Record number of bear licenses in ’26

The state Natural Resources Board approved a record number of black bear licenses for the fall hunt at last week’s meeting in Madison.

Department of Natural Resources large carnivore specialist Randy Johnson said the agency recommended 15,245 licenses, a 16 percent increase over the 13,110 last year and an all-time high in Wisconsin.

Most of the increase is in Zones C, E and F in the southern portions of the state’s bear range, where hunter success rates remain much lower than in Zones A, B and D in the northern forest units. Zone D will also see an increase, while there will be slightly fewer awarded in Zones A and B.

Last year, more than 146,000 people applied for either a harvest license (32,284 applicants) or preference point (113,737 applicants). Of all licenses awarded, 95 percent went to Wisconsin residents, consistent with the last decade.

A total of 3,836 black bears were killed by Wisconsin hunters last fall, including 51 on ag damage tags, 34 during Learn to Hunt events and 27 by Ojibwe tribal members off reservation land.

While the vast majority of bears were taken in the northern and central forest regions, there were some individuals shot as far south as Lacrosse, Monroe, Juneau, Marquette and Fond du Lac counties.

Forty-two of the state’s 72 counties saw bears registered. Marinette County was No. 1 with 275 harvested. Rusk (255), Sawyer (241), Price (215) and Bayfield (185) rounded out the top five. Oconto was next with 181, followed by Langlade (169), Washburn (167), Burnett (164) and Oneida (151).

The minimum number of preference points needed to draw a license last year was 10 in both zones A and B, two in both zones C and D, and 1 in Zones E and F.

Johnson said there are thought to be about 23,000 black bears in the state prior to each hunting season. That takes into account both annual harvest and new cub recruitment.
The DNR’s bear management goal is to maintain a healthy and sustainable black bear population that fulfills the numerous ecological, social, and cultural benefits of bears while minimizing bear-human conflicts.

Wisconsin’s Bear Advisory Committee consists of representatives of DNR staff, federal and county agency partners, Ojibwe tribes, and stakeholder groups representing hunting and agricultural interests. A public meeting of this group was held Dec. 3. A central part of the meeting was to review and discuss bear population data and criteria identified in the Plan to help determine zone-specific bear population objectives (i.e., increase, maintain or decrease the bear population).

In no particular order, the criteria included bear nuisance complaints, agricultural damage, hunter satisfaction, hunter crowding/conflict, hunter success rates and data on bear health. Once desired bear population objectives were identified, scientific population model projections were presented to determine harvest targets.

Zone A has the most bears, with a pre-hunt estimate of about 7,775, and a harvest target of 1,000. Zone B’s estimate is nearly 6,000, with a harvest target of 850. The others include Zone C (4,500, target of 875); D (4,500, target of 1,100); E (1,000, target of 50); and F (unknown, target of 50).

Deer Bill Hearing

Rep. Joel Kitchens was joined by Door County hunters Dick Baudhuin and Greg Coulthurst at a hearing at the State Capitol recently to testify in favor of Assembly Bill 693, which would allow businesses to donate gift certificates to deer processors to give to hunters who donate a deer to the food pantry program.

Kitchens said the men saw a surplus of deer, and a deficit in area food pantries. The goal, he said, is to encourage more hunters to use an extra tag to reduce the deer population while providing meat for the local food distribution sites.

The state’s deer donation program began in 2000. It was modeled after the privately-run Hunt for the Hungry program in Green Bay. Hunters have donated more than 100,000 whitetails since then, which were processed into about four million pounds of ground venison. However, donations have dropped significantly from the early years, which included four earn-a-buck seasons between 2004 and 2008.

“We limited the program to the farmland zones because we recognize that there is not an overpopulation of deer in many counties,” Kitchen said. “We also recognize that the problem is not universally acute throughout the farmland zones. It will be entirely up to the counties to determine whether they will participate.”