Pennsylvania Bear Season 2026-27: Fall Activity & Hunt Dates

Q: When does bear season open in Pennsylvania in 2026-27?

Black Bear Regular Firearms: November 21, 2026 to November 24, 2026. Black Bear, Archery: September 19, 2026 to November 27, 2026. Pennsylvania Game Commission publishes these dates and the full zone tables on this page were read from its own page on September 19, 2026.

Q: Does Pennsylvania have a spring bear season in 2027?

No. Pennsylvania holds no spring bear season. The Commission's final 2026-27 seasons list dates bear seasons only from September through December. Spring bear seasons are mostly a western pattern, and the national page lists the states that hold one in 2027.

Q: Who publishes guidance on living with bears in Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania Game Commission, on its page titled Nuisance Wildlife, which is linked from the agency notice on this page. That page is the agency's own guidance for Pennsylvania residents on attractants, encounters and who to call, and its sentence on fall activity is quoted verbatim beside the link, read on September 19, 2026.

Q: Where are the rest of the Pennsylvania bear hunting rules?

At Pennsylvania Game Commission, whose regulations page is linked on this page. Those rules are legally binding, change annually and vary by zone and land ownership; the permit and tag system, zone maps, methods and reporting requirements are all published there. This page carries the season windows themselves, with the source page and read date attached.

This page covers the 2026-27 season year. Dates were read from the agency sources linked below, last checked September 19, 2026. Seasons change annually and agencies correct their own pages; confirm against the linked agency page before you hunt.

November 21, 2026 to November 24, 2026

Black Bear Regular Firearms

published

September 19, 2026 to November 27, 2026

Black Bear, Archery

published

No season

Spring bear season

no season

June

Busiest reported month

1,349 reports on record

Fall activity

When black bears are most active in Pennsylvania

The Game Commission describes the black bear as one of the largest and among the most secretive animals living in Pennsylvania, with adult males averaging 20 square mile home ranges and females 6 to 8 square miles, and it runs archery, muzzleloader, regular and extended firearms bear seasons across its Wildlife Management Units.

The bars count research grade American black bear observations people uploaded to iNaturalist for Pennsylvania, by calendar month, across every year the platform holds. The busiest month in the record is June, and reports drop below 40 percent of that peak by October. The drop into winter reflects bears denning and fewer people outdoors in equal measure, which is why the agency’s sentences below, not the curve, carry the timing.

1,349 research grade American black bear observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Pennsylvania across every year the platform holds, and 20 percent of them fall in the three shaded fall months. The busiest month in the record is June, and reports drop below 40 percent of that peak by October. These are counts of what people reported, so they measure observers as well as bears; they are not a population, not a survey and not a statement about this autumn. See the records on iNaturalist.

Research grade black bear reports uploaded for Pennsylvania by year, 2016 to 2025: 31 in 2016 and 153 in 2025. Most of the climb is the platform itself growing, and every species on it shows the same shape, so this is a record of reporting rather than a population trend.

What Pennsylvania Game Commission says

Fall feeding

In autumn, bears eat heavily to fatten themselves for winter.

Pennsylvania Game Commission, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

Denning

Bears enter hibernation late in the fall, with pregnant females being the first to enter dens, typically during mid to late November. Males den several weeks later. Onset of hibernation can vary from year to year depending on the availability of fall foods, with poor food years resulting in earlier denning.

Pennsylvania Game Commission, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

When conflicts and sightings rise

Bears that become accustomed to people can be attracted into backyards if food is present. Bird feeders, garbage cans and backyard grills all can draw bears. Bears that learn to forage on human-provided foods often become nuisances, causing property damage and increasing the risk of a human-bear encounter.

Pennsylvania Game Commission, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

A young black bear resting its chin on a bare dead branch in a green hardwood forest, ears forward, looking at the camera — A young black bear on a dead limb in the hardwoods. In the eastern forests the fall feeding season runs on acorns and beechnuts, which is why the agency sentences quoted on these pages talk about hard mast and mast years. Photo: Courtney Celley, USFWS. “Black Bear (20083897724)”, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, Public domain

Hunting dates

Pennsylvania bear seasons, 2026-27

Pennsylvania Game Commission dates American black bear seasons under its own names, and each is below under that name with the zone rows exactly as the agency lists them, the source page linked beside each table, and the date it was read.

Black Bear Regular Firearms

published

Black Bear Regular Firearms opens in 39 days, on November 21, 2026.

Pennsylvania black bear regular firearms, as published by Pennsylvania Game Commission
Zone	Opens	Closes	Notes
Statewide	November 21, 2026	November 24, 2026

Dates read from Final 2026-27 Hunting Seasons Approved, Pennsylvania Game Commission, accessed 2026-09-19.

Pennsylvania's regular firearms bear season is a four day statewide window the Saturday before Thanksgiving week. The Commission's extended firearms, muzzleloader and special firearms bear windows are listed under other seasons, and all 2026-27 seasons include the Sundays within their dates.

Black Bear, Archery

published

Black Bear, Archery is OPEN now in the WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D, through November 27, 2026, with 2 zone segments open.

Pennsylvania black bear, archery, as published by Pennsylvania Game Commission
Zone	Opens	Closes
WMUs 2B, 5C and 5D	September 19, 2026	November 27, 2026
WMUs 3C, 3D and 5B	October 3, 2026	November 20, 2026
WMUs 1A, 1B, 2A, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, 2G, 3A, 3B, 4A, 4B, 4C, 4D, 4E and 5A	October 17, 2026	October 25, 2026

Dates read from Final 2026-27 Hunting Seasons Approved, Pennsylvania Game Commission, accessed 2026-09-19.

The archery bear season runs in three WMU groups with very different lengths. For 2026-27 the Commission lengthened the archery bear season in WMUs 3C and 3D to overlap the entire first segment of the archery deer season, citing bear-human conflicts in those areas.

Spring bear season

no season

Pennsylvania holds no spring bear season. Pennsylvania holds no spring bear season. The Commission's final 2026-27 seasons list dates bear seasons only from September through December. Source: Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Other Pennsylvania bear seasons the agency names

Black Bear, Muzzleloader

published

Black Bear, Muzzleloader opens in 9 days, on October 22, 2026.

Pennsylvania black bear, muzzleloader, as published by Pennsylvania Game Commission
Zone	Opens	Closes	Notes
Statewide	October 22, 2026	October 25, 2026

Dates read from Final 2026-27 Hunting Seasons Approved, Pennsylvania Game Commission, accessed 2026-09-19.

A four day statewide muzzleloader bear season in late October, dated in the Commission's final 2026-27 seasons list.

Black Bear, Special Firearms

published

Black Bear, Special Firearms opens in 9 days, on October 22, 2026.

Pennsylvania black bear, special firearms, as published by Pennsylvania Game Commission
Zone	Opens	Closes	Notes
Statewide	October 22, 2026	October 25, 2026	Open to the licence and permit holder classes the Commission names in its release

Dates read from Final 2026-27 Hunting Seasons Approved, Pennsylvania Game Commission, accessed 2026-09-19.

A statewide October window that runs alongside the muzzleloader bear season and is open to the licence and permit holder classes the Commission lists in its final 2026-27 seasons release.

Black Bear, Extended Firearms

published

Black Bear, Extended Firearms opens in 46 days, on November 28, 2026 (WMUs 2B, 5B, 5C and 5D).

Pennsylvania black bear, extended firearms, as published by Pennsylvania Game Commission
Zone	Opens	Closes	Notes
WMUs 2B, 5B, 5C and 5D	November 28, 2026	December 13, 2026
WMUs 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4C, 4E and 5A	November 28, 2026	December 6, 2026

Dates read from Final 2026-27 Hunting Seasons Approved, Pennsylvania Game Commission, accessed 2026-09-19.

Extended firearms bear seasons run with the firearms deer season in two WMU groups, one for about two weeks and one for nine days.

The agency's own season sentence

BLACK BEAR REGULAR FIREARMS (Statewide): Nov. 21-24.

Pennsylvania Game Commission, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

Current Pennsylvania regulations

Permit and tag requirements, zone maps, permitted methods, tagging and reporting, and everything else a bear hunter is bound by for Pennsylvania are set by Pennsylvania Game Commission, are legally binding and change annually. Its current regulations page is linked here.

Pennsylvania Game Commission: current regulations

A black bear track pressed into wet grey mud, five rounded toes in an arc above a broad pad, with a second fainter print beside it — A black bear track in mud in Shenandoah National Park. Tracks, scat, turned over logs and claw marks on smooth beech bark are the sign most people meet in the fall woods, weeks before they meet the bear. Photo: M. Punches, NPS. “Black Bear Track in Mud (44654784885)”, ShenandoahNPS, Public domain

Bear season in other states

Pennsylvania deer seasonArchery, firearms, muzzleloader and youth deer windows for 2026-27, under the same sourcing rules.Pennsylvania small game seasonPheasant, quail, grouse, rabbit and squirrel openers, read from the same agency.Pennsylvania foraging calendarThe acorns, beechnuts and berries the agency names as fall bear food are the same mast a forager follows.

An adult black bear standing on a broken limb high in a hardwood tree above two small cubs, all three looking down — A mother black bear and two cubs of the year in a hardwood tree. The denning sentences quoted on the state pages describe when family groups like this one go to ground, and it moves by weeks between a Gulf Coast winter and a northern one. Photo: Courtney Celley, USFWS. “Black Bear Family (20083894064)”, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, Public domain

Pennsylvania bear season questions

When are black bears most active in Pennsylvania in the fall?

In the observation record for Pennsylvania, research grade black bear reports peak in June and 20 percent of all 1,349 reports fall in September, October and November. Pennsylvania Game Commission describes the fall feeding period in its own words, quoted on this page with a link to the page it came from. Reports count people as well as bears, so the shape of the curve is the useful part and the exact numbers are not.

When does bear season open in Pennsylvania in 2026-27?

Does Pennsylvania have a spring bear season in 2027?

When do black bears go into dens in Pennsylvania?

Pennsylvania Game Commission describes the denning timing for Pennsylvania in the sentence quoted on this page, read on September 19, 2026 from the page linked beside it. In the observation record, reports fall below 40 percent of the June peak by October and reach their low in January. That drop reflects bears denning and fewer people outdoors in equal measure, which is why the agency's sentence, not the curve, is the denning answer.

Are black bear sightings in Pennsylvania increasing?

The number of research grade black bear reports uploaded for Pennsylvania went from 31 in 2016 to 153 in 2025. Most of that rise is the platform itself growing, since every species on iNaturalist shows the same climb, so the year bars on this page are a record of reporting rather than a population trend. Pennsylvania Game Commission describes when sightings and conflicts rise in Pennsylvania in the sentence quoted on this page.

Who publishes guidance on living with bears in Pennsylvania?

Where are the rest of the Pennsylvania bear hunting rules?

A brown wooden Bear Country sign with a white bear pictogram and a red band, on two posts at the edge of a lodgepole pine campground in low sun — A Bear Country sign at Indian Creek Campground, Yellowstone. The land manager writes the rules on the board, and they change by campground and by season: food storage orders, closed drainages, and whether a soft sided tent is allowed at all. “Bear Country Sign for Indian Creek (14457698423)”, Yellowstone National Park from Yellowstone NP, USA, Public domain

A snow covered track running between pines bent low under heavy snow, with a strip of blue sky above — Midwinter at Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, Maine. This is denning season in the north; each agency's own sentence on when its bears enter and leave their dens is quoted on the state pages, and the month bars show the reports thinning to match. “Winter at Moosehorn (11714166893)”, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region, Public domain

This page covers the 2026-27 season year with agency data read on September 19, 2026 and an iNaturalist record to September 19, 2026. Every sentence about bear behaviour is Pennsylvania Game Commission’s own, quoted exactly with a link to its page; every season window is republished from the agency page linked beside it, and windows the agency had not yet published are labelled not yet published. The month bars count what members of the public reported and are not a population. See also the national bear season guide.