bear hunters achieve near-record numbers this year; deer harvest average

New Hampshire’s black bear hunting season came to a close on Nov. 24, and officials expect the final harvest to approach near-record numbers. As of Nov. 11—the most recent date for which numbers were available—hunters had reported 741 bear kills. That’s 48 percent above the state’s five-year average and 74 percent above the 2008 count by this point in the season.

It will take several months for wildlife experts at N.H. Fish and Game to come up with official final numbers for the season, but bear biologist Andrew Timmons said this year’s total appears to be the second highest in state history. The highest total currently on record is 803 bears, set in 2003.

The high harvest reflects a healthy bear population, but it also means many of those bears have struggled to find food this fall. Only 439 bears were killed during the 2008 hunting season, Timmons noted. Although this year’s harvest will be nearly twice as high, it certainly doesn’t mean the state’s bear population has doubled.

“It tells us that we do have a good bear population, but the numbers don’t necessarily reflect the total number of bears out there,” Timmons said. “When food is not as abundant, bears are much more vulnerable to hunting.”

While there has been a strong acorn crop in central and southern parts of the state, food has been scarce in the White Mountains, where the highest take of 238 bears was reported. No bears were taken on the Seacoast or in the southeastern region of the state. 

Of the 741 bears reported by Nov. 11, 404 were males and 337 were females. Timmons said hunters sometimes shoot females that are pregnant or have young cubs, but many of the orphaned animals still survive. Although bears have relatively low reproductive rates, Timmons does not think the population is in danger.

“If we were clearly seeing that being an issue, we would see our population decline over time, and that hasn’t been the case,” he said.  

Heading into the season, New Hampshire’s statewide bear population was estimated at 4,800 animals. That means about 15 percent of the population had been killed by Nov. 11. Typically, the total bear harvest is around 500, or about 10 percent of the total population. But those numbers have generally been going up over the last five years.

“I think our population is strong enough where we can take an occasional high year. We would not want to see it happen two or three years in a row,” Timmons said.

As Fish and Game examines the season’s final numbers, officials will make determinations about whether to adjust the length of the 2010 season or impose new limitations. The department’s target population for New Hampshire is about 5,000 animals, and there are specific goals for each region of the state. Right now, Timmons said, they are close to achieving their targets in most regions.

The bear season stretched from Sept. 1 to Nov. 24, with exact end dates varying depending on the geographic region and hunting method. Timmons said most hunters eat the bear meat or donate it to a food pantry, as they also do with deer.
The deer hunting season, which ends on Dec. 6 for firearms and Dec. 15 for archery, has achieved average results so far. As of Nov. 15, firearms hunters had taken an estimated 7,220 deer in New Hampshire. That’s 8 percent lower than the 7,886 deer taken by the same time last year, but comparable to the five-year average. 

The firearms season for deer hunting stretches from Nov. 11 to Dec. 6, while the muzzleloader season went from Oct. 31 to Nov. 10 and the archery season runs from Sept. 15 to Dec. 15. End dates vary depending on the region.

The state’s whitetail deer population was around 85,000 animals heading into last year’s hunting season, but Fish and Game hopes to boost that number to around 98,000 over the next decade. Deer harvests typically reach between 10,000 and 11,000 by season’s end. The total in 2008 was 10,945, while 2007 saw a near-record total of 13,559.