The first day of bear hunting with firearms is Saturday in Pennsylvania, and hunters will have until Nov. 21 to bag a bruin.

Deer hunting with firearms begins Nov. 25 and ends Dec. 9.

Despite the fast approaching dates, Travis Lau, Pennsylvania Game Commission spokesman, said there is still time to get a license.

“Licenses remain on sale and continue to be sold through the season and beyond, so there’s always an opportunity for someone who hasn’t yet bought their licenses to get it and go hunting,” he said.

Those who are getting a license for the first time, he said, must first receive certification by taking a Hunter-Trapper Education course.

Lau explained that a hunter gets an “antlered” deer tag with the purchase of a general license.

“So you only need a general license to hunt deer, but you can only take a buck (an antlered deer) with the tag you get with your general license,” he noted. “If you want to harvest antlerless deer, you need and antlerless license for the Wildlife Management Unit you’re hunting in, a Deer Management Assistance Program permit for the property you’re hunting, or some other type of valid permit.”

The most recent tallies, which are from the end of October, show that more than 186,000 bear licenses have been sold, and more than 720,000 general licenses have been sold. The total number of antlerless licenses and permits was more than 1.1 million, Lau said.

Antlerless licenses and DMAP permits may not remain available for sale, however, because a specific number is allocated for each, and many have sold out.

In the past, hunting wasn’t permitted during any Sunday in the commonwealth.

But over the past four years, the game commission has added several Sunday opportunities for deer, bear and other game species.

Schedules are available on the game commission website.

Before going out, Lau advised hunters to check out places where chronic wasting disease has been found in deer.

The disease is a contagious and fatal brain disease that affects deer, and was first discovered in the commonwealth in Adams County in 2012.

“That’s not so much an issue for hunters in your area who hunt locally because CWD hasn’t been detected there,” Lau said, referring to the Times News coverage area. “But for those who travel, it might be a different story. And across the state, the are new areas each year that are subject to CWD regulations that might require hunters to change their behavior, so it’s always important to stay up to date and check where these areas are, because the boundaries change due to new detections.”

Lau also advised hunters to plan for their own success. In recent years, he noted, hunters have had difficulty finding a processor to butcher their deer.

“I think it’s safe to say there aren’t as many processors as there used to be and some of them only will take so many deer before turning people away,” he said. “So it’s always best to call and make sure a processor is accepting deer before showing up there. Knowing what other options are out there ahead of time also could pay off.”

The game commission reported that for the 2022-23 season, which ended in January, hunters harvested a total of 422,960. The statewide buck harvest was estimated at 164,190 and the antlerless harvest at 258,770.

It was a 12% increase over 2021-22’s estimated take.

When the totals were released in May, game commission Deer and Elk Section Supervisor David Stainbrook said the totals are noteworthy because the buck harvest is considered a good indicator of the overall deer population trend.

For example, if the buck harvest is climbing, the deer population likely is, too. If it’s dropping, the population probably mirrors that.