For the first time in nearly 40 years black bear hunting excluding females and cubs will be allowed in the northeastern part of Louisiana.
For many residents in South Louisiana who deal with black bears they feel they should be included as well.
For the first time since 1987 Louisiana will have a black bear hunting season. For sixteen days in December ten tags will be administered to hunters through a lottery system.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries Large Carnivore Program Manager John Hanks said the Louisiana black bear is no longer considered an endangered species.
“They were taken off in 2016,” Hanks said. “Through our work we are able to see there are excess bears in those subpopulations.”
Hanks said hunting will only be allowed in areas with the largest population, but changes may be made after the first season.
“There are plenty of bears in the St. Mary area but not as many in the Tensas area,” Hanks said. “We’re starting there well see how this goes.”
But some in St. Mary Parish feel they’ve been left out of the hunting season. Residents south of Highway 90 often see bears in their yards including Cameron Sonnier.
“They come across the ditch back here and they come up take trashcans rip them open break them. And they’ll go straight in the back and tear them up. They leave a mess for me to clean. I would recommend we get tags down here to go hunting for bears. At least one, you know once a year.”
St. Mary Parish Hunter Joey Ratcliffe supports a bear hunting season. He believes the bears interfere with his deer hunting season.
“I haven’t been seeing the deer that I like to see. I bow hunt and I’ve got a lot of pictures of bears. But yet we do have a raccoon season and we are allowed to hunt raccoons with dogs. And I mean come on give us a season for bears.
But not everyone supports the season.
Human Society of Louisiana Executive Director Jeff Dorson started a petition online against the bear season that currently has over 8,000 signatures. He said there are ways to live in harmony with bears rather than hunting them.
“Bears are forgers and they have strong sense of smell, so you gotta clean your barbeque grill,” Dorson said. “You gotta bear proof your compost. You gotta sanitize your garbage and make sure it’s away from the bears. You gotta move your birdfeeder away from your home back into the woods.”
The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries will be holding public comment meetings in Delhi at the Black Bear Golf Course Conference Center on Tuesday and at the LSU Ag Center in St. Joseph on Thursday.
Public comments can also be submitted to Hanks at jhanks@wlf.la.gov until Feb. 5.
If you are interested in signing the “Stop Louisiana Black Bear Hunt petition click the link below.
Petition · Stop the Louisiana Black Bear Hunt · Change.org
