North Dakota, 2026-27 season year

North Dakota Bear Season 2026-27

Q: When are black bears most active in North Dakota in the fall?

North Dakota has 0 research grade black bear reports on iNaturalist, too few to summarise as a curve, so the bars on this page stand on their own. North Dakota 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, and that sentence is the timing answer for this state.

Q: Does North Dakota have a spring bear season in 2027?

No. No spring bear season exists in North Dakota. The proclamation keeps the black bear season closed year-round alongside Canada lynx, gray wolf, swift fox and wolverine. Spring bear seasons are mostly a western pattern, and the national page lists the states that hold one in 2027.

Q: When do black bears go into dens in North Dakota?

North Dakota Game and Fish Department's black bear page, linked on this page, carries what the agency publishes on denning in North Dakota. 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.

Q: Who publishes guidance on living with bears in North Dakota?

North Dakota Game and Fish Department, on its page titled Black Bear, which is linked from the agency notice on this page. That page is the agency's own guidance for North Dakota 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.

Black bears are seldom aggressive and rarely injure people, however there are some basic steps you should take to avoid dangerous interactions with bears.

North Dakota Game and Fish Department

North Dakota holds no bear hunting season in 2026-27. Everything below is North Dakota 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.

No season

Fall bear season

no season

No season

Archery bear season

no season

No season

Spring bear season

no season

Too few reports

Busiest reported month

0 reports on record

Fall activity

When black bears are most active in North Dakota

The department's black bear fact sheet says there is a breeding population of black bears in northeastern North Dakota where they are year-round residents, and that the population is believed to be increasing. It puts the animal's preferred habitat at forested areas with dense understory, which in North Dakota means the wooded northeast corner rather than the prairie and badlands that make up most of the state.

The bars count research grade American black bear observations people uploaded to iNaturalist for North Dakota, 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.

Nobody has uploaded a verified black bear record for North Dakota

iNaturalist holds no research grade American black bear observation for North Dakota. That is a fact about people rather than about bears: it means nobody has photographed one here and had the identification confirmed. See the records on iNaturalist.

What North Dakota Game and Fish Department says

When conflicts and sightings rise

Black bears are seldom aggressive and rarely injure people, however there are some basic steps you should take to avoid dangerous interactions with bears.

North Dakota 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

North Dakota bear seasons, 2026-27

North Dakota holds no bear hunting season in 2026-27. The three entries below carry North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s own reason for each, with the page it was read from.

Fall bear season

no season

North Dakota holds no fall bear hunting season. North Dakota holds no bear hunting season, even though it has resident bears. Section 27 of the 2026-2027 Small Game, Waterfowl and Furbearer Proclamation lists black bear among the protected furbearers whose season shall remain closed. Source: North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

Archery bear season

no season

North Dakota holds no separately dated archery bear season. No archery bear season exists in North Dakota. The season is closed to every method under the protected furbearers section of the current proclamation. Source: North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

Spring bear season

no season

North Dakota holds no spring bear season. No spring bear season exists in North Dakota. The proclamation keeps the black bear season closed year-round alongside Canada lynx, gray wolf, swift fox and wolverine. Source: North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

The agency's own season sentence

The season for Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), gray wolf (Canis lupus), swift fox (Vulpes velox), black bear (Ursus americanus), and wolverine (Gulo gulo) shall remain closed.

North Dakota Game and Fish Department, 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

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

North Dakota bear season questions

When are black bears most active in North Dakota in the fall?

When does bear season open in North Dakota in 2026-27?

North Dakota holds no bear hunting season in 2026-27. North Dakota holds no bear hunting season, even though it has resident bears. Section 27 of the 2026-2027 Small Game, Waterfowl and Furbearer Proclamation lists black bear among the protected furbearers whose season shall remain closed. North Dakota Game and Fish Department publishes the state's bear page, linked on this page, read on September 19, 2026.

Does North Dakota have a spring bear season in 2027?

When do black bears go into dens in North Dakota?

Are black bear sightings in North Dakota increasing?

The number of research grade black bear reports uploaded for North Dakota went from 0 in 2016 to 0 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. North Dakota Game and Fish Department describes when sightings and conflicts rise in North Dakota in the sentence quoted on this page.

Who publishes guidance on living with bears in North Dakota?

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 North Dakota 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.