The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has released the numbers for how many black bears hunters killed in 2016. Compared to 2015, the numbers were down.

The most common way that hunters killed bears was with a rifle or shotgun. However, compound, long and crossbow hunters were also successful.

DEC Bear Take Numbers
DEC Bear Take Numbers
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Western New York Totals by County:

According to these numbers only one bear was taken in Erie County in the Town of Holland with a rifle or shotgun.  However, not all hunters take the responsibility to report their kills as the DEC requests. It is possible that additional bears may have been killed just not reported.

In Allegany County, 49 bears were taken with the Town of Almond recording the most at a total of 8.

33 were killed in Cattaraugus County with a tie for total between Portville and South Valley.

Chautauqua County recorded 32 bears taken with Clymer reporting the most at 5.

In Wyoming County, 3 bears were killed by hunters with Castile recording 2 kills and 1 was killed in Pike.

I have been hunting for 25 years and have only seen one bear in my time in the woods and it was not in range for a kill. However, since the advent of trail cameras, hunters in Western new York report that bear sightings have increased. The reason for the drop in bear take in 2016 could be a drop in the amount of hunters in the woods.

 

 

 

 

 

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