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Black bear take in St. Lawrence County down in 2018 season

Posted 3/14/19

The bear harvest in St. Lawrence County in the 2018 season was down, at 81, compared with 2017, when 90 black bears were taken. Two of the nine bears taken in the Town of Pitcairn during the 2018 …

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Black bear take in St. Lawrence County down in 2018 season

Posted

The bear harvest in St. Lawrence County in the 2018 season was down, at 81, compared with 2017, when 90 black bears were taken.

Two of the nine bears taken in the Town of Pitcairn during the 2018 season were among the 10 largest in the state.

The third-heaviest, from Pitcairn at 485 pounds dressed, was 100 pounds lighter that the 585-pounder taken in Ulster County. Most of the black bears taken in the state last year weighed between 100 and 200 pounds.

Hunters took about 45 percent fewer bears during the Northern Zone regular season in 2018 than they did in 2017. However, bear take during the early season was particularly strong, with nearly a three-fold increase over 2017 and 50 percent increase over the five-year average. In total, hunters took an estimated 491 bears in the Northern Zone, about 25 percent more than 2017 and on par with the historical average.

Of the 81 bears harvested in St. Lawrence County in 2018, the town-by-town tally was:

• Canton, 3

• Clare, 6

• Colton, 8

• Edwards, 5

• Fine, 7

• Fowler, 3

• Gouverneur, 1

• Hopkinton, 14

• Louisville, 1

• Macomb, 1

• Parishville, 10

• Piercefield, 2

• Pierrepont, 3

• Pitcairn, 9

• Russell, 8.

More than half of them, 42, were taken in the early season.