State releases new bear population data ahead of bear hunting season

August 23, 2024  |  By Vermont Fish & Wildlife 

Black bears are an important part of Vermont’s native biodiversity. VTF&W Photo by John Rogers

Vermont’s black bear population has declined slightly based on estimates using 2023 data that shows the state has roughly 6,300 to 7,600 bears, according to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department.

“The 2023 population estimate is a little lower than in 2022, which was a five-year high for Vermont’s bears,” said wildlife biologist Jaclyn Comeau, who leads the Black Bear Project at Vermont Fish and Wildlife.

The data release comes just ahead of the start of bear hunting season which begins Sept. 1 and runs through late November. 

There are many factors that influence a bear population. These include habitat quality, year-to-year changes in the availability of wild foods, the balance of female to male bears, as well as the proportions of different aged bears in that population, the number bears harvested by hunters each year, and the number of bears killed from non-hunting causes each year. 

“A healthy bear population like Vermont’s has a natural cycle of peaks and dips that plays out over years,” said Comeau.  “It is important to look at an individual year’s population estimate in context to larger trends over time.”

After a consistent overall increase from the 1970s through the 1990s, Vermont’s bear population has been relatively stable through the 2000s, with periods of shorter-term growth and decline. Over the past five years, the population has averaged an 8% increase. Wildlife biologists say that time will tell whether this increase is part of a shorter-term population cycle of peaks and dips or a longer-term change.   

Today, Vermont’s healthy bear population is the result of a decades-long research and conservation effort that includes land protection, regulated hunting and significant public education on preventing conflicts with bears.  

According to Department of Fish and Wildlife annual data, hunters in 2023 took 837 bears which was on par with hunts in 2022 and 2021. In 2020, hunters took 925 bears — the largest number in the past two decades. Yearly reports are posted on the department’s website here.

As recently as the early 1970s Vermont’s bears were found only in mountainous areas and the Northeast Kingdom, and likely numbered between 1,500 and 3,500.  Today they are found in every Vermont town except communities on the Lake Champlain Islands. 

“Vermont’s black bears are a conservation success story, but our work isn’t done.  If you live in Vermont, you live in bear country and you are responsible for preventing conflicts with bears,” Comeau said.  “More than anything else, that means keeping human food like garbage and birdfeeders out of bears’ reach.”

This graph shows Vermont’s bear population estimates from the 1970s through 2023. Source: Vermont Fish & Wildlife

Vermont’s bear hunt begins Sept. 1 

Vermont has two bear hunting seasons during which hunters may take only one bear per year. The first season requires a special bear tag and runs from Sept. 1 through Nov. 15. Nonresident hunters using dogs cannot start bear hunting until Sept. 15, however.  The late bear season runs Nov. 16-24, according to the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife. 

In addition to a hunting license, a bear hunter using a bow or crossbow must have a prior or current bow license or a certificate proving completion of a bow hunter education course, according to state regulations.

Hunters must field dress the bear before taking it to a reporting station. It is also legal to skin the bear and cut it up in order to carry it out of the woods. Although the bear must be reported within 48 hours, Fish & Wildlife urges doing so quickly to cool the meat. The hunter must also collect and submit a pre-molar tooth from the animal at the time the bear is reported or within 30 days. The tooth provides important data on the age, structure, and size of the bear population.   

Also, upon the request of a game warden, a person harvesting a bear is required to return to the kill site with a game warden.

“Bears will be feeding along power lines and in forest openings and old fields where berries and apples can be found as well as in forested beech and oak stands,” said Jaclyn Comeau, Vermont’s bear biologist.  “They also are likely to be feeding on standing corn.”

Given the latest information regarding the bear population, Comeau said that with bears being abundant, this year offers a great opportunity for hunters who have never hunted bears to do so.  

Properly prepared bear meat is highly nutritious, Comeau noted. The key to successfully securing good meat is to skin the bear as soon as possible and process it immediately if you do not have access to a large cooler. 

Hunters are reminded to refrain from shooting a bear with cubs as well as bears observed in groups as they are usually made up of sows with cubs.

“Black bear cubs are dependent on their mother through the following spring.  It is important to maintain these family groups,” Comeau said. 

The state Fish & Wildlife Department website has tips for identifying sows with cubs. In addition, a new state law prohibits the sale of paws or internal organs of a black bear. Vermont Fish & Wildlife urges hunters to download and read the 2024 Black Bear Hunting Guide.