JUST FYI, the black bear population in SE Oklahoma has EXPLODED! over the last 5 years! McCurtain county has seen their annual bear count go for an average of 10-20 bears 7 years ago to over 300 last year! they issued 35 bear permis and they harvested all 35 bears in a little more than 24 hours! I was chased out of the woods up there in the spring of 2010 by a 400+ pound male black bear!

If you like deer hunting you really don't want alot of bears, they will chew up a deer population.

Had a land owner not far where we hunt find a den and put up a game cam. He had mama bear dragging in 14 fawns over a little more than a month.

I consider them to be just as good as a coyote, just bigger and scarier.

x2

Is this particular sub-species considered endangered like the one's in east TX, or can they be shot? Personally I have no interest in bear hunting but I sure wouldn't want any deer being lost to these things. It's gonna be slim pickens with the drought already.

I miss bear hunting back in NC, here in TX i will walk around the woods without having to worry as much. In NC walking around the woods at night you always had that though in the back of your mind.

I have them where I live, we have a sow with 2 cubs, a boar, and a 2 year old. they roam the forest and state park down the street and occasionally come into the neighborhood. They eat berries, bugs,acorns, fish and dead animals. They very rarely kill for their food,they would rather eat berries and bugs. They will take a young fawn or doe. but it has to be easy prey. They will wreck a feeder, and can break into a cabin too get food. I've seen the boar a bunch and he always runs. They just aren't that aggresive. Dogs scare them. I would rather have bears than coyotes any day.
Here's a photo of him a month ago

that is a cub but still very cool..
i saw a cub just like that at shenedoah national park in virginia on the side of the road eatin somthin

I'm sorry BUT I would have to see the photographic PROOF on that one! I can see a black beer possibly killing and eating 1 maybe 2 fawns the entire spring but 14 in one month? I just don't see it.....

There were bears seen in the Chisos Mountains (Big Bend Nat'l Park) as early as the middle 80s; my friend who worked a summer up there saw one come up the face of the South Rim. He said that bear came up the face of the cliff so quickly and effortlessly that it made the hair stand up on back of his neck. He figured if that bear decided he wanted him for a snack there was just no escaping a predator that agile and powerful.

There were rumors in the late 80s that a bear cub had been run over on the highway between Alpine and Fort Stockton. Never saw a single bear during my four years at Sul Ross though.

I wish I had a way to prove it too you. I'll see if I can get a copy of the game cam pics next time I see him. No of us believed him either till he bought them to the bar and showed everyone.

sweet pic!

Black bears are protected in Texas. YOU CAN NOT SHOOT THEM.

From the Outdoor Annual:

BLACK BEARS and MOUNTAIN LIONS
Black bears are protected and cannot be hunted or killed. Mountain lions are not protected and can be harvested at any time. Please report black bear sightings or mortalities, and mountain lion sightings, harvests, or mortalities to (512)389-8047.

About 20 years ago, there was a young black bear cub that climbed into a dumpster at a fast food place in Kerrville. I was living there at the time and have always remembered that story. I remember that the local GW was quoted as saying that they weren't sure how the cub got there as there hadn't been any known to be in the area in many, many years.

Anyone else remember that story?

Any bear that kills goats is a friend of mine!

WOW that is pretty cool

you dont have to killem just catchem you just got to use a picanic basket

I grew up in Montana,so bears were a pretty common site,and they wreaked havoc during calfing season.Prob did as much damage as feral hogs here in Tx

Just heard a story on the radio a couple of days about some guy shooting a bear down close to the border. Didn't get all the details or exact location, but they said something about the bear coming up out of Mexico... headed for a pond on the guy's property to drink.

Yes, but its great news to see sign of bears coming back and thriving in Texas again.

Awesome there are bears, on the other hand, I kind of agree with an earlier poster. I like walking around my property by myself and not have to worry about running into a wolf den, sow and cub, and mountain lion (I know they are around, but are elusive).

I have mixed feelings, it's kind of the same way I feel about letting some of the smaller dogs run around at night or dusk/dawn, you never know when a coyote might snatch it and run off.

yeah my dad told me he drove by when they darted one right in downtown up in a tree

My buddy has them in Del Rio. He lost 9 feeders thanks to mister bear.