HARRISBURG - The Pennsylvania Game Commission's final harvest report for the statewide black bear season shows hunters took 2,972 bears and recorded the state's fourth largest bear kill since the agency began keeping harvest records in 1915.

"With the exception of one year in the past seven, bear hunting in Pennsylvania has been absolutely exceptional," said Vern Ross, agency executive director, in a news release.

"The state's six largest bear harvests - all exceeding 2,500 bears - have occurred during this seven-year span. The lean year was 1999, when hunters took 1,740 bears.

"Pennsylvania has become one of America's top black bear hunting states, both for the incredible size some of our black bears attain and for their increasing availability here. Today, bears are being taken in 50 or more counties annually."

Hunters took 2,425 bears during the three-day season, and 547 during the extended season.