Ohio, 2026-27 season year

Ohio Bear Season 2026-27

Bears are omnivores, meaning they will eat a wide variety of foods. Depending on the season, their diet may include grasses, forbs, berries, mast from oak, hickory, and beech trees, carrion, and insect larvae. Bears will also consume agricultural crops, if available.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife

Ohio holds no bear hunting season in 2026-27. People report black bears in Ohio most in August, and 14 percent of all reports fall in September, October and November. Everything below is Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife’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 hunting season

no season

No season

Archery bear season

no season

No season

Spring bear season

no season

August

Busiest reported month

81 reports on record

Fall activity

When black bears are most active in Ohio

Ohio lists the black bear as a state endangered species and describes it as occurring in forested habitats throughout the eastern half of the state, with the Division of Wildlife putting the population at somewhere between 50 and 100 individual bears. The division has tracked sightings since 1993 and says they have been increasing, concentrated in the northeast and the southeast. It also says most of the bears seen here are juvenile males dispersing out of Pennsylvania and West Virginia rather than animals that settle, and that in the absence of a resident female those males are not likely to stay for long.

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

81 research grade American black bear observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Ohio across every year the platform holds, and 14 percent of them fall in the three shaded fall months. The busiest month in the record is August, and reports drop below 40 percent of that peak by September. 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 Ohio by year, 2016 to 2025: 1 in 2016 and 12 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 Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife says

Fall feeding

Bears are omnivores, meaning they will eat a wide variety of foods. Depending on the season, their diet may include grasses, forbs, berries, mast from oak, hickory, and beech trees, carrion, and insect larvae. Bears will also consume agricultural crops, if available.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

Denning

Typically, cubs weigh between 25 and 65 pounds by September and may, provided high quality food is readily available, weigh nearly 70-80 pounds by the time they enter the overwinter den with the sow in early November.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

When conflicts and sightings rise

The Ohio Division of Wildlife does not relocate bears just because one is present in an area. Bears live in Ohio year round. They will continue to come back to a location if food sources are available to them.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, 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

Ohio bear seasons, 2026-27

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

Bear hunting season

no season

Ohio holds no fall bear hunting season. Ohio holds no black bear hunting season. The black bear is a state endangered species in Ohio, and the Division of Wildlife's own bear pages describe reporting sightings and removing food attractants rather than any open season. The division says it does not relocate a bear simply for being present, and that hazing it off is the first step with a nuisance bear. Source: Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife.

Archery bear season

no season

Ohio holds no separately dated archery bear season. Ohio has no bear hunting season of any kind, so there is no archery bear season. The state's black bear pages carry biology, sighting reports and backyard guidance, and the species is listed as state endangered. Source: Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife.

Spring bear season

no season

Ohio holds no spring bear season. Ohio has no bear hunting season of any kind, so there is no spring bear season. What Ohio does have in the warm months is a sighting season: the Division of Wildlife says sightings occur throughout the year but are most common from late May through early July, when young males are on the move. Source: Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife.

The agency's own season sentence

Historically, black bears roamed the Buckeye State. Unfortunately, unregulated hunting and habitat loss rendered bears extirpated from Ohio by 1850. Today, Ohio is again home to a small but growing population of black bears.

Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, 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

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

Ohio bear season questions

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

In the observation record for Ohio, research grade black bear reports peak in August and 14 percent of all 81 reports fall in September, October and November. Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife 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 Ohio in 2026-27?

Ohio holds no bear hunting season in 2026-27. Ohio holds no black bear hunting season. The black bear is a state endangered species in Ohio, and the Division of Wildlife's own bear pages describe reporting sightings and removing food attractants rather than any open season. The division says it does not relocate a bear simply for being present, and that hazing it off is the first step with a nuisance bear. Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife publishes the state's bear page, linked on this page, read on September 19, 2026.

Does Ohio have a spring bear season in 2027?

No. Ohio has no bear hunting season of any kind, so there is no spring bear season. What Ohio does have in the warm months is a sighting season: the Division of Wildlife says sightings occur throughout the year but are most common from late May through early July, when young males are on the move. Spring bear seasons are mostly a western pattern, and the national page lists the states that hold one in 2027.

When do black bears go into dens in Ohio?

Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife describes the denning timing for Ohio 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 August peak by September 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 Ohio increasing?

The number of research grade black bear reports uploaded for Ohio went from 1 in 2016 to 12 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. Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife describes when sightings and conflicts rise in Ohio in the sentence quoted on this page.

Who publishes guidance on living with bears in Ohio?

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 Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife’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.