1- Hunting season is in late November. Most years, females are denned up already.
2 - Hunting season is in late November so "cubs" aren't exactly nursing newborns.
3 - Like said before, it is very hard to judge the size of a bear in the woods.

The size of ALL bears is over-estimated.

The bear success rate in PA is about 3%. Most guys hunt a lifetime and never see a bear in the woods. When they see a bear moving through the woods, they look big to most guys. It's not like there's a herd of bears and these guys shoot the smallest one.

We don't hunt spring bears over bait so there's no looking over a bear and judging size. We're putting miles on our boots in the big woods, swamps, laurels and overgrown clearcuts. When we actually ever see a bear, we need to make a snap judgement. Sometimes the bear is bigger than we first thought. So what? It's still a PA bear and quite an achievement.