|
DEC Announces Record-Breaking 2025 Bear Harvest
Estimates
Published: March 23, 2026 at
02:30 p.m.
By: Press Release
from NYC DEC
DEC Announces Record-Breaking 2025 Bear Harvest
Estimates
Southern Zone Harvest is Highest Recorded Since DEC
Began Monitoring in 1955
New York State
Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Amanda Lefton
today announced that hunters harvested an estimated 1,759 black bears
during the 2025-26 hunting seasons. According to DEC’s tracking of the annual bear harvest since 1955 (PDF),
the 2025 statewide bear harvest was second only to the 2003 season and
Southern Zone estimates set a new harvest record.
"The
recovery and growth of New York’s bear population is testament to DEC’s
vigilant wildlife management efforts,” said Commissioner Lefton. “New
York’s big game management plans help maintain populations at levels that
are acceptable for local communities and provide sustainable hunting
opportunities.”
Statewide,
hunters harvested approximately 4% more bears than
the 2024 season and 18% above the 10-year average. The Southern Zone take
included an estimated 1,202 bears taken, including
the 10 heaviest bears recorded for the year. The Northern Zone harvest
estimate of 557 bears was slightly lower than 2024, but still above the
10-year average.
The
record-setting bear season in the Southern Zone is the culmination of a
long-term pattern DEC documented in New York’s bear populations. In the
1950s, bears only occupied the most remote and mountainous regions of New
York, such as the Adirondack, Catskill, and Allegheny mountains. Over the
past 70 years, bears gradually expanded their range in the State, and DEC
began opening new areas for bear hunting.
Bears now occupy
most areas of the state except Long Island and New York City, and all areas
of the state are open to bear hunting except
Long Island and areas closed to big game hunting. The expansion of bear
range was particularly notable in the Southern Zone. The Southern Zone bear harvest exceeded the Northern Zone for the
first time in 1998 and accounted for most of New York’s bear harvest for
the past 20 years.
While bear
populations and hunting opportunities increased in the Southern Zone, the
Northern Zone remains a traditional destination for many New York bear
hunters. Northern Zone bears typically grow slower in the wilderness
ecosystems of the Adirondacks but tend to survive to older ages than their
Southern Zone counterparts. All but one of the oldest
bears on DEC record were taken in the Northern Zone.
Notable Numbers
from the 2025 Bear Season:
- 74: The number of Wildlife Management Units (WMUs), out of 88 open
to bear hunting, with reported 2025 bear harvests.
- 562 pounds: The dressed weight of the heaviest 2025
reported bear, harvested in the town of Olive, Ulster County, WMU 3C.
- 668: The number of harvested bears from which DEC received
pre-molar teeth to determine the bear’s age in 2025.
- 26 years: The age of the oldest bear harvested in 2024
(the most recent year for which age data are available). The bear was
harvested in the town Mooers, Clinton County, WMU 5A.
- 21: Bears harvested per 100 square miles in WMU 3C, the highest
harvest density of any WMU for the 2025 seasons.
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, cooperating taxidermists, and meat processors. Harvest estimates are
made by cross-referencing these two data sources and determining the rate
at which hunters report their bear harvests in each zone. In fall 2026, DEC
will send a commemorative 2025 Black Bear Management Cooperator Patch and a
letter confirming each bear’s age to all hunters who reported their bear
harvest and submitted a tooth for age analysis.
DEC’s 2025 Bear Harvest Summary report (PDF) provides
tables, figures, and maps detailing the bear harvest around the
state. Past harvest summaries are
also available on DEC’s website. DEC’s Black Bear Management Plan (PDF) provides
information on how DEC determines black bear population objectives
throughout the state.
|
