Alabama, 2026-27 season year

Alabama Bear Season 2026-27

Q: Does Alabama have a spring bear season in 2027?

No. Alabama holds no spring bear season; the Division's season page lists bear as No Open Season and the species page ranks black bear as highest conservation concern. Spring bear seasons are mostly a western pattern, and the national page lists the states that hold one in 2027.

In the colder regions, black bears attempt to put on as much fat as possible to sustain them through hibernation.

Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division

Alabama holds no bear hunting season in 2026-27. Everything below is Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division’s own words and dates, read on September 19, 2026, beside the record of what people reported.

This page covers the 2026-27 season year. Dates were read from the agency sources linked below, last checked September 19, 2026. Seasons change annually and agencies correct their own pages; confirm against the linked agency page before you hunt.

No season

Bear season

no season

No season

Archery bear season

no season

No season

Spring bear season

no season

July

Busiest reported month

57 reports on record

Fall activity

When black bears are most active in Alabama

Outdoor Alabama's species page says black bears in Alabama are primarily limited to Baldwin, Mobile, and Washington counties, with a small breeding population reestablished in northeast Alabama in the Lookout Mountain area of DeKalb and Cherokee counties and the Talladega National Forest area of Calhoun and Cleburne counties; the Division ranks the species as highest conservation concern.

The bars count research grade American black bear observations people uploaded to iNaturalist for Alabama, by calendar month, across every year the platform holds. The drop into winter reflects bears denning and fewer people outdoors in equal measure, which is why the agency’s sentences below, not the curve, carry the timing.

57 research grade American black bear observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Alabama across every year the platform holds, and 16 percent of them fall in the three shaded fall months. With this few records the series is too thin to summarise, so the bars stand on their own. These are counts of what people reported, so they measure observers as well as bears; they are not a population, not a survey and not a statement about this autumn. See the records on iNaturalist.

Research grade black bear reports uploaded for Alabama by year, 2016 to 2025: 1 in 2016 and 13 in 2025. Most of the climb is the platform itself growing, and every species on it shows the same shape, so this is a record of reporting rather than a population trend.

What Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division says

Fall feeding

In the colder regions, black bears attempt to put on as much fat as possible to sustain them through hibernation.

Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

Denning

The bears have put on the fat for the winter and rarely travel far from the den area until spring.

Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

When conflicts and sightings rise

During the spring and summer months, adult males increase their ranges dramatically in search of receptive females and young subadult bears are dispersing from their mothers territory. These two situations will most likely be responsible for the majority of sightings during this time of the year.

Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

A young black bear resting its chin on a bare dead branch in a green hardwood forest, ears forward, looking at the camera — A young black bear on a dead limb in the hardwoods. In the eastern forests the fall feeding season runs on acorns and beechnuts, which is why the agency sentences quoted on these pages talk about hard mast and mast years. Photo: Courtney Celley, USFWS. “Black Bear (20083897724)”, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, Public domain

Hunting dates

Alabama bear seasons, 2026-27

Alabama holds no bear hunting season in 2026-27. The three entries below carry Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division’s own reason for each, with the page it was read from.

Bear season

no season

Alabama holds no fall bear hunting season. Alabama lists the black bear as a game species but holds no bear season: the Division's season page prints No Open Season for bear, and its Alabama Black Bears page says there is currently no open season for black bears in Alabama, a species the Division ranks as highest conservation concern. Source: Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division.

Archery bear season

no season

Alabama holds no separately dated archery bear season. With no open bear season of any kind in Alabama there is no archery bear season; the Division's season page lists bear as No Open Season. Source: Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division.

Spring bear season

no season

Alabama holds no spring bear season. Alabama holds no spring bear season; the Division's season page lists bear as No Open Season and the species page ranks black bear as highest conservation concern. Source: Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division.

The agency's own season sentence

There is currently no open season for Black Bears in Alabama.

Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

A black bear track pressed into wet grey mud, five rounded toes in an arc above a broad pad, with a second fainter print beside it — A black bear track in mud in Shenandoah National Park. Tracks, scat, turned over logs and claw marks on smooth beech bark are the sign most people meet in the fall woods, weeks before they meet the bear. Photo: M. Punches, NPS. “Black Bear Track in Mud (44654784885)”, ShenandoahNPS, Public domain

Bear season in other states

Alabama deer seasonArchery, firearms, muzzleloader and youth deer windows for 2026-27, under the same sourcing rules.Alabama small game seasonPheasant, quail, grouse, rabbit and squirrel openers, read from the same agency.Alabama foraging calendarThe acorns, beechnuts and berries the agency names as fall bear food are the same mast a forager follows.

An adult black bear standing on a broken limb high in a hardwood tree above two small cubs, all three looking down — A mother black bear and two cubs of the year in a hardwood tree. The denning sentences quoted on the state pages describe when family groups like this one go to ground, and it moves by weeks between a Gulf Coast winter and a northern one. Photo: Courtney Celley, USFWS. “Black Bear Family (20083894064)”, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Midwest Region, Public domain

Alabama bear season questions

When are black bears most active in Alabama in the fall?

Alabama has 57 research grade black bear reports on iNaturalist, too few to summarise as a curve, so the bars on this page stand on their own. Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division describes the fall feeding period in its own words, quoted on this page with a link to the page it came from, and that sentence is the timing answer for this state.

When does bear season open in Alabama in 2026-27?

Alabama holds no bear hunting season in 2026-27. Alabama lists the black bear as a game species but holds no bear season: the Division's season page prints No Open Season for bear, and its Alabama Black Bears page says there is currently no open season for black bears in Alabama, a species the Division ranks as highest conservation concern. Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division publishes the state's bear page, linked on this page, read on September 19, 2026.

Does Alabama have a spring bear season in 2027?

When do black bears go into dens in Alabama?

Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division describes the denning timing for Alabama in the sentence quoted on this page, read on September 19, 2026 from the page linked beside it. The observation record for the state is too thin to add a month to that. That drop reflects bears denning and fewer people outdoors in equal measure, which is why the agency's sentence, not the curve, is the denning answer.

Are black bear sightings in Alabama increasing?

The number of research grade black bear reports uploaded for Alabama went from 1 in 2016 to 13 in 2025. Most of that rise is the platform itself growing, since every species on iNaturalist shows the same climb, so the year bars on this page are a record of reporting rather than a population trend. Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division describes when sightings and conflicts rise in Alabama in the sentence quoted on this page.

Who publishes guidance on living with bears in Alabama?

A brown wooden Bear Country sign with a white bear pictogram and a red band, on two posts at the edge of a lodgepole pine campground in low sun — A Bear Country sign at Indian Creek Campground, Yellowstone. The land manager writes the rules on the board, and they change by campground and by season: food storage orders, closed drainages, and whether a soft sided tent is allowed at all. “Bear Country Sign for Indian Creek (14457698423)”, Yellowstone National Park from Yellowstone NP, USA, Public domain

A snow covered track running between pines bent low under heavy snow, with a strip of blue sky above — Midwinter at Moosehorn National Wildlife Refuge, Maine. This is denning season in the north; each agency's own sentence on when its bears enter and leave their dens is quoted on the state pages, and the month bars show the reports thinning to match. “Winter at Moosehorn (11714166893)”, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service - Northeast Region, Public domain

This page covers the 2026-27 season year with agency data read on September 19, 2026 and an iNaturalist record to September 19, 2026. Every sentence about bear behaviour is Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division’s own, quoted exactly with a link to its page; every season window is republished from the agency page linked beside it, and windows the agency had not yet published are labelled not yet published. The month bars count what members of the public reported and are not a population. See also the national bear season guide.