JACKSON, Miss.—A bill moving through the Mississippi Legislature could allow hunters to harvest black bears in Mississippi for the first time in nearly a century.
Senate Bill 2436, introduced during the 2026 legislative session, would require the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks to establish a lottery system for black bear harvest tags and oversee a regulated hunting season.
The measure passed the Senate on Feb. 10 and has cleared the House Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Committee, making it eligible for consideration by the full House.
If approved, black bear hunting would return to Mississippi for the first time since 1932.
However, wildlife officials say researchers are still working to better understand the size of Mississippi’s bear population before any hunting season could begin.
Anthony Ballard, bear biologist and leader of the Black Bear Program at MDWFP, said the department is developing a population projection model to estimate how many bears live in the state and how many could be harvested without harming the population.
Ballard said the investigation will help determine how many harvest tags could be issued if a hunting season is eventually established.
“The fact that we’re talking about a hunting season at all is a testament to the conservation that’s been done and the recovery that’s happened with the population itself,” Ballard said.
Black bears were listed as endangered in Mississippi in 1984 after decades of habitat loss and unregulated hunting dramatically reduced their numbers.
Wildlife officials say Mississippi’s black bear population is concentrated in two primary regions—the Mississippi Delta and the forested areas of south Mississippi. According to MDWFP, the south Mississippi population expanded in recent decades as bears migrated from Louisiana and began establishing territory in Mississippi’s pine forests and river bottoms.
Sen. Tyler McCaughn, R-Magee, the author of the bill, said he wants any potential hunting season to be carefully managed.
“One of the things I didn’t want to happen was for us to end up with a bear season that had strict numbers that was going to decimate the population,” McCaughn said.
If the bill becomes law, hunters would apply for harvest tags through a lottery system administered by MDWFP. Applicants would pay a fee to enter the drawing.
The bill would also create a special “governor’s tag,” which would be auctioned. According to the legislation, money raised from the tag would be used to restore, enhance or protect black bear populations.
McCaughn said the program would likely begin with a small number of tags while wildlife officials continue studying the population.
“What you’ll see first, you’ll see two tags spread in two zones maybe in the state,” McCaughn said. “And the zones where the bears are going to be, you know, set up based on population.”
Opponents of the proposal have also begun organizing online. A petition circulating on Change.org urges members of the Mississippi House of Representatives to vote against Senate Bill 2436.
According to the petition, Mississippi’s black bear population is estimated at roughly 150 to 300 animals statewide, which organizers say does not justify establishing a hunting season.
Wildlife officials note that precise statewide numbers are difficult to determine and say new population models are being developed to provide better estimates.
The petition also argues that black bears reproduce slowly and that lawmakers should rely on additional scientific research before authorizing a hunt. Organizers say the state should instead focus on nonlethal strategies to reduce human-bear conflicts, including securing garbage, managing food attractants and expanding public education programs.
The bill must still receive a vote from the full House before the legislative session ends. If legislators do not bring it to the House floor before the session adjourns, the measure would fail for the year.
If passed, the law would take effect July 1, and the first hunting season would likely begin during the 2027-28 hunting season.
This article first appeared on RHCJC and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.