The recently concluded Louisiana black bear hunting season, administered by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), produced an impressive harvest by 10 hunters in northeast Louisiana. For two of those hunters, Fisher Brown and Perry Pitre Jr., it also was a chance to relive an event experienced more than 100 years ago by one of the nation’s greatest ever conservationists, Teddy Roosevelt.
Brown and Pitre Jr. harvested male bears in north Madison Parish in roughly the same area that Roosevelt, serving in his second term as President at the time, took a female bear in October of 1907 while hunting in East Carroll and Madison parishes.
"The bear that Brown harvested is near that property (in north Madison Parish near Bear Lake) where Roosevelt took his bear,’’ LDWF Large Carnivore Program Manager John Hanks said. “And Pitre harvested his bear on an adjacent property. While we don’t know exactly where Roosevelt took the bear, we know it was in that area and that Brown and Pitre Jr. were on the property where Roosevelt camped.’’
The success of the season, which ran from Dec. 7-22, 2024, illustrates how well the habitat in Bear Management Area 4, made up of Tensas, Madison, East Carroll and West Carroll parishes along with portions of Richland, Franklin and Catahoula parishes, supports the population of Louisiana black bears there. It was true when Roosevelt hunted there and, because of the work of LDWF and many other partners in restoring Louisiana black bear habitat, is true now. A total of 10 bears – eight male and two female – were harvested during the special season.
“It’s really cool when you can see a historic piece of Louisiana’s past combine with the present, especially when it comes to hunting,” LDWF Secretary Madison Sheahan said. “A healthy habitat is the key to supporting and growing populations for wildlife, which is evident in the area of our recent black bear season. Thanks to our many partners, both public and private, the habitat in that area has improved greatly and is attributed to the success of these two hunters in harvesting a bear on the historic land were Teddy Roosevelt hunted.”
The Louisiana black bear is one of the state’s most recent conservation success stories. The animal was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1992. But thanks to the collaborative efforts of many stakeholders to monitor black bear population numbers, restore habitat and protect the bear for the long term, it was removed from the list in 2016.
All black bear lottery fees and license revenue from the special season will be reinvested directly into the Louisiana Black Bear Program. These funds will assist LDWF biologists in continuing to conduct bear management operations such as annual live trapping and radio-collaring of bears, winter den checks to monitor reproductive rates, and non-invasive hair sampling to monitor range expansion.
For more information on the management of the Louisiana black bear, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB_oXGkwDUA.
For more information on the Louisiana black bear, go to https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/subhome/louisiana-black-bear. And for more information on the black bear hunting lottery, go to https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/black-bear-hunting-lottery.