Congratulations on harvesting a Pennsylvania black bear, one of the state's most impressive big game animals. Please note age certificates will not be mailed to hunters, all successful hunters already received a certificate recognizing their harvest while at the check stations last fall.
Below are tables that list the ages of bears harvested during the 2006 season that had a tooth pulled at the check station. If your bear is not found in these tables it is because 1.) No tooth was pulled, or 2.) The laboratory that ages the teeth deemed the tooth pulled not usable and no age was determined. All ages are given in both years and months. If you harvested a bear that was deemed a cub at the check station, no tooth was pulled and your bear was 10 months old at time of harvest.
The first set of tables list the ages by legal seal number only. The legal seal number can be found on the bottom right hand side of your bear certificate that was given to you when you checked your bear. The legal seal number is also found on the plastic tag the PGC official at the check station put through the ear of your bear.
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Some check stations provided the entire 6 digit legal seal number on the bear certificates, whereas others only provided 4 digits. The first 2 digits of all legal seals are the same, "07" and represent the year of harvest. If the legal seal written on your certificate begins with "07," then use only the last 4 digits to find the age of your bear. If your legal seal does not start with "07," then use the number provided on your certificate. For example, legal seal #070023 is shown as 23 in the age table, legal seal #072563 is shown as 2563 in the table, and legal seal 3674 is shown just as that, 3674, in the table.
For ages of bears with legal seals #1 - 2499
For ages of bears with legal seals #2500 - 4999
For ages of bears with legal seals #5000 - 7000 |
If you do not recall your legal seal number, the second set of tables list the ages by region based on the county of harvest and data are then sorted by date, weight, sex, and legal seal.
For ages of bears harvested in the NW region (Butler, Clarion, Crawford, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mercer, Venango, and Warren counties)
For ages of bears harvested in the SW region (Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland counties)
For ages of bears harvested in the NC region (Cameron, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Lycoming, McKean, Potter, Tioga, and Union counties)
For ages of bears harvested in the SC region (Adams, Bedford, Blair, Cumberland, Franklin, Fulton, Huntingdon, Juniata, Mifflin, Perry, and Snyder counties)
For ages of bears harvested in the NE region (Bradford, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Montour, Northumberland, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Wayne, and Wyoming counties)
For ages of bears harvested in the SE region (Berks, Bucks, Chester, Dauphin, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, Schuylkill, and York counties)
Again, congratulations on taking an outstanding trophy from Penn's Woods and for being an important part of our hunting heritage.
Please direct questions to the Game Commission, Bureau of Wildlife Management at bearages@state.pa.us.