Pennsylvania's black bear bowhunting season got underway Monday, Nov. 17. That season runs until this Friday, Nov. 21. Then on Saturday, Nov. 22, the general four-day firearms season kicks off and runs from Monday, Nov. 24 to Wednesday, Nov. 26.

It's become common knowledge among big game hunters that Pennsylvania has a large population of approximately 8,000 bears statewide. Added to that, the bears are big.

In 2013, there were 3,510 bears taken, which, says the PGC, was the fifth-largest harvest in state history.

Three of the five largest harvests occurred in the last three years. The state's largest harvest on record was 4,350 bears that occurred in 2011, and the third-largest (3,632) harvest followed in 2012.

As for size, 58 bears weighed 500 pounds or more, nine weighed 600 pounds or more and were taken in 2013. The heaviest bear was taken in Lackawanna County and it weighed an estimated 772 pounds.

Interestingly, the bear harvest was spread throughout 53 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties in 2013, which wasn't always the case in earlier years. Their range has expanded.

Mark Ternent, PGC bear biologist, believes conditions are right for another exceptional bear harvest this year. He bases that on several factors. For one, he says the statewide acorn crop is markedly improved compared to last year. And it's being described as a "bumper mast crop" from field reports. Added to this, in Lycoming, Clinton and Centre counties the crops are the heaviest they've been in the past 10 years says the PGC. Other areas are also reporting excellent acorn crops.

"Higher mast yields typically lead to better hunter success," said Ternent. "When food is plentiful, bears tend to stay more active during hunting seasons, rather than entering their dens to hibernate. They also tend to be more widely dispersed and travel less, which means that bears discovered during the preseason scouting season, typically will be found in the same area come hunting season."

Another factor Ternent addressed was hunter participation that is expected to be higher based on October bear license sales that were up by nearly 7 percent compared to year-to-date sales from a year ago.

He believes that since bear licenses will be on sale until the night before the general season, there can conceivably be 170,000 hunters going afield for bear this year.

This, Ternent opines, brings larger harvests with more hunters afield and better hunter success.

There are some changes to the seasons. Extended seasons in WMU's 2C and 4B are new this year and the seasons in each run from Dec. 3 to Dec. 6. Reason being, 2C has seen a slight increase in bear populations and highway mortalities have been slowly increasing, plus more human-bear conflicts.

WMU 4B has also seen an increase in human-bear conflicts with several incidents of home entry or injury to pets and people. Plus, as 2C, more highway mortality of bears and the bear harvest has tripled since 2003.

Hunters who score on a bear are reminded that they must take it to a bear check station (as listed in the Hunting/Trapping Digest) for the nearest location and within 24 hours after harvesting it. As for bowhunters, they must contact the nearest regional office to have the bear checked, as the normal stations will not yet be operational.

For sportsmen hunting in the Northeast Region, the Monroe County station listed in the digest has been moved to the Tobyhanna State Park Maintenance Facility on Church Street (SR423) in Tobyhanna. Hunters should check the PGC's website for any other recent check station changes.