"Signs of an increasing black bear population in Tennessee are evident through re-colonization into their former range, including the Cumberland Plateau"..........."More evidence of an increasing bear population is from the high volume of bear calls TWRA receives and responds to"............... "Last year, TWRA wildlife officers in east Tennessee investigated over 1,000 incidents involving black bears".................."While it is hard to put an exact number on Tennessee’s total bear population, it is estimated at about 7,000 animals"............... "TWRA is conducting a black bear population study with the states of Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina to get a better estimate of bear numbers across the southern Appalachians"................."The Researchers are utilizing a mark/recapture method to identify and estimate black bear densities"......................."The study, which should be completed by next summer, involves DNA analysis of bear hair collected from study sites"....................."This year(2018), Tennessee hunters harvested a record 759 black bears last year breaking the previous record of 589 set in 2011"..............."While 2018’s record harvest may stabilize bear numbers in certain areas, it will not stabilize the population as a whole and it will continue to grow, just at a slower rate"...............“Taking 759 bears out of a population of about 7,000 animals equates to approximately 11% of the total population"............“It would take a harvest of about 20% to stabilize the population at its current level"

https://www.tn.gov/twra/news/2018/11/5/tennessee-on-way-to-record-bear-harvest0.html

Tennessee on Way to Record Bear Harvest

Monday, November 05, 2018 

MORRISTOWN, Tenn. --- Just more than halfway through the 2018 black bear hunting season, Tennessee hunters have already harvested 551 black bears since the season opened Sept. 22. The record of 589 black bears was set in 2011.

Tennessee annual Bear kill levels by year

TWRA Black Bear Program Leader Dan Gibbs points towards a spotty acorn crop this year to account for the high harvest. Simply put, the more that bears have to move in search of food, the more susceptible they are to being located by hunters.  In 2011, biologists say there was a mast failure of acorns in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park forcing bears to leave protected areas and onto the national forests or private lands where they could be hunted.  For example, Sevier County, which borders a large boundary of the GSMNP, accounted for about 20 percent of the total bear harvest that year.  Gibbs also mentions that the high harvest so far this year reflects an increasing black bear population.

 While it's hard to put an exact number on the total number of bears in Tennessee, it's estimated to be at about 7,000 animals.  TWRA is conducting a black bear population study with the states of Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and South Carolina to get a better estimate of bear numbers across the southern Appalachians. "We are basically utilizing a mark/recapture method to identify and estimate black bear densities," says Gibbs. Tennessee's part of the study should be completed by the summer of 2019.

Tennessee Black Bear locations on map below

Cumberland Plateau indicated in Red and Yellow

Other signs of an increasing black bear population are evident through re-colonization into their former range, including the Cumberland Plateau. As a result, TWRA created a new Bear Hunting Zone in several Cumberland Plateau continues and has seen an increase in harvest since the first archery only season opened in 2014. In fact, archery hunters in Fentress County took 50 black bears with archery equipment this year alone. All hunting segments in the Cumberland Plateau area have concluded this year, however, a few hunts still remain in other Bear Hunting Zones in East Tennessee. One still hunt (without the use of dogs) remains from Nov. 17-20 in Bear Hunt Zones 1-3 followed by a segment with the use of dogs Nov. 26-Dec. 15 in BHZ 1; Nov. 26-Dec. 20 in BHZ 2 and Nov. 26-Dec. 9 in BHZ 3. The final segment of the 2018 black bear hunting season will be held Dec. 27-30 and is only open in BHZ 3.  So far, Cocke County leads the state with 92 bears harvested followed by Monroe County with 89 and Blount County with 67

For more details about black bear hunting in Tennessee, refer to page 36 of the Tennessee Hunting and Trapping Guide at https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/twra/documents/huntguide.pdf

Harvest reports and biological data for Tennessee's big game species can be researched online at:

https://hunterstoolbox.gooutdoorstennessee.com/?reportId=210#Harvest_Reports

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https://ag.tennessee.edu/news/Pages/NR-2018-05-Appalachianbearstudy.aspx

University Study of Black Bears Spreads to Western North Carolina

​University of Tennessee Continues Monitoring Black Bear Populations Across the Southeast

5/31/18 ;

Kristy Keel-Black

University of Tennessee student and SACBS research field manager Sam Millman (center, crouching) explains the sample collection procedure to other participants in the 2017 Southern Appalachian Cooperative Bear Study (SACBS), a research program collecting population data of Appalachian black bears. SACBS is currently in its second and final year in which research technicians, students and volunteers are working to collect hair samples of black bears in North Carolina. ​Photo by K. Keel-Blackmon, courtesy UTIA.

Regional Black Bear Study Area