Black bear hunts to begin Thursday in Oklahoma
WildlifeLicenses will be required in four southeastern counties; Season will end when quota is met
BY JULIE BISBEE
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Published: September 27, 2009
Oklahoma will become the 29th state to allow bear hunting when the season opens later this week.
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Black bears in Oklahoma
→Oklahoma is the 29th state to have a bear hunting season. The season will only be in Latimer, Le Flore, McCurtain and Pushmataha counties.
→Hunters can only harvest 20 black bears during the season. Archery season begins Thursday. Muzzle loader season begins Oct. 24, unless the quota
is met.
→Black bears in Oklahoma come from Arkansas, which re-introduced the species to wilderness areas in the Ozark and Ouachita mountains in the late 1950s and 1960s. The bears came from northern Minnesota and Manitoba, Canada.
→Biologists estimate there are at least 500 bears in Oklahoma.
→The bears’ average age is 3.7 years old.
The bear facts
→About 30,000 bears are harvested in the United States each year.
→Bears can travel as fast as 35 mph.
→Female black bears weigh between 100 and 300 pounds.
→Male black bears weigh up to 400 pounds.
→Bears live up to 25 years.
Source: State Wildlife Conservation Department
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Hunters will be able to hunt black bears in four southeastern Oklahoma counties beginning Thursday. Lawmakers last session approved a measure to legalize the hunting.
Gov. Brad Henry signed the bill into law in April.
Hunting is limited to Latimer, Le Flore, McCurtain and Pushmataha counties. In those counties, residents say bears have become a nuisance, disturbing people and getting into trash.
Hunters must purchase a special license. Only 20 bears may be killed during the archery and muzzle loader season.
When the quota is met, the season will end.
Hunters must check by phone or online at wildlifedepartment.com to make sure the quota hasn’t been met before hunting each day.
"We’re pretty excited about it,” said
Micah Holmes, spokesman for the state Department of Wildlife Conservation. "It’s a big deal for us. There has been a lot of interest in it, and it has been a long time coming.”
The price of a license for in-state hunters is $100; it’s $500 for nonresidents. The proceeds from the license will go to the agency, which is funded primarily by user fees, Holmes said.
The law forbids hunters from using dogs to chase bears up into trees. Hunters can set out bait if they are on private property, but bears cannot be baited on public land, Holmes said.
Since 1991, the Department of Wildlife Conservation has received about 500 calls of bears being a nuisance, Holmes said. Officials went out to investigate about half the calls, he said. In the past four years, seven bears died after being hit by vehicles, Holmes said.
Bear hunting legislation passed with little opposition last session.
Biologists hope that a hunting season will help them learn more about southeastern Oklahoma’s bear population.
When a bear is killed, a biologist will meet the hunter, help the hunter remove the animal from the woods and then take a tooth from the animal to determine its age and a hair sample for DNA analysis, Holmes said.
Before statehood, bears lived in Oklahoma, but the population dwindled.
The bears that now live in the mountainous region of southeastern Oklahoma are part of a group that was reintroduced into the Ozark and Ouachita mountains in
Arkansas in the late 1950s and 1960s. The bears were from
Minnesota and
Manitoba,
Canada, Holmes said.
A study by
Oklahoma State University biologists estimate there are at least 500 black bears in Oklahoma. Researchers captured bears and put radio collars on the animals to track their movement and learn more about them. The oldest bear in the study was 11, and the average age was 3.7 years old.
"We still have a pretty young population,” Holmes said. "The population is still growing, and these hunts will help us better manage the population and get rid of nuisance bears.”
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ODWC did not really want to have a bear hunt in Oklahoma yet. That season was passed by the Oklahoma legislature and signed by the governor so they really had no option. That is part of the reason for the extra fee. It is for the extra law enforcement and oversight of the season that goes along with a legislative mandate.
Boomer: You must not have ever hunted bears because they are not an easy species to hunt. They have great a great sense of vision, hearing and smell. The odds of any hunter in Oklahoma who buys a tag getting a bear in Oklahoma is very low. I am sure the quota will be reached but I would be willing to lay money that most will come off of private land over bait. And for people stopping hunting when the quota is reached; If they do not then they are poachers and not hunters. Don't confuse the two. Poachers give hunters a bad name and all poachers deserve to have the full extent of the law applied to their crime.