Bear

October 12, 2023

I receive a free weekly town newspaper that provides the usual local sports, school, city hall, and local interest stories that were previously reported in nearly every small town in America.  One of the special interests stories this week was about the bear hunt season in Arkansas.   You may recall last summer I commented on the bear that showed up in a wooded area near our neighborhood in the Arkansas River Valley.  The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) reintroduced bears into the Ouachita and Ozark Mountains (to the north and south of us) during the late 1950’s and 1960’s.  Bear season opened for hunting in 1980 and this year most of the state is open.  It is estimated that 700 animals will be harvested.  Muron Means, Coordinator for the Large Carnivore Program with AGFC, said without the hunters, sales taxes collected, and the work of AGFC scientists, the revival of hunting black bear in Arkansas would not have happened.

When I checked online, I found the American black bear (Ursus americanus), or black bear, is a species of medium-sized bear endemic to North America.  The animal is the smallest and most widely distributed bear species on the continent.  The American black bear is an omnivore whose diet varies greatly depending on season and location.  It typically lives in largely forested areas, but will leave forests in search of food, and is sometimes attracted to human communities due to the availability of food.  The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the American black bear as a least-concern species, due to its widespread distribution and a population estimated to be twice that of all other bear species combined.  Along with the brown bear (Ursus arctos), it is one of only two modern bear species not considered by the IUCN to be globally threatened with extinction.  Today, black bear fatalities are mainly attributed to humans (vehicle accidents and hunting). 

The black bear was nearly eradicated from Arkansas due to predation for bear fat, which was used to make oil for lamps in cities like New Orleans and Galveston.  The oil was cheap but would leave dark greasy stains on the street if it was spilled.  The only bear meat I have ever tasted was bear jerky bought from a big box hunting chain.  I had always heard bear meat was greasy, and the jerky (at least) affirmed this.  Still, meat was number one of the four reasons given for why people in the US hunt bears.  The next reason is conservation.  Bears cause huge amounts of damage to the moose (Alces alces), deer (Odocoileus virginianus), elk (Cervus canadensis), and caribou (Rangifer tarandus) populations in the US.  The biggest reasons the black bear is hunted is for trophies, although it was stated this also included eating bear meat.  The final reason is for management.  As people encroach on bear territory, they become familiar to humans as a source of food (garbage).  The bear is then either relocated or shot. 

Thoughts:  The bear season in Arkansas shows that 80% of the black bears are harvested with archery equipment, and that is not unique for other states.  The reason is most people bait and bear hunt early, usually as soon as the season opens.  Most of the damage in the bear harvest is within the first couple of weeks of archery season.  The normal reason for wildlife hunting to be illegal is managing population, and bear hunting is legal because there is a healthy population.  While that may be good for the hunters, it is not so much for the bear.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.