By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff
Hunters killed fewer bears this season than in the last two years, although harvest numbers are higher than before the pandemic, according to the state’s longtime bear biologist.
The preliminary number of bears killed during hunting season was 3,269 according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s electronic reporting system.
By Pete Warner, Bangor Daily News Staff
More people hunted black bears in Maine again this year and the result was another sizable harvest.
While the final numbers are not in, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has thus far electronically accounted for 3,758 bears taken by all methods of hunting during 2022.
bigjohnbear3
Wildlife biologist Randy Cross, leader of the field crew for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife s 40-year bear study, poses with Big John, a 432-pound black bear that was snared, weighed and released in Washington County on June 17, 2014. Cross first caught Big John four years earlier, in the exact same place. (John Wood photo/Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife)
Wildlife biologist Randy Cross, leader of the field crew for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife s 40-year bear study, poses with Big John, a 432-pound black bear that was snared, weighed and released in Washington County on June 17, 2014. Cross first caught Big John four years earlier, in the exact same place. (John Wood photo/Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife)