The Black Bear population in North Carolina has grown more than 10 times over the last 50 years, now reaching an estimated 20,000. To manage that population, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is changing decades-old rules.
In 2022, the commission opened bear hunting in three sanctuaries, and this year, it's extending the hunting season to now begin in November in the Western part of the state. It's the first change to the season's length in decades.
The commission says the longer season, which applies to the Western part of the state, aims to change the composition of the harvest.
Bill Lea, a bear advocate, says that'll include more female bears, who are more likely to den in November. Lea opposes the rule change on a few fronts. Primarily, he strongly objects to the use of dogs in bear hunting.
"They chase them for hours, even up to days at a time until they're exhausted," he said. "It's one thing to control populations, it's another thing to do it in such a cruel, long, drawn out manner."
Public input was 69% in opposition to the extended season. Some cited safety risks, especially with the use of hunting dogs and an overlap with deer season.
"It is a real safety issue of having these packs of dogs roaming the woods during the peak of fall color season," he said.
There have been incidents in the past between hikers and hunting dogs, including a 2014 high-profile case in which a woman and her two dogs were attacked in Western NC.
Lea, who opposed the rule, is now looking to the Rules Review Commission to rescind the longer season. The commission acknowledge a majority of public comments were in opposition, including among people who lived in the affected areas, but Commissioner Brad Stanback said the reasons mostly objected to how the hunting took place.
“While there were a few concerns about potential conflicts from having bear and deer seasons overlap, most of the comments against our proposals came from anti-hunters who just didn’t want bears to be hunted at all, especially with dogs,” Stanback told Smoky Mountain News.
Black bear hunters in Eastern North Carolina, where the use of dogs is more common, say incidents are few and far between and that the extended season simply allows more time to secure the one-bear-per-person limit.
Stacee and Jeremy Messer own Lickstone Outfitters, a business that guides hunts in both Western and Eastern North Carolina. They view the extended season as mostly a good thing, saying it will allow more time to hunt and account for weather.
Stacee says it's "two different worlds" hunting in the mountains versus the coast. In the east, the use of dogs is more common and hunters are able to explore thousands of acres of private land owned by timber companies. That's not the case in Western NC, where most of the hunting occurs on game lands.
The longer season also now overlaps with the end of deer hunting in Western NC. Some deer hunters are worried that dogs used in bear hunts may scare off game, but Jeremy says that's not likely.
"There will potentially be dogs in the woods while they're trying to deer hunt, which will be a change," he said. "But I don't think it affect it as much as people think."
The Commission has aimed to maintain black bear population growth in Western NC to 0%, according to its 2022 management plan, but in recent years, the population has grown by 6% annually.
Jeremy skeptical the longer season will do much to manage the black bear population, as the limit remains at one tag per person.
