Arizona, 2026-27 season year

Arizona Bear Season 2026-27

Q: Who publishes guidance on living with bears in Arizona?

Arizona Game and Fish Department, on its page titled Living with Bears, which is linked from the agency notice on this page. That page is the agency's own guidance for Arizona residents on attractants, encounters and who to call, and its sentence on fall activity is quoted verbatim beside the link, read on September 19, 2026.

Q: Where are the rest of the Arizona bear hunting rules?

At Arizona Game and Fish Department, whose regulations page is linked on this page. Those rules are legally binding, change annually and vary by zone and land ownership; the permit and tag system, zone maps, methods and reporting requirements are all published there. This page carries the season windows themselves, with the source page and read date attached.

In spring, they consume emerging plants and carcasses of animals that have died during the winter. Fruits dominate the diet in summer, and both fruit and mast, especially acorns, constitute most of the fall diet. Black bears need to store enough fat to last through the winter season when food is scarcer. On average, they consume about 20,000 calories each day during the fall.

Arizona Game and Fish Department

Black bear season: published by the agency, read them there. People report black bears in Arizona most in June, and 25 percent of all reports fall in September, October and November. Everything below is Arizona Game and Fish Department’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.

On the agency page

Black bear season

on the agency page

On the agency page

Archery bear season

on the agency page

On the agency page

Spring bear season

on the agency page

June

Busiest reported month

1,011 reports on record

Fall activity

When black bears are most active in Arizona

The department puts black bears on about 10,000 square miles of nontribal land, most of it in the north and the eastern half of the state, and estimates a stable to increasing population of about 5,800 bears. They turn up in most woodland habitats, pinyon-juniper, oak woodland, coniferous forest and chaparral, mostly between 4,000 and 10,000 feet. Densities are highest along the Mogollon Rim, in the Mazatzal Mountains in central Arizona, and in the White and Pinaleno mountains in the east.

The bars count research grade American black bear observations people uploaded to iNaturalist for Arizona, by calendar month, across every year the platform holds. The busiest month in the record is June, and reports drop below 40 percent of that peak by November. 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.

1,011 research grade American black bear observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Arizona across every year the platform holds, and 25 percent of them fall in the three shaded fall months. The busiest month in the record is June, and reports drop below 40 percent of that peak by November. 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 Arizona by year, 2016 to 2025: 21 in 2016 and 179 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 Arizona Game and Fish Department says

Fall feeding

In spring, they consume emerging plants and carcasses of animals that have died during the winter. Fruits dominate the diet in summer, and both fruit and mast, especially acorns, constitute most of the fall diet. Black bears need to store enough fat to last through the winter season when food is scarcer. On average, they consume about 20,000 calories each day during the fall.

Arizona Game and Fish Department, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

Denning

Most Arizona black bears hibernate from November through March, during which time they reduce body temperature, heart rate and metabolic function while still remaining somewhat alert in the winter den.

Arizona Game and Fish Department, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

When conflicts and sightings rise

Most human-bear conflicts are the result of people unintentionally feeding bears, most often by allowing them access to household/campsite garbage, bird feeders, or pet food. They raid dumpsters, garbage cans, grills, and campsites looking for an easy meal.

Arizona Game and Fish Department, 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

Arizona bear seasons, 2026-27

Arizona Game and Fish Department dates American black bear seasons under its own names, and each is below under that name with the zone rows exactly as the agency lists them, the source page linked beside each table, and the date it was read.

Black bear season

on the agency page

Arizona fall bear hunting season: read them on the agency’s own page

Arizona runs a long black bear season, roughly nine months with a summer closure, and the department sets the open dates hunt area by hunt area rather than statewide. An individual hunt area can also close before its posted end date, so the calendar can shorten mid-season. The department publishes those dates in its own hunt tables, linked below. Arizona Game and Fish Department publishes the current dates on its own page, linked below.

Read the dates at Arizona Game and Fish Department

Archery bear season

on the agency page

Arizona separately dated archery bear season: read them on the agency’s own page

Arizona's bear dates are published per hunt area in the department's own regulations rather than as a statewide archery window, and each hunt area's archery dates are in its own row of those tables, linked below. Arizona Game and Fish Department publishes the current dates on its own page, linked below.

Read the dates at Arizona Game and Fish Department

Spring bear season

on the agency page

Arizona spring bear season: read them on the agency’s own page

Arizona's season runs across much of the year in some hunt areas, so whether a given area is open in spring is a question its own row in the department's tables answers. The department's tables, linked below, carry each area's spring dates. Arizona Game and Fish Department publishes the current dates on its own page, linked below.

Read the dates at Arizona Game and Fish Department

The agency's own season sentence

Black bears are generally active in the early morning and late evening; they may alter their activity patterns to exploit sources of artificial food, becoming nocturnal at campgrounds and dumpsites.

Arizona Game and Fish Department, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

Current Arizona regulations

Permit and tag requirements, zone maps, permitted methods, tagging and reporting, and everything else a bear hunter is bound by for Arizona are set by Arizona Game and Fish Department, are legally binding and change annually. Its current regulations page is linked here.

Arizona Game and Fish Department: current regulations

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

Arizona deer seasonArchery, firearms, muzzleloader and youth deer windows for 2026-27, under the same sourcing rules.Arizona small game seasonPheasant, quail, grouse, rabbit and squirrel openers, read from the same agency.Arizona 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

Arizona bear season questions

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

In the observation record for Arizona, research grade black bear reports peak in June and 25 percent of all 1,011 reports fall in September, October and November. Arizona Game and Fish Department describes the fall feeding period in its own words, quoted on this page with a link to the page it came from. Reports count people as well as bears, so the shape of the curve is the useful part and the exact numbers are not.

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

Arizona runs a long black bear season, roughly nine months with a summer closure, and the department sets the open dates hunt area by hunt area rather than statewide. An individual hunt area can also close before its posted end date, so the calendar can shorten mid-season. The department publishes those dates in its own hunt tables, linked below. The agency page linked on this page carries the current windows, and the other seasons Arizona names are listed below it.

Does Arizona have a spring bear season in 2027?

When do black bears go into dens in Arizona?

Arizona Game and Fish Department describes the denning timing for Arizona in the sentence quoted on this page, read on September 19, 2026 from the page linked beside it. In the observation record, reports fall below 40 percent of the June peak by November and reach their low in February. 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 Arizona increasing?

The number of research grade black bear reports uploaded for Arizona went from 21 in 2016 to 179 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. Arizona Game and Fish Department describes when sightings and conflicts rise in Arizona in the sentence quoted on this page.

Who publishes guidance on living with bears in Arizona?

Where are the rest of the Arizona bear hunting rules?

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 Arizona Game and Fish Department’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.