I've personally seen pictures from bears in the hill country and east Texas this year. I'm waiting to see one at our lease. They seem to be rebounding very well.

Reading the historical accounts of the Texas Rangers, black bear were common in the hill country in the 1800s.

The rangers wrote of eating bear meat and honey. I would love to see them return.

I hunt on my buddy's place 25 miles south of Ozona. The game warden told us years ago that there's a breeding population of black bears down there. We haven't seen any in person or on camera but there have been pics posted of bears within 10 miles of his place. Have had a ML on camera twice over the years though.

FSGuide said:

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I hunt on my buddy's place 25 miles south of Ozona. The game warden told us years ago that there's a breeding population of black bears down there. We haven't seen any in person or on camera but there have been pics posted of bears within 10 miles of his place. Have had a ML on camera twice over the years though.

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New game warden is like 25 years old. Have ya met him?

Not yet

I wonder if they'll make a dent in the feral hog population? I'm guessing somewhat but probably not enough to make a big difference.

Doubtful. They'd have to eat a lot of hogs. Probably can kill the smaller ones easily but might have problems with a healthy adult

I know for a fact they're in Rocksprings area and also Camp Wood. They also had one roaming around in town in Uvalde last year (or maybe prior). I keep waiting to see one but no luck yet.

My friend saw a black bear on his game cam near Palestine on his place.

Back when Ursus was posting he said neither bears or cougars actively hunt pigs except very young ones. Bears are supposedly terrible hunters, they just maul their prey into submission and an adult pig can handle their own. Cougars attack the throat so big pigs do not offer a good target.

Texas doesn't Have Brown Bears Brother. Neirher does CO. They both only have black Bears. You probs saw a canela colored One. They look more Brown but 100% are a black Bear.

Let me fix that for you:

Usually follied by someone that moved in from sea level.

Us locals buckle our trash. It's the tourists and texan/florida/New York transplants that can't navigate a round about or close and lock a trash can top.

In Vail it's a $500 fine for placing cans out that arent secured or taking it out early or failing to bring in the cans by the night of your trash day.

Second fine is $1000 and third + are $2500.

Plentiful on a mule deer lease we have close to big bend. IMO, Texas will start a special permit for them soon (relative term). They need to be managed but not wiped out.

Bayou City said:

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Texas doesn't Have Brown Bears Brother. Neirher does CO. They both only have black Bears. You probs saw a canela colored One. They look more Brown but 100% are a black Bear.

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wrong, there was a confirmed sighting in Carizo Sprjngs. We all saw the picture.

Borderlands Research Institute does lots of West Texas black bear research and has info about them on their website.

A couple years ago we were quail hunting a place that Borderlands was conducting research on. We came across 2-3' sections of railroad ties with barb wire wrapped around them and a wire carrying handle. We asked the ranch manager about it and he said BRI students made them. The idea being to put scent on them, deploy them to remote stretches of the ranch via helicopter and check them later for bear hair as they would tend to rub on them.

That same trip we had stopped to check out an old candeleria in a very remote section of the ranch and found a couple of tampons tied to a shrub. We were thinking what type of mal ojo voodoo is going on here. Later the ranch manger told us that the tampons are used for scent wicks and a game camera is setup nearby by the students. Again, for bear research.

The reappearance of bears in West Texas is not relished by everyone. In addition to the nuisance issues, you have folks managing for bighorns, mule deer, pronghorns, etc. and bears consume a lot of precious water from guzzlers. We're talking parts of the state that get maybe 9 inches of rain a year.

I needed a good laugh. Thanks

Greg also has a second book titled "Coyote Songs, An Oral History of the Sabinal Canyon".

Interesting guy. Had a chance to talk with him in Utopia a few weeks ago.

Bunch a bears out in the Alpine area on our last property search.

O.G. said:

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I'm going with, the innovation of the bears will outpace the innovation of the feeder builders.

Trash dumpsters in Colorado are usually built to be bear proof, usually folly'd by human error.

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I for one hope I never see a bear at my ranch. They cause enough problems for me in Colorado. They are just raccoons on steroids.

docb said:

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I for one hope I never see a bear at my ranch. They cause enough problems for me in Colorado. They are just raccoons on steroids.

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If you think about the pest theyll be to hunters, just think about people with sheep.

AgDad121619 said:

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O.G. said:

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I'm going with, the innovation of the bears will outpace the innovation of the feeder builders.

Trash dumpsters in Colorado are usually built to be bear proof, usually folly'd by human error.

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My lease in OK has black bears - after spending a couple of seasons with my tripod stands getting destroyed by wild horses and cows , I got some winch hangers that strap to a tree to make sure I had corn running through the season.

1st attempt it had bottom of feeder about 7.5 high safely above the horses and cows. It wasn't nearly high enough to keep the big black bear from reaching up and pulling the feeder off.


I then returned with an extension ladder and had bottom of the feeder 10+ feet off of the ground. The series of pictures to follow describes what happened better than I can. Needless to say , I gave up on feeders and just spread corn now