Arkansas is having its worst bear season in at least a decade

[Ozarkansas]

Arkansas is currently sitting at just 232 bears harvested after a month of the season being open. The quota for Zone 1 archery alone is 400 and it’s usually hit after the first two weeks. This will likely be the worst season in over a decade, if not the worst since baiting was allowed.

The reason for this is probably drought, which has caused the oaks to drop their acorns about a month early. So bears haven’t had much reason to visit bait sites, even though the AGFC moved the season opener to two weeks earlier.

 

[Blind Squirrel]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. Crazy how no matter what kind of food people put out to attract critters, they always prefer acorns.

 

[flathead#2]

Looks like they all got killed last year.

 

[Ozarkansas]

Looks like they all got killed last year.

Last year was the first year that they had a bad mast crop since they bumped up the quota in zone 1, and the first year (or maybe second) that they had zones 3 & 4 (the SW quarter of the state) open to hunting. According to the bear biologist, last year was where harvest needs to be to keep the bear population stable.
The two years prior to that had back-to-back bumper acorn crops. So out of the last 4 years, the biologist assumes that recruitment outpaced harvest in 3 of those years. Not a bad thing if you’re a bear hunter.

 

[Dexter Grayson]

Didn’t realize the Arkansas bear harvest was so high.

 

[bigbassfish]

Hard to believe there's more bear out there this year than last, I would find fresh sign in multiple different places every weekend. This year I was lucky if I'd find fresh sign once an outing. Not nearly as much soft mast this year either it seems.

 

[Ozarkansas]

Hard to believe there's more bear out there this year than last, I would find fresh sign in multiple different places every weekend. This year I was lucky if I'd find fresh sign once an outing. Not nearly as much soft mast this year either it seems.

I’m getting a lot of bears on cameras I have on public. I wonder if the issue is the lack of soft mast in your areas? I’ve seen a good pawpaws and persimmons crop in my area along with lots of acorns

 

[MallardSX2]

Didn’t realize the Arkansas bear harvest was so high.

The bear hunting is so good there a lot of people are hunting there for bears instead of Colorado for elk because the bear hunting is just so damn good!

Yuuuuuuuuuuge black bears. Booners some might say!

 

[RocketRob16]

I’m hoping the population continues to grow and expand. I don’t understand why the biologists want to keep the population stable at this level. Until bears are a common occurrence (they are not at all in my area) I don’t see the reasoning for the high harvest rates.

 

[bigbassfish]

This would be my thought as well, the bears i found last year were hitting persimmons and muscadines HARD.

This says more about me than anything else but I have yet to find a persimmon in Arkansas. We find plenty of persimmon poop to know when were close to em, but embarrassingly i have yet to lay eyes on a fruit bearing tree. It is actually one of my biggest hunting frustrations, and 2nd on my Arkansas bucket list, only to an elk tag lol.

Tons of acorns this year though for sure, out of curiosity, how many of you Arkansas bear hunters are doing so on public, specifically targeting bear?

 

[Ozarkansas]

out of curiosity, how many of you Arkansas bear hunters are doing so on public, specifically targeting bear?

I’ll be going out this weekend with bear as my #1 priority, but I won’t be passing up a shot on a nice buck or hog either. I’ve got a spot where the odds are pretty dang good of getting a shot on at least one of those choices

 

[bigbassfish]

Good luck! I'll likely be out too, this cooler weather's got me excited!

 

[wyldman]

Looks like a big harvest last year combined with the acorn crop.