Bear Management In Tennessee

Current & Projected Status

Black bears (Ursus americanus) are an important wildlife resource of the forests of Tennessee. In recent years Tennessee's bear management program has become an emerging success story. Strong enforcement of game laws and effective management techniques have resulted in increasing populations and harvests. However, the status of Tennessee’s bear population hasn't’t always been so healthy.

Tennessee's bear population is shared with the states of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Collectively, this population is known as the Southern Appalachian population. Recognition that bear management in the adjoining states might impact Tennessee's bear program resulted in the formation of the Tri-State Black Bear Study team in 1976, composed of the states of Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. This group completed its report on the status of the black bears in the southern Appalachians in 1983 (TWRA Technical Report No. 83-9). In 1990, the group was re-formed, and expanded to include the state of South Carolina, which has a small population in the western portion of that state. The group is now known as the Southern Appalachian Black Bear Study Group, and meets semi-annually to share data and information, and discuss issues pertinent to bear management. Presently, bears exist in adequate numbers in eleven Tennessee counties (Blount, Carter, Cocke, Greene, Johnson, Monroe, Polk, Sevier, Sullivan, Unicoi, and Washington) along the eastern border of the state.

According to recent estimates, the Southern Appalachian region (excluding Virginia) supports a population of approximately 6,500 bears, of which 1,000 to 1,500 are estimated to be in Tennessee. In addition to the Southern Appalachian population found in eastern Tennessee, there is a disjunct population present in the Big South Fork region of Tennessee and Kentucky, comprised of Campbell, Fentress, Morgan and Scott counties in Tennessee. This population is a result of a repatriation project initiated in 1995. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency is currently exploring approaches to continue the restoration of this population.

The current status of Tennessee's black bear population is good. Bait station surveys, conducted annually since 1981, indicate that the population increased significantly during the 1980's. The legal harvest of bears further indicates a relatively abundant bear population. Since 1981, the legal harvest has increased from a low of 21 bears in 1982, to 370 in 1997. Some of the increase in the legal harvest can be attributed to the establishment of a 5-day October season in counties surrounding GSMNP, which was first initiated in 1987. Depending on the year and the availability of hard mast within GSMNP, this early season has produced between 2 and 253 bears in the total harvest. The early season has been most successful during years when hard mast was scarce within the Park, resulting in greater bear movements outside GSMNP, and a higher bear harvest.

Past, Present, & Future Use