Expanded hunting seasons, record license sales and plenty of black bears came together to set a bear harvest record in Butler County.

Forty-four bears were taken during the archery and new muzzleloader seasons, and the four-day season eclipsing the record of 28 set in 2014, well before the archery and muzzleloader seasons were added.

“Forty-four for Butler County. That’s awesome,” said Chip Brunst, game warden and information and education supervisor for the Pennsylvania Game Commission for the Northwest region that includes the county.

As of Tuesday, the third day of the statewide season, hunters harvested 1,498 bears in 52 counties, according to the Game Commission.

That compares to a three-day harvest of 1,833 bears in the 2018 general season. However, the 2019 season harvest included the new and expanded early bear seasons for muzzleloader, firearms and archery hunters.

A total of 3,373 bears had been taken in all seasons through Nov. 26. The 2018 total bear harvest was 3,153. The state record bear harvest occurred in 2011, when 4,350 bears were taken.

Expanded hunting opportunities provided by new special-firearms and muzzleloader bear seasons and an expanded archery bear season helped the 2019 harvest. Record bear license sales exceeded 194,000 exceeding the previous high of 175,000.

The archery season was Oct. 28 to Nov. 9 and the muzzleloader season was Oct 19 to 26. This is the first year for the muzzleloader season. Archery season was added several years ago. An early rifle season was not open in the county.

The county harvest included 20 bears during the statewide rifle season and 22 taken during the muzzleloader and archery seasons, Brunst said.

Harvest numbers from the muzzleloader and archery seasons weren’t available, but he said he was pleased with the new muzzleloader season.

“It seems to be a success. I think it found a home,” Brunst said.

He said he saw a lot of hunters in the field Nov. 23, the first day of the statewide rifle season, but much fewer when the season resumed on Monday.

Bears were taken from private property and state game lands, he said. The northern part of the county is becoming a hot spot for bear hunting.

“I was the game warden for many years in Northern Butler County. I was hoping people would hunt there for many years and it’s happening now,” Brunst said.

The north was the right spot for Dave Hazlet and his sons Dave and Wade. Each harvested a bear in the North Washington Township area on Tuesday.

“Wade got one a couple years ago. We’ve been close several times, but this is the first time in 50 years for me,” the elder Hazlet said.

They were among a group of six hunters who put on a drive on private property.

“We did a little dive. The mom came out first, then the two cubs. We had them all in 15 minutes,” he said.

His son, Dave, is a taxidermist and is mounting all three bears for the dedicated hunting family. He and Dave already have harvested whitetail bucks, and all three got turkeys Friday morning.

Bears can also be found in more populated areas of the county.

A big black bear visited Gary and Debi Schmeidkecke’s yard in Butler Township during Monday evening.

Gary Schmeidkecke said the bear ambled up to the fence around the backyard of his Morningside Drive home and was photographed by a game camera he put up to check for much smaller critters.

His two beagles have contracted worms from the “beans” rabbits leave behind so he put up the camera to see where they were entering his yard from.

After letting the dogs out Monday night, they began alerting in one area near the fence prompting Schmeidkecke to check the camera

He said he was “totally blown away” when he saw the bear in the photos.

“I look for rabbits before letting the dogs out. I would have been scared to death for the protection of my animals if I saw a bear in my backyard,” Schmeidkecke said.

He never laid eyes on the bear, but said his wife saw bear tracks in mud near their driveway a few years ago. A neighbor told him that bears visit his bird feeder for an occasional meal, he said.