Black Bears in Bowie County Texas

Black Bears in Bowie County

Recent sightings of black bears in Bowie County have citizens concerned.  Are black bears really running loose in Bowie County? Yes. Are black bears dangerous to humans? Yes. Are black bears dangerous to livestock? Yes.

Now the facts.

 Black bears were distributed throughout Texas prior to 1820. Two hunters killed 182 black bears in Liberty County between 1883 and 1885. As settlers moved into the eastern and northeastern parts of the state, they altered the black bears habitat. The settlers also killed the bears for their meat, hides, fat and to protect their livestock. When “Uncle Bud” Bracken of Hardin County stopped hunting bears in 1887 he had killed 305 bears and had the hides to prove it. He stopped hunting the bears because they were scarce. The last native East Texas black bear was believed to have been killed in Polk County in the late 1950s.

It appears the black bear populations in the Ouachita Mountains and Ouachita National Forest are on the rise. This area in Oklahoma is less than 100 miles as the crow flies (or the bear walks) from Bowie County. This has led to an increase number of sightings in the Red and Sulphur River basins. Both flow through Bowie County.

TPWD has documented reliable black bear sightings in 22 counties since 1977. The counties included Bowie, Cass, Red River, Fannin, Lamar, Hopkins, Titus, Wood Upshur, and Marion. In 1998 a number of sightings were reported near Paris in Lamar County.  Undeniable evidence occurred in 1999 on the Franklin-Hopkins County line (just west of the rest area) on Interstate 30 when a tractor-trailer struck and killed a black bear. In 2002 a bear was feeding on garbage near a residence in Cass County. Two sightings occurred in 2003. One was in Wood County,  the other in the Bowie County city limits of Texarkana. This bear was later captured in Texarkana Arkansas.

The black bear is usually solid black with brownish muzzle and occasionally has a white blaze on the chest. The bears will measure 5-6 feet in length and 2-3 feet in height at the shoulder. Males will weigh 200-475 plus while females average 120-250 pounds. The home range for a bear is 1 to 76 square miles. Density rates range from 0.02 bears per square mile to 1.4 bears per square mile. This rate depends on many factors.

Bears are omnivores but recent studies in the southeast U.S. suggest it feeds predominately as a herbivore. Black Bear will eat acorns, pecans, dewberries, blackberries, wild grapes, mulberry, hawthorn, sassafras, paw-paw, pokeberry, persimmon, sugar cane, corn, insects and their larvae, honey and the bees to name a few. Meat in the bear’s diet comes from carrion although they are capable of killing large game and domesticated livestock.

Approximately 36,000 people are bitten annually by wildlife in the United States. Between 10 and 20 are fatal. Black Bears account for approximately 25 non-fatal attacks and 0.3 fatal attacks per year according to a study from 1960 to 1980. Most injuries result in the human getting too close and the bear is attempting to protect its space or obtain food. Injuries from encounters with bears are actually less than those inflicted by domestic dogs.

Around 1996 TPWD did a study of habitat in the Sulphur River Basin and White Oak Creek in North East Texas, primarily on public and commercial forest land 50,000 acres in size. In 2005 the East Texas Black Bear Conversation Plan held hearings in Northeast Texas for the introduction of black bears in this area.

Yes there are black bears in Bowie County, Yes they are capable of injuring you or your livestock. But the chance of a bear-human interaction is slight. If you should encounter a bear, treat it as you would a skunk. Would you feed a skunk? Would you chase a skunk? Would you make your place inviting to a skunk so they would move in and raise their young? Black bears in Texas are federally protected. Contact TPWD should you sight a black bear.

Professor Spoon

Editor

Sources:

East Texas Black Bear Conservation and Management Plan 2005-20015

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_pl_w7000_1046.pdf

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Wildlife Division, Diversity and Habitat Assessment

Programs. County Lists of Texas' Special Species. [county name(s) and revised date(s