Hunters killed 30 fewer bears in 2012 than they did in 2011 in the Northwest Region, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission final harvest results released today.

There were 365 bears shot in the nine-county region including a high of 94 in Warren County. There were 395 bears killed in 2011 including 119 in Warren County.

Hunters killed seven bears in Erie County, the same number as in 2011. Clarion, Venango, Jefferson and Butler each had more reported kills in 2012 than a year earlier; Forest, Crawford and Mercer counties had fewer — 34 fewer in the Venango, which had 90 kills in 2011 and 56 this past year.

Robert A. Pitts, of Meadville, shot a 620-pound male Nov. 17 in Roulette Township,
Potter County, that is the fifth-largest harvested during the 2012 season.

The overall state harvest was 3,632 bears, the third-most in Pennsylvania history. The record is 4,350 in 2011.

Wildlife Management Unit 1B had 38 recorded kills, or 26 fewer than in 2011. WMU 1B includes all of Erie County, most of Crawford County and parts of Warren and Venango counties.

The final bear harvests by Wildlife Management Unit (with final 2011 figures in parentheses): WMU 1A, 4 (13); WMU 1B, 38 (64); WMU 2B, 6 (1): WMU 2C, 268 (226); WMU 2D, 162 (150); WMU 2E, 50 (79); WMU 2F, 285 (345); WMU 2G, 829 (1,086); WMU 3A, 342 (564); WMU 3B, 279 (479); WMU 3C, 146 (299); WMU 3D, 305 (318); WMU 4A, 139 (72); WMU 4B, 84 (70); WMU 4C, 163 (148); WMU 4D, 403 (355); WMU 4E, 110 (79); WMU 5A, 1 (1); WMU 5B, 2 (0); and WMU 5C, 16 (1).

Final county harvests by region (with 2011 figures in parentheses):

Northwest: Warren, 94 (119); Clarion, 77 (47); Venango, 62 (56); Forest, 56 (90); Jefferson, 51 (45); Butler, 11 (9); Erie, 7 (7); Crawford, 6 (16); and Mercer, 1 (6).

Southwest: Somerset, 94 (75); Fayette, 79 (67); Westmoreland, 37 (24); Armstrong, 35 (66); Indiana, 24 (33); Cambria, 11 (35); and Allegheny, 4 (1).

Northcentral: Lycoming, 341 (336); Clinton, 265 (205); Tioga, 227 (381); Potter 179 (399); Centre, 143 (129); McKean, 134 (258); Clearfield, 102 (154); Union, 82 (49); Elk, 76 (153); and Cameron, 67 (100).

Southcentral: Huntingdon, 125 (73); Bedford, 86 (44); Mifflin, 62 (48); Blair, 50 (32); Juniata, 37 (33); Perry, 32 (13); Fulton, 25 (15); Franklin, 14 (13); Snyder, 14 (29); Adams, 2 (0); and Cumberland, 2 (4).

Northeast: Pike, 108 (116); Monroe, 102 (88); Luzerne, 100 (99); Bradford, 86 (126); Wayne, 73 (208); Carbon, 67 (45); Sullivan, 60 (180); Wyoming, 57 (57); Susquehanna, 41 (92); Lackawanna, 37 (25); Columbia, 36 (26); Northumberland, 26 (11); and Montour, 3 (0).

Southeast: Dauphin, 48 (46); Schuylkill, 39 (34); Northampton, 21 (4); Lehigh 3 (3); Berks, 7 (2); and Lebanon, 4 (13).

A hunter from Pittsburgh killed one of the state’s largest bears this season in Forest County.

Michael J. Kelly shot the 573-pound male black bear Nov. 21 in Harmony Township. It’s No. 9 on the list of heaviest bears this season, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s preliminary harvest results.

The No. 5 bear belongs to Robert A. Pitts, of Meadville, who shot 620-pound male Nov. 17 in Roulette Township, Potter County.

The by-county preliminary harvests for the four-day hunt in the Northwest Region: Warren, 88; Clarion, 74; Venango, 62; Forest, 51; Jefferson, 50; Butler, 8; Erie, 7; and Crawford, 6.

Ronald Dombrowski, of Erie, ended a 38-year quest by tagging his first Pennsylvania black bear Nov. 17 at 8 a.m. in Garland, Warren County. The 2-year-old female weighed 200 pounds.

A Meadville man shot the second-largest black bear recorded during Saturday’s opening day of the annual four-day Pennsylvania hunt.

Robert A. Pitts shot a a 620-pound male in Roulette, Potter County. It trailed only the 652-pound male that Timothy J. Moffett, of Barto, shot in Smithfield Township, Monroe County.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission said the top 10 bears processed at its check stations by Monday each had estimated live weights of 530 pounds or more.

Lycoming County, with 151 bears, had the top opening-day harvest. Warren County was fourth with 63 bears.

The Northwest Region first-day harvest, by county: Warren, 63; Clarion, 42; Forest, 30; Jefferson, 28; Venango, 26; Erie, 5; Butler, 4; and Crawford, 3.

Your vicarious living through another’s misadventure moment of the day:

Northwestern Pennsylvania isn’t the heart of the state’s black bear-hunting territory, but the nine-county region did its part this past season to contribute to a record kill.

Hunters in the Northwest Region killed 395 of the 4,350 bears reported to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. The record of 4,164 had been set in 2005.

In Warren County, hunters more than doubled the 2010 harvest figures: 119 in 2011 vs. 54 a year earlier. Forest County nearly doubled its kills, to 90 from 47. Crawford had 16, or 10 more than 2010, and Erie had seven, four more than in 2010. Mercer (6 vs. 2) and Jefferson (45 vs. 34) counties also saw increases. Venango County’s 56 were one fewer than in 2010, and Clarion had 47 reported kills, two fewer than in 2010.

The top five counties all were in the Northcentral Region, led by Potter County with 399 bears harvested — 251 more than in 2010.

There were 88 bears killed that weighed at least 500 pounds. The heaviest was an estimated 767-pound male shot with a crossbow by Joseph Colyer, of Pocono Lake, in Tobyhanna, Monroe County.

The Game Commission said there were 304 bears killed during the five-day archery season; 3,168 during the four-day bear season; and 878 during the extended bear season in certain wildlife management units during the first week of deer season.

Kevin Soles, of Erie, and his friends Norm Green and Scott Novosel booked a New Brunswick black bear hunting trip this past fall with True North Outfitters. Soles bagged a black bear, as did Green.

Kevins 2011 New Brunswick Bear

New Brunswick too

Share your trophy fish and game photos in the NWPA Outdoors Hunting and Fishing gallery.

Ryan Glazier, 13, of Waterford, shot his first career bear Nov. 19 at 11:30 a.m. while hunting with his father and grandfather at the family camp in Titusville.

Paul Friend, of East Springfield, killed a 200-pound black bear in Warren County this week.

After three days of the season, hunters had killed 109 bears in Warren County, most in the Northwest Region, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

There were 3,023 bears checked at official check stations during the first three days of the four-day statewide season that ends today. In 2010′s three-day season, 2,815 bears were killed.

Hunters in the Northwest Region killed 301 black bears in the first two days of the four-day Pennsylvania season.

Warren is the runaway leader with 98 bears checked in, followed by Forest County with 72. Venango County has produced 40 bears, Jefferson County 32 and Clarion County 30.

Hunters have killed 10 bears in Crawford County, seven in Butler County and six each in Erie County and Mercer County.

Ed Eriksen took this bear, with an estimated live weight of 250 pounds, out of Warren County Nov. 19:

From left: Chris Lewis, P.J. Sheehan, Jason Figurski, Eriksen.

One bear was harvested in Allegheny County, the first time a bear was taken by a hunter there since the Pennsylvania Game Commission began keeping harvest records in 1949.

Jonathan E. Byler, of Ulysses, Potter County, has harvested the largest bear, a male with an estimated live weight of 746 pounds.

Hunters with an unfilled bear license may participate in extended bear seasons that run concurrent with all or portions of the first week of the firearms deer season. For those deer hunters who didn’t purchase a bear license, but are headed to an area where the extended bear season is being held, bear license sales will reopen from Nov. 24 through Nov. 27.