Record Year in Allegany, Catskill Ranges

Bear harvest numbers in all three of New York State’s bear hunting ranges increased in 2008 – with new records set in the Allegany and Catskill ranges — Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis announced today.

“Bear populations in the state’s two southern ranges have been increasing in number and expanding in distribution over the past decade, and that is reflected in the record setting totals for 2008,” Commissioner Grannis said.

Statewide, hunters took 1,295 black bears, a 16 percent increase from the 1,117 bears taken in 2007. In the Allegany bear hunting region of central and western New York, hunters took a record 193 bears, far surpassing the previous regional record, 120, set in 2007. Similarly, hunters took 520 bears in the Catskill bear hunting range in 2008, topping the 2005 regional record harvest of 494 bears.

Harvest increased in the Adirondacks as well, with a total of 582 bears taken in 2008 compared to 544 taken in 2007 and 318 taken in 2006. Hunters reported taking 18 bears in the 13 Wildlife Management Units that were opened for bear hunting this year in central and western New York.