Bear harvest declines in St. Lawrence County

The bear harvest in St. Lawrence County went down again last year, as North Country hunters took 79 bears last year, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).

New York bear hunters took 1,318 in 2022, down slightly from 1,346 black bears taken during the 2021 hunting seasons, DEC said. The total in 2020 was 1,723.

The heaviest bear reported to DEC weighed 520 pounds and was taken in Broome County. Scaled weights of dressed bears were submitted for 26 percent of bears taken in 2022.

DEC said the youngest hunter to tag a bear this year was 13, and the oldest was 93.

"New York's black bear populations remain robust, particularly in the Catskill and Adirondack regions," Commissioner Seggos said. "Regulated bear hunting is a necessary tool for population management, especially with numbers increasing in recent years. I'm pleased to see hunters across the state logged another successful and safe bear hunting season."

Hunters harvested an estimated 458 bears in the Northern Zone and an estimated 860 bears in the Southern Zone, an increase of about 14 percent in the north compared to the previous year and a decrease of approximately nine percent in the south.”

The town-by-town take in the county for 2020 was: Canton, 4; Clare, 5; Clifton, 2; Colton, 12; Edwards, 6; Fine, 7; Hammond, 1; Hermon, 5; Hopkinton, 10; Lawrence, 1; Parisville, 2; Pierrepont, 2; Pitcairn, 8; Potsdam, 2; Russell, 10; Waddington, 2.