Upcoming Fish And Game Commission Meeting Will Decide On Bear Hunting Regulation Changes

As more and more black bear confrontations have become commonplace in California, the upcoming California Fish and Game Commission meeting (April 15-16) will ponder potential new regulations for California’s bear hunting seasons. Among the possible changes that could be implemented would be hunters being allowed to apply for two bear tags.

Here are some details from KTLA TV in Southern California:

That said, the piece of legislation being voted on later this month would make it so that hunters could apply for two bear license tags per hunting season, not just one. It would also expand the areas where bears could be hunted in Modoc and Lassen counties. It should be noted that bear hunting is authorized in at least 25 California counties or portions thereof, including all of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

The proposed added license would have no effect on the total number of bears that can be killed each season statewide, which is 1,700. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife says that, as of March 16, a total of 1,180 bears were harvested this past hunting season, which runs from mid- to late August (archery starts first, followed by general rifle) until Dec. 31, or until the quota of 1,700 is met. 

To put things into perspective, CDFW statistics indicate that between 2013 and 2023, the yearly quota was not met once; the highest total of bears killed during hunting season over that decade-long period was 1,439 in 2014 — the least was 1,084 in 2020.