HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania's hunters crushed the Commonwealth's all-time black bear harvest when they took 4,164 bruins in the regular and extended 2005 bear seasons in November and December, according to the official final tally released Wednesday by the Game Commission. Hunters set the previous record of 3,075 bears in 2000.

For the first time, 100 black bears or more were taken in 18 counties. Four counties, Clinton, Lycoming, Potter and Tioga, posted harvests in excess of 200, and Lycoming County became the first county to record a bear harvest exceeding 300 with a kill of 313.

The statewide bear harvest in 1969 was 295."

Since 1999, more than 20,000 black bears have been harvested in Pennsylvania, making it one of the top bear hunting destinations in the eastern United States. Further sweetening the state's attraction to hunters is that 800-pound-plus black bears have been taken by hunters in recent years.

Hunters took 3,354 bears during the three-day season held the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and 810 during the extended season held in five Wildlife Management Units during the first week of the firearms deer season, which began the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Bears were taken in 52 counties. The largest bear taken was a 733-pound (actual live weight) male taken in Dunbar Township, Fayette County, by Andrew Seman Jr. of Dunbar on Nov. 22.

In all, 17 bears taken by hunters weighed 600 pounds or more. In addition, female hunters killed 47 bears during the seasons.

Here is a rundown on the harvest in Butler and surrounding counties. The 2004 totals are in parenthesis:

Butler, 10 (5); Venango, 38 (36); Clarion, 30 (31); Mercer, 4 (0); Armstrong, 33 (35).