Julia Reischel in the Watershed Post reports that hunters in New York's Southern Zone killed a record 1,110 bears in 2014, according to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. The area, which includes the Catskill Mountains, saw 12 percent more bears taken than in the previous record year, 2011. An extra early bear hunting season was opened from Sept. 6 to Sept. 21 in portions of the Catskills and the western Hudson Valley last year, contributing to the high numbers. "Catskills hunters in in Delaware, Greene, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties killed 893 bears in 2014," according to an analysis of the DEC's hunt data by the Watershed Post. In the Catskills, hunters killed 294 bears during the new early season and 599 during the bow hunting, muzzleloading and regular seasons, which occur later in the fall. A 613-pound male bear killed in the Greene County town of Jewett was the second largest bear taken in the state in 2014. Read the full story in the Watershed Post.