Early black bear season begins Saturday as population climbs

Opening day of the early 2026 firearms season for bear in selected Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) begins on Saturday, September 12. It’s a good time to examine what’s going on with bears in New York and the regulations that impact them. Last year’s black bear harvest in New York’s Southern Zone was the highest ever recorded since the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) began monitoring in 1955.

An estimated 1,759 black bears were harvested during the 2025-26 hunting seasons. According to DEC’s tracking of the annual bear harvest since 1955 the 2025 statewide bear harvest was second only to the 2003 season and Southern Zone estimates set a new harvest record.

The recovery and growth of New York’s bear population is a fact touted by DEC as the result of successful wildlife management allowing black bear populations throughout the Northeast are on the rise. Hunters took 4% more bears in 2025 than in the 2024 season which was 18% above the 10-year average. The Southern Zone take included an estimated 1,202 bears taken, including the 10 heaviest bears recorded for that year. The Northern Zone harvest of 557 bears was slightly lower than 2024, but still well above the 10-year average.

The record-setting bear season in the Southern Zone is the culmination of a long-term pattern DEC documented in New York’s bear population. In the 1950s, bears only occupied the most remote and mountainous regions of New York in the Adirondack, Catskill, and Allegheny mountains. Over the past 70 years, bears gradually expanded their range in the State, and DEC began opening new areas for bear hunting.

The black bear population is definitely on the rise, not just in New York, but in the entire Northeast.

Bears now occupy most areas of the New York State except Long Island and New York City.  Goals included in DEC’s Black Bear Management Plan from 2014 through 2024 included efforts to minimize the damage and nuisance caused by wildlife and wildlife uses, noting:

“…the challenge for the next 10 years will be to stabilize black bear populations in most areas, reduce populations in a few areas, and prevent bear establishment in others to achieve the desired balance of positive and negative impacts that bears can have for the public.”

So, it is apparent not all those goals to contain or reduce the New York bear populations were met from 2014 to 2024. During that time, black bear populations continued to rise and expanded throughout the state including areas where that was not the desired outcome.

New York’s black bear population in areas open to hunting is currently estimated at a minimum of 6,000-8,000 bears, with roughly 50-60% of the bears inhabiting the Adirondack region, about 30-35% in the Catskill region and about 10-15% in the central-western region, according to the DEC.

The 6,000-8,000 estimate is conservative at best and may well be significantly less than the number of bears on the landscape currently in NY. DEC acknowledges the difficulty in accurately estimating black bear populations and is working on strategies to improve that.

Negative and sometimes dangerous encounters between humans and black bears are an increasing problem in the Catskills and other areas of New York. A black bear severely injured a man in Greene County in 2025 and a number of dogs have been injured in encounters with bears in our area in 2026, not to mention annual damage caused by bears to commercial agriculture, apiaries, and residential fruit trees.  

In my opinion, actions needed to be taken by DEC to prevent further increase bear populations and address human-bear conflicts include:

Opening the Early Firearms Season for bear throughout Region 4, Region 3, and possibly the entire Southern Zone

Black bears migrate into New York from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Southern Zone encompasses that entire border. In Region 4, DEC bear biologists have historically and consistently called for opening WMUs 4S in eastern Greene County and 4O in western Delaware County to the early gun season. Now, with increasing populations of both black bears and people upstate, we are beyond that and should open both the Southern Catskills and Hudson Valley (Region 3) and Northern Catskills (Region 4) to the early gun season for bear. That season can be an effective check on the population. DEC is currently working on its next Black Bear Management Plan and should consider opening the entire Southern Zone up for the early gun season.

Allow Hunters to Take Two Bears Per Year Instead of just One

Hunting is the only real management tool DEC has at its disposal to keep the black bear population in check. There are not that many dedicated bear hunters as many bears are taken incidental to hunting deer. Allowing hunters to kill two bears per year rather than just one would give DEC another tool in the toolbox to keep the ability to control bear populations.

DEC biologists announced a record 1.6 million deer on the landscape and drastically changed its policy on targeting female deer which is the key to reducing the deer population. That same principle of taking more females is also the key to reducing bear populations. In order for that strategy to be adopted, biologists should consider removing the prohibition against taking a bear that is in a group in the Southern Zone. Taking a bear in a group is allowed in the Northern Zone. That’s one hurdle in DEC’s current challenge to keep the black bear population in check.

DEC bear biologists forecasted that need more than twelve years ago in their 2014-2024 Black Bear Management Plan. It stated the need to reduce bear populations in the Catskills and western Hudson Valley; Southern Tier and Eastern New York, maintain at low or moderate levels in Lake Plains, Mohawk Valley and urban/suburban areas to prevent establishment of resident bear populations. It also called for maintaining black bear populations at current levels in the Northern Zone and Adirondack Region.

Measures to achieve those population goals should now be adopted as biologists craft the next ten-year plan for black bear management in New York.

Happy hunting, fishing, and trapping until next time!

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A resident of Durham, Larry is a retired captain with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

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