Hunters who killed a bear during the 2025 seasons can learn the age of their bear on the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department website. State officials say 886 usable pre-molars were received by hunters as part of the department’s harvest data collection. Accurate ages were determined for 822 bears.

“Successful bear hunters help in managing this magnificent big-game animal] by providing a small pre-molar tooth from their bear,” said Jaclyn Comeau, bear project leader for Vermont Fish and Wildlife. “We have collected pre-molar teeth from harvested bears annually since 1968 to evaluate age composition of the harvest and to estimate the size of the population. The teeth are sent to a laboratory in Montana for aging by cementum analysis. The oldest female in 2025 was 19 years old, and the oldest male was 18 years old.”

Hunters killed 1,022 black bears in Vermont during the 2025 seasons. That’s the second-highest total in state history. It also is 232 bears above the Fish and Wildlife Department’s projected 10-year average. Hunters killed 14 more bears in 2024, the state’s all-time record season.

The 2025 season saw a harvest of 557 boars, 464 sows and 1 unknown, for a sex ratio of 1.20 males per female. Hunters killed 844 bears during the early season and 178 during the late season that overlaps with the regular November deer season. Harvest totals fluctuate with food availability and weather conditions, which can affect hunters going afield. State officials say in its “Black Bear Harvest Report” that the “current trend, however, is the annual bear harvest has increased during recent decades and has been above the rolling 10-year average for the past six years. The highest bear harvests during the past 50 years have been achieved in the past six years, with the 2025 harvest being the second highest. The consistent high harvests and increase from previous decades, combined with a concurrent increase in the estimated bear population, reflect a strong bear population that is larger than previous decades and represents a general increase in occupied bear range in the state.”

Hunters can access the tooth ages at www.vtfishandwildlife.com