See where bears were hunted the most in New York State last year

The New York State Department of Conservation (DEC) recently released its 2022 black bear catch report, and one region stands out from the rest.

The Catskill region had the highest density of bears in last year’s crop, with 15.5 bears per 100 square miles, according to DEC. This is in line with DEC Black Bear Management’s plan to reduce the population over the past decade and through 2024.

The Adirondack region is not far behind in terms of bear populations.

“New York’s black bear population remains stable, especially in the Catskill and Adirondack regions,” New York State Department of Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said in a press release. “Regulated bear hunting is a necessary tool for managing the population, especially in connection with the increase in its numbers in recent years. I’m happy to see hunters across the state having another successful and safe bear hunting season.”

Upstate New York’s largest mountainous areas may be an obvious choice for bear country, but the bulletin indicates that Port Jervis, in Orange County, has the highest density of bear prey of any city last year, with 11.8 bears caught per 10 square meters. miles.

The largest bear kill in 2022 occurred in the Southern Tier when a 520-pound female black bear was captured in Windsor, New York.

This year, the youngest successful bear hunter was 13 years old and the oldest was 93 years old.

In total, New York bear hunters took down about 1,318 black bears during the 2022 hunting season. Although it was a successful year for bear hunters, the catch was down 10 percent from the five-year average.

In the Northern zone, their numbers increased by about 14 percent, where about 458 bears were killed, and in the Southern zone, their numbers decreased by about nine percent, where about 860 bears were killed.

View the full 2022 Black Bear Harvest Report with hunt results by county, city, and category (early, bow, muzzleloader, regular, and youth) by visiting the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) website ).

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