Despite record black bear harvest; area near ‘saturation point’

Tennessee wildlife records show a record number of black bears fell to hunters this year, and a state wildlife official said East Tennessee has about as many bears as the area can handle without problems.

“We’re pretty close to a saturation point to what the region can support,” said Greg Wathen, chief of wildlife for the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

Officials have noted a rise in recent bear nuisance reports, including a mauling injury in August in the Great Smoky Mountains and a mauling fatality two years ago in the Cherokee National Forest in Polk County. As a result, Mr. Wathen said the agency has been adjusting its bear hunting seasons.

“We’ve been lengthening our seasons and offering other hunting opportunities,” he said.

For example, officials have added a season during which hunters can use bows and arrows to kill bears, he said.

By mid-December, a record number of 436 bears had been killed this season in Tennessee, according to TWRA reports. During last year’s hunting season, 336 bears were harvested.

The biggest harvest on record was in 1997 when 370 bears were killed, said Allen Ricks of TWRA’s office in Morristown, Tenn. Records date from 1953.

Mr. Ricks said the bear population in the tri-state mountain region of Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina “is the highest it’s been in 100 years,” and the bears are quite mobile — going where the food is. He said there is no way to estimate the number of bears living in the wild.

David Gregory, a wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Resources, said the bear population of North Georgia also has been climbing steadily.

Mr. Gregory said officials haven’t finished their season’s kill count as the season isn’t officially over yet, but he’s sure the number will be high for the Peach State, as well.

“We have base station surveys that tell us the trend is up, and pretty much every year it’s been increasing. Our harvests also keep going up every year, and our nuisance calls keep going up every year.

In all of North Georgia, Mr. Gregory said, there were more than 1,000 bear nuisance calls in the past year. He said his region’s 19-county Northwest Georgia region accounted for about 600 of those calls.