Record number of bears killed by NC hunters and experts have odd explanation: Acorns
Hunters killed a record number of bears in North Carolina in 2022, and a poor acorn crop is part of the explanation, a state bear biologist said.
The 4,056 bears killed represented an 11% increase from the previous season, according to an annual bear harvest report by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.
Hunters killed a record 2,533 bears at the coast and a record 1,468 in the mountains, commission figures show.
The Piedmont region experienced its third-highest harvest at 55 bears, according to the commission.
A poor fall acorn crop led to the record kill in the mountains, Colleen Olfenbuttel, the commission’s black bear and furbearer biologist, said in a commission news release.
Bears roam further for food when acorns are in short supply, she said.
And that makes them more susceptible to being shot during the legal hunting harvest, as well as being hit by cars, Olfenbuttel said. The commission has surveyed acorn production for 40 years, she said.
Ongoing local and national interest in hunting bears at the coast explains the record haul there, according to the commission.
The coast has a reputation for large bears and, in some areas, more bears, Olfenbuttel said.
Hunters nationwide seek coastal bears
Where hunters kill bears in the state has held steady since the mid-1990s, according to the commission.
In 2022, 63% were killed at the coast, 36% in the mountains and 1% in the Piedmont, commission figures show.
Statewide, hunters killed most bears on private lands, commission officials said, with only 16% killed on commission game lands. In the mountain, 34% of bears killed were on state lands.
Dogs helped most successful hunters in their bear kills, commission officials found.
Yet the number of still hunters who killed bears rose to 41% last year, the highest percentage since the commission began requesting the information via the Big Game Harvest Report in 2009.
591,700 meals for NC families
In a statement, Olfenbuttel said bear hunting seasons are highly regulated. The seasons are a key to managing local bear populations, resolving agricultural damage, reinforcing a bear’s natural fear of people and providing wild game meat to families.
The 2022 harvest yielded about 591,700 plates of food for North Carolinians, Olfenbuttel said.
The commission’s restored bear population at the coast remains stable thanks to the annual harvest, Olfenbuttel said
Biologists research and monitor bears statewide to best manage their numbers, she said, and recently finished studying bear population and density in the mountains, similar to an ongoing coastal study.
The commission posts its annual harvest summaries on its black bear website under the surveys and reports section.