gregg Township by Martin C. Bubb, who lives in Burn-ham.

Archery bears

Reports for the commission’s regional offices indicate that archery bear hunters did well again this year. It is estimated that the total will approach or exceed last season’s record harvest of 269 bow-killed bears. According to Carlini, bowhunters harvested at least 140 bears in the Northcentral Region alone. It is unknown at this time how many archers harvested bears in Centre County. Biologist Kevin Wenner reported 41 archery-killed bears in the northeast, while I.E. supervisor Tom Fazi said that bowhunters tallied an unofficial 17 bears in the southwest, and Vreeland reported only eight arrow-killed bears in the southcentral.

According to Northwest Region Wildlife Management Supervisor Roger Coup, archers did well in his region, too.

“This number isn’t final,” Coup said. “We have 16 confirmed archery bear kills in the northwest, but I expect this number to climb to 20 or more.”

Since 1992, six bears with estimated live weights of 800 pounds or more have been legally harvested in Pennsylvania. More heavy bears were taken this year, but after three days of hunting, none have topped the 750-pound mark.

One of the heaviest bears of the season was a 733-pound male taken in Bell Township, Clearfield County, by John J. Hennick, of Cambria. This bear was harvested on the opening Saturday from the new 9,200-acre addition to State Game Lands 87. This large 2011 purchase was made possible through moneys obtained by the commission from natural gas leases.

“It was great to see that this big bear was shot on land that was posted and closed to public hunting in past years,” Northcentral Regional Director Dennis Dusza noted. “I think that buying the land was money well spent.”

Jonathan E. Byler, from Ulysses, harvested the largest bear — a male with an estimated live weight of 746 pounds. The huge bear was taken in Ulysses Township, Potter County, at 1:45 p.m., on Nov. 19.

All of the other eight largest bears — males processed at check stations during the first three days of rifle season — had estimated live weights that easily exceeded 650 pounds. Steven Camasta, of Lake-view, shot a 734-pound bear in Salem Township, Wayne County, on Nov. 19. A 729-pound bruin was taken in Elk County by William Simpson, from East Brady Township, on Nov. 21. That same day, a 675-pounder was taken in Jefferson County by Sheldon Weyant of Penn, and a Luzerne County bear weighing 660 pounds was shot by Dale Kobal, of Warrior Run Township.

On Nov. 19, Karns City hunter Timothy Kiser harvested a 714-pound bruin in Armstrong County, while a Wayne County 706-pounder was taken by Paul Hoyt, of Levittown, and a 678-pound bear was shot in Sullivan County by Matthew Romano, of Conshohocken. Another big Sullivan County bear, a 677-pounder, was taken by Todd Dwyer of Dallas, on Nov. 22.

According to the Game Commission, at least three counties have recorded kills of over 200 bears during the first three days of the rifle season — Potter, Lycoming, and Tioga. One bear was harvested in Allegheny County, which marks the first time a bear was taken by a hunter there since the agency began keeping harvest records in 1949. Many other counties, including Tioga, McKean and Elk, are expected to log record high harvests.

Deer season

Buck season opens Monday and all of Centre County, WMUs 2G and 4D, falls in the “1-and-1” format — one week of bucks-only hunting, followed by one week of concurrent buck and doe season. Check the Pennsylvania Hunting and Trapping Digest for regulations in other WMUs.

I have been seeing lots of bucks this fall, including a pair of large eight-pointers in the Buffalo Run Valley. I can’t hazard a guess as to what the deer harvest might be, but the population seems up in the county to me.

Hunters possessing a bear license can also hunt bears the southern half of Centre County beginning Wednesday through Saturday. Bear season runs concurrently with those four days of buck season in WMUs 3D, 4C, 4D, 4E, 5B, and 5C. Deer hunters in WMUs 3A and 3C can also hunt bear the entire first week of deer season.