photo by Used with permission by Retired TWRA Major Tom Wood
Tennessee’s 2015-16 black bear season ended on Jan. 2, as the last hunt concluded in McMinn, Monroe, and Polk Counties.
Tennessee hunters reported a harvest of 550 black bears during the 2015-16 season that began with an archery-only hunt on Sept. 26, and ended with a hunt allowing dogs on Jan. 2. This is the third highest black bear harvest on record.
The bear harvest was down last year (348) as excellent hard mast production kept bear movements lower. Healthy sows also reproduced very well in their winter dens, which resulted in a surplus of bears on the ground this year. A combination of more bears and a poor hard mast crop this year led to increased bear movements and higher harvest numbers. “We are seeing a trend over the last decade of a good harvest one year followed by a lower harvest the following year,” said TWRA Bear Program Coordinator Dan Gibbs. “This is indicative of a healthy bear population and a fluctuation in food availability.”
Bear numbers have grown steadily since the late 1980s when the annual harvest was well under 100 bears. Every season since 2005, hunters have taken over 300 bears and the record harvest was set in 2011 when 589 black bears were reported through TWRA’s checking system.