Texas, 2026-27 season year

Texas Bear Season 2026-27

Q: When does bear season open in Texas in 2026-27?

Texas holds no bear hunting season in 2026-27. Texas holds no black bear hunting season. TPWD classes the black bear as a non-game animal with state protected status as a threatened species, and its Bear Safety page says it is against the law to hunt, harass or kill them. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department publishes the state's bear page, linked on this page, read on September 19, 2026.

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

No. No spring bear season exists in Texas. The species is a state threatened, protected non-game animal under TPWD and no bear season of any kind is offered. Spring bear seasons are mostly a western pattern, and the national page lists the states that hold one in 2027.

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

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, on its page titled Bear Safety: Co-existing with black bears in Texas, which is linked from the agency notice on this page. That page is the agency's own guidance for Texas 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 native to Texas and part of the state's natural heritage and ecosystem. Guided by an excellent sense of smell, their behavior is driven largely by appetite. Fall provides their last opportunity to feast before denning up for the winter.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

Texas holds no bear hunting season in 2026-27. People report black bears in Texas most in May, and 38 percent of all reports fall in September, October and November. Everything below is Texas Parks and Wildlife 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

May

Busiest reported month

556 reports on record

Fall activity

When black bears are most active in Texas

TPWD lists the black bear as a Texas threatened species. Its species page says the only population of black bears in Texas is in the Trans-Pecos and Val Verde and Crockett counties, that bears can move far distances when dispersing as subadults or during drought or mast failure, and that a single individual showing up elsewhere does not mean a local bear population.

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

556 research grade American black bear observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for Texas across every year the platform holds, and 38 percent of them fall in the three shaded fall months. The busiest month in the record is May, and reports drop below 40 percent of that peak by December. 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 Texas by year, 2016 to 2025: 28 in 2016 and 36 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 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department says

Fall feeding

Black bears are native to Texas and part of the state's natural heritage and ecosystem. Guided by an excellent sense of smell, their behavior is driven largely by appetite. Fall provides their last opportunity to feast before denning up for the winter.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

Denning

Denning can start as early as November and continue until late May. Bears den in large, hollow trees, brush piles, thickets, rock crevices and caves. Denning bears go into a deep sleep but can be aroused if disturbed.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, read September 19, 2026. Read it at the source

When conflicts and sightings rise

There are no resident populations of black bears in East Texas, and TPWD has not and does not stock bears in East Texas. However, all of our neighboring states have established breeding populations of bears. This time of year, young bears are leaving their mothers and may end up in unusual places.

Texas Parks and Wildlife 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

Texas bear seasons, 2026-27

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

Fall bear season

no season

Texas holds no fall bear hunting season. Texas holds no black bear hunting season. TPWD classes the black bear as a non-game animal with state protected status as a threatened species, and its Bear Safety page says it is against the law to hunt, harass or kill them. Source: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Archery bear season

no season

Texas holds no separately dated archery bear season. No archery bear season exists in Texas. The black bear is on the state threatened species list and TPWD says the state does not actively manage for bears. Source: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Spring bear season

no season

Texas holds no spring bear season. No spring bear season exists in Texas. The species is a state threatened, protected non-game animal under TPWD and no bear season of any kind is offered. Source: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

The agency's own season sentence

While Texas offers state protected status as a threatened species for black bears and it is against the law to hunt, harass or kill them, the state does not actively manage for bears.

Texas Parks and Wildlife 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

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

Texas bear season questions

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

In the observation record for Texas, research grade black bear reports peak in May and 38 percent of all 556 reports fall in September, October and November. Texas Parks and Wildlife 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 Texas in 2026-27?

Does Texas have a spring bear season in 2027?

When do black bears go into dens in Texas?

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department describes the denning timing for Texas 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 May peak by December 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 Texas increasing?

The number of research grade black bear reports uploaded for Texas went from 28 in 2016 to 36 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. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department describes when sightings and conflicts rise in Texas in the sentence quoted on this page.

Who publishes guidance on living with bears in Texas?

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 Texas Parks and Wildlife 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.