New York State bear hunters took 1,723 black bears during the 2020 hunting seasons, Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos announced today. In the Northern Zone, hunters harvested an estimated 571 bears-the highest number since 2015. A productive early season in the Northern Zone is generally followed by a relatively low regular season harvest, with the reverse anticipated in the year to come. The 2020 bear harvest followed this pattern, with an early season harvest that increased four-fold from 2019, and a regular season harvest that dropped approximately 25 percent from 2019 numbers.