Hunting season for Bear started in Wisconsin September 3rd and ran till October 7th. While Michigan’s Upper Peninsula had dates for different management units that started September 1st and ended October 26th. With the estimated number of black bears being close to 30K in Wisconsin and 10K in neighboring Michigan’s U.P.  there where 3,724 bears harvested in Wisconsin while the average number of bears taken in the U.P. is 1800 per season.

The Black Bear management Zones A, B & D are what we call the Northwoods while zone C and northern part of zone E and F is in central Wisconsin and the lower parts of E & F are in the southern part of our state. The harvest numbers are as follows, Zones A, B & D reported 2,908 bears harvested, while zones C, E & F took a total of 816.

Every year harvest numbers change as do each zone. For example, 2023 saw 2922 bears harvested (down 1087) from 4009 in 2022.  Then 2024 that number increased (1363) to 4285 bears and even though the DNR raised the quotas to 4075 in 2025, the harvest rate dropped (561) to 3724 from 2024. There are many reasons for the fluctuation in harvest numbers from year to year.

Weather can influence bear activity as can the abundance of food. If there is a large number of acorns one season, bears may not be too interested in the hunter’s bait piles. Habitat and the bear population and even hunter’s skill levels can even play a part in the yearly harvest. I did notice zone C (central Wisconsin) has had a higher number of bears that have been harvested in the last two years.

I might be wrong on this one, but I believe the bear population is moving south for a few reasons. The growing population in the north could be one reason. How about the lack of habitat and food source in the Northwoods for the amount of bears we have?

Central Wisconsin is more agricultural than the northern part of the state so, bears not only have an easier food source (sweet and field corn) but farmers in zone C are saying bears are causing damage to these fields along with commercial vegetable growers complaining about the higher number of bears. Then ask farmers with livestock about bears killing their animals.

What’s the answer?  With 23K black bear in Wisconsin, maybe the DNR could raise the number of permits in zones A, B, D lowering the number of bears moving south. Will that help with the bear population? Probably not, but it would make hunters a lot happier.

With this being the start of the third week of November, many believe bears should be sleeping in their dens by now. Well, because the weather this fall has been mild, deer hunters have been seeing fresh bear tracks and bears have been seen on many on trail cameras. Could this year’s warmer fall affect hibernation? That could be another subject to write about.

.