According to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), bear hunters harvested a reported 1,356 black bears in New York during the 2023 big-game hunting seasons. Overall harvest increased slightly compared to the 2022 hunting season, with the greatest harvest density occurring in areas of the Catskills. An estimated 485 bears were harvested in the Northern zone and an estimated 871 bears in the Southern zone.

These zone totals represent roughly 6 percent more bears harvested in the North and 1 percent more in the South than in 2022. However, 2022’s total bear harvest was about 7 percent fewer bears than the five-year average. 

Hunters harvested more than 10 bears per 100 square miles in Wildlife Management Units (WMU) 3A, 3C, 3K, 4R and 4W.

Notable Numbers

● 16.1: The number of bears harvested per 100 square miles in WMU 3K, the greatest bear harvest density of any WMU.

● 550 pounds: The heaviest dressed-weight bear reported to DEC in 2023, taken near the town of Windsor, Broome County, WMU 7S. Scaled weights of dressed bears were submitted for 21 percent of the bears taken in 2023.

● 648: The number of hunter-harvested bears from which DEC collected teeth to determine the bear’s age in 2023.

● 25: The age of the oldest bear harvested in 2022. The bear was harvested in the town of West Union, Steuben County, WMU 8X.

● 1: The number of bears harvested in WMU 7A in 2023. This was the first bear ever reported as harvested in the unit since DEC first began tracking bear harvest information in 1970. 

Black bear harvest data are gathered from two main sources: harvest reports required of all successful bear hunters and the physical examination of bears by DEC staff and cooperating taxidermists. Harvest estimates are made by cross-referencing these two data sources and determining the rate at which hunters report bear harvests in each zone.  

DEC also requests that successful bear hunters submit a premolar tooth from the bear to determine its age. DEC uses this information to assess the impact of bear harvest on the age distribution of the bear population. Hunters who reported their bear harvest and submitted a tooth for age analysis are given a commemorative Black Bear Management Coordinator Patch. The hunter will be informed, by autumn 2024, of the age of their bear. Bear teeth from the 2023 season are still being analyzed.

DEC’s 2023 Bear Harvest Summary report provides tables, figures and maps detailing the bear harvest around the state. Past harvest summaries are also available on DEC’s website.