This extended season is held in conjunction with the first week of the regular deer season from Nov. 27 to Dec. 2.

The two-day archery season for bears will be held in WMUs 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 3A, 4A, 4B and 4D.

According to PGC press secretary Jerry Feaser, the archery season is being held in areas that never had an extended bear season.

"This is just a new opportunity for archery hunters," said Feaser. "It won't have an overall impact on the bear population."

Ternent agrees.

"The archery harvest will be fairly small," he said, "but we have no way to predict participation or success. However, we believe the bear population can sustain it."

LOTS OF BEARS, AND BIG ONES, TOO!
While last year's harvest numbers were impressive, so were individual weights. Taken were some 17 bears that weighed 600 pounds or more.

The largest bear taken by a hunter -- a 733-pound behemoth shot in Fayette County -- was also an old bear. The animal had been tagged and transferred at least once, and biologists said this record-breaker was probably 15 years old. Its skull measured 23 3/16 inches (length plus width). It ties a bear taken in California as the largest ever taken legally by a hunter in the world.

"There are not a lot of 15-year-old black bears out there," said Ternent. "In fact, 15-year-olds make up less than 1 percent of the state's bear population. Over the past 25 years, only 63 bears age 15, or older male bears have been examined at check stations during the hunting seasons."

In a testament to what is obviously the growing popularity of bear hunting in the state, the PCG sold 142,062 bear licenses last season, up nearly 10,000 from the year before (132,181).

Feaser said that many deer hunters are purchasing bear stamps. With the extended period now including the first week of deer season, sportsmen are taking advantage of new opportunities.

"We have some enormous bears and hunters are advantage of the extended season," Feaser said.

WINTER SURVIVAL
Ternent described the past winter's den-monitoring -- a process in which he examines each bear, litter sizes and the health of each animal -- as "standard."

He said that many sows had three cubs, the appropriate number, and that the population's overall health was good.

NORTHCENTRAL REGION
The largest total harvest by far occurred in the North-Central region of the state. Lycoming County became the first county to tally more than 300 bears for its total harvest. Clinton, Potter and Tioga counties recorded harvests of more than 200 bears.

Lycoming County's kill exceeded its previous best of 244. Tioga County went from 119 to 242 bears; Clinton County stepped up from 218 in 2004 to 227 last year; Potter zoomed from 87 to 214; Cameron, from 95 to 172; Clearfield, from 94 to 159; and Centre County, from 95 to 150.

McKean County hunters took 146 bears, up from 103; and Elk County climbed from 73 to 112. Union County's kill went from 26 to 35.

For good hunting in the region, look to Tioga State Forest in the Cedar Mountain and Pine Creek Gorge Area, west of Route 287. Tioga State Forest covers 161,600 acres. In that same zone, try State Game Lands No. 208, with 8,862 acres south of Manhattan on Route 6. In Potter County, try the portion of Susquehannock State Forest south of Route 44. This state forest stretches across Potter and McKean counties and has 258,900 acres.