Most parts of Wisconsin will see a similar number of bear hunting licenses this year compared to last year.
Eric Lobner, Wildlife Bureau Director for the Wisconsin DNR, recently told the Natural Resources Board there was a drop in the bear harvest last year.
“Ultimately we saw a rather significant drop in the bear harvest that occurred this last year. We’re normally right around 4,000 bear that are harvested. This year we were right around 3,000 bear,” said Lobner.
Lobner says a strong acorn crop could have been part of that as bears had a lot of natural food available.
However, Lobner says there are some signs of bear population drops in some areas.
“Last year we had about 437 black bear that we relocated from ag damage situations. This year it was much lower, 261. Ag complaints are down, nuisance complaints are down in general. So there are some indicators there that the black bear population is down.”
The Natural Resources Board approved a recommendation to issue 11,500 bear licenses this year, down from 12,760 in 2023.
Almost all of the reduction is due to a change in Zone D in the northwest part of the state.
Zone D saw the license recommendation reduced to just over 3,000, down by over 1,000 from last year.
