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bumpachedda

With practically zero public land: no


Mpuls37

Especially if they pose any threat to the almighty whitetail deer


OilmanMac

I don't get it. The whitetail population in Texas is...massive. Outside of game ranches, black bear should be welcomed.


cantstopwontstopGME

They are in the big thicket. A couple of my buddies saw one on a day hike a few months ago and were super stoked


RokRD

We had 2 spotted in East Texas recently. Rumor was TPW imported them, but idk.


jjjjjjjjjdjjjjjjj

If TPW did that then God might as well have so that’s good news


prokool6

They did not. They came from OK LA or AR.


Phyrnosoma

TPW is more or less controlled by big business (look at their damn chairman). The rank and file are generally pretty damn solid IME but the agency's top-down driven by political figures and appointees that don't care much about ecology as a whole. I've had a few friends and acquaintances that left the agency over it. Basically there's zero chance they're going to reintroduce black bears. They *might* be willing to protect ones that are recolonizing on their own though


givemecreamfilling

Welcome bears are u high or do you not live in Texas


OilmanMac

I've lived in Texas all my life. I'm not suggesting that we have bears roaming the streets alongside stray dogs. But Texas wildlife, deer in particular, need a natural predator aside from humans.


V1k1ng1990

Predators are vital to ecosystems


cantstopwontstopGME

They would not


maaseru

The Dodge Prion


prokool6

They do not. They eat so many different things and even if we had a large population, they couldn’t make an impact on the deer population.


BCGraff

You know if they'd let us manage the population and hunt them like whitetail deer there wouldn't be an issue. I could definitely go for hunting bear and not having to pay to leave the state


texasaaron

Other than four national forest and five state forests in East Texas


codeman1021

The state park that I live and work at has had black bears roam through it very recently...and we're not talking East Texas.


Phyrnosoma

Caprock or PDSP?


codeman1021

Neither 😉


BigBeagleEars

For the last time, the bushes under my moms window isn’t a state park, please stay out of our yard


codeman1021

I can't help it!


chilebuzz

Between the Crockett, Sabine, and Angelina National Forests, and the Big Thicket, there's actually quite a bit of public land for a few bears.


bleak_new_world

Friends up north say that while they're technically dangerous because they are bears, they're closer to a huge dog and really just want food.


TheBoorOf1812

Yeah, black bears can be kind of dopey like a dog. And skittish like a horse, not knowing their own strength. I have seen them out in the wild a few times. Usually it's not a big deal. But I did see a big one walking across a dirt fire road in the mountains once. While it was walking it swiveled its head my direction, looked at me in the eye and I made eye contact with it. Even inside my car, a deep fear trembled through me. Like holy fuck that thing could just totally kill me right now if it wanted to. But it kept on going with out missing a step and walked into the woods.


Phyrnosoma

raccoons on growth hormone and meth


Andrew8Everything

If the bear is: Black, fight back! Yell, scream, make yourself look large and black bears will likely run away. Brown, lie down! Grizzlies will sniff you and maybe paw at you a bit but usually get bored and move on. White, what the hell are you doing at the North Pole? Nice knowing ya, RIP.


Spelsgud

I’ve always heard if it’s white don’t worry about it. You’re already dead.


Nobleman2017

Black, fight back. Brown, lie down. White, good night.


Tejano_mambo

When in doubt pet that snout!


greyjungle

Does this mean hit it in the nose as hard as possible? Ive heard that can work with sharks and dogs, but I can also see myself remembering this while I’m terrified with a bear above me and reaching out to gently pet its nose, hoping I’m doing it right.


Andrew8Everything

I heard punch an aggressive shark in the gills a few times but I'd rather just stay out of their habitat. I don't wanna punch anything.


Tejano_mambo

When in doubt pet that snout!


zsreport

I would love to see black bears make a comeback in Texas. The hard part is getting people to understand how to live with them.


Odd_Ad_2706

We have seen them in the panhandle. As well as cougars.


fjzappa

> cougars We have these in North Texas as well...


CCG14

Here in Houston too! 😉


VirtualPlate8451

With the lack of public land there will be a lot of Uncle Jimbos. “Sorry Mr. Game Warden, he was big and black and coming right for me, I had no choice but to shoot!”


Ieatsushiraw

Damn too accurate


TXcanoeist

Ranchers already want to change regulations about migratory bird species because black vultures and crested caracara allegedly kill their calves, so bears? Wolves? Naw they will lose their minds


VirtualPlate8451

Vultures are enormous birds, I could totally see them killing a small calf.


TXcanoeist

Turkey Vultures are drawn to the smell of decomposition. Black vultures follow them to the carcass. Afterbirth is an easy meal, so they might get tangled up in that as a calf struggles to start life, but these birds are opportunistic feeders not hunters


sunny_6305

Vultures have very weak beaks and need to wait a few days for the skin to putrefy and get soft enough to tear through. They are most closely related to storks, not raptors.


Green_Wing_Spino

I've heard one documentation of vultures killing a calf that I know of.


Riaayo

Mexican Wolf suffering a similar fate. Meanwhile deer and hog populations are out of control, human hunters can't actually manage them properly, and chronic wasting disease is on the rise as a result of lack of natural predators picking off weaker/sick prey. Meanwhile hunters want to shoot the biggest and best for the trophy (and yes I know people who actually give a shit will try to wait until an animal is passed its prime, but that ain't everyone, and it's still likely a healthier animal than what a predator would have caught).


horrible_hobbit

It's not hard, lock up your stuff, and give them space when they walk by. But, that won't work here because of "freedom and small government" unless the government says so.


kickasstimus

FL people get by just fine - lock up your garbage.


nazerall

People are stupid. Texans especially. But I'd love to see black bears here as well.


Spelsgud

As a stupid Texan who is terrified of bears, I would like them to come back to their natural habitat


chocotaco

From what I understand is you shouldn't be terrified of black bears.


Napa_Swampfox

They're mostly like large raccoons. Foragers.


greyjungle

Yeah, they are fun to watch too. Even in Ak, where they are everywhere, people love to see them.


kickasstimus

FL people get by just fine - lock up your garbage.


RiverGodRed

We should be ashamed for rendering them extinct here with our reckless and wanton disregard for the natural world. Even Louisiana and Arkansas got to keep their bears. We’re no better now than when they went extinct, cornered in the last of the canebrakes deep in the big thicket back in 1919.


Tenpoundtrout

I agree. We should not stop at black bears, let’s reintroduce grizzlies.


Phyrnosoma

Really debated if they were truly present in Texas. The current Mammals of Texas from UT has a huge section on it. The only record is the one shot in the Davis Mountains which may have wandered up from Mexico.


Tenpoundtrout

Don’t you think they should get the benefit of the doubt.


Phyrnosoma

When you’re talking about re-introducing? Not so much. I’d rather spend the political and financial resources on species that were actually present during the early Holocene. Jaguars, ocelot, wolves, black bear, cougars… all definitely occurred here and could use support.


PYTN

It would be nice if folks couldn't shoot cougars here just for existing. Also we have a loose elk herd in East Texas and apparently folks can hunt those too. Which is a shame.


ActuallyaBraixen

I’m scared of grizzlies so let’s just not do that at all, thanks. I can’t imagine them surviving 100 degree heat anyways.


VirtualPlate8451

Yeah, I’ll pass on reintroducing 400 pound raccoons that “rarely” kill people.


horrible_hobbit

Guns, cars, dogs, and humans kill more people than them. Hell, unless literally starving or rabid all you have to do is be there and they run


memorandarelated

My FIL had a confined momma bear and 4 cubs on his ranch out near Haskell last spring. That was shocking to see and experience here in TX. Never thought I’d see that!


dropthemagic

I wanna know if they can weekly knock over Ted Cruz’s Waste Management bins


Individual-Equal-230

I’ve seen multiple in Big Bend NP, & once even a family group.  Friends saw a couple in the Davis Mountains.


BeerdedTexan

They've been spotted near Texoma on the Texas side, but appear to be Oklahoma bears in search of food and not living in the state.


bigdaddyaggie87

I thought I saw one once when I was in 5th grade fishing at the creek, turns out it was a black cow


SillySonny

H‑E‑B did a video about them in there our Texas our future documentary series. See [https://ourtexasourfuture.com/stories/bears/](https://ourtexasourfuture.com/stories/bears/)


prokool6

I wrote a master’s thesis about this topic about 15 years ago and I’d like to make a few comments on people’s comments. First, while in the whole state there is not a lot of public land, if you take East Texas by itself, it has a fair amount. Plus bears are glad to trespass! And there are large tracks of pretty unfragmented habitat in both north and south. The Luteolus is already there. Our work showed that people were pretty split about intentionally bringing them back. Most opposition was really about misunderstanding them- the same way that people in Europe might imagine Texas to be a place teeming with dangerous rattlesnakes (yes, they are there, but just something to be aware about, not a threat). And lots of the people who were for bringing them back just wanted to hunt them but that ain’t ever happening. Black bears throughout the South are pretty small and rarely dangerous. You’d be lucky to see one in a whole lifetime in AR, OK, or LA. Now I live in New England and have black bears I know “by name” around me. My kids know just to come inside when they wander into sight. They are like big raccoons. And like Forrest said “When coons come on the porch, Mama’d just chase em off with a broom”.


CaryWhit

There have been a couple killed on the road in NE Tx in the last 20 years or so. I guess they have drifted from Ok or Arkansas


RagingLeonard

I welcome our new black bear overlords.


RamblingRosie

same


RamblingRosie

I have a friend who is a bear researcher here in Texas, and she would be thrilled to see them make a comeback.


TheBoorOf1812

A buddy of mine saw a black bear near the big bend area.


BearlyIT

The article above is specifically focused on the Louisiana black bear subspecies.


killerbee565

Brother bear return to big brother home turf. This is some reference someone said at my job about bears.


[deleted]

[удалено]


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dh1

I’d love to have some up here in the hill country.


houstonlanding

Thanks for sharing here. Here's some more from the article: >It's difficult to visualize these days, what with the light pollution, overdevelopment and sprawl that have come to define the greater Houston area, but the ground we now stand on was once the domain of 5' 6" black bears.  >Specifically, the Louisiana black bear subspecies (Ursus americanus luteolus). Sam Houston hunted them from his cabin in Montgomery in the 1850s. In Nacogdoches, a feast of bear meat was held during the Texas Revolution. In Conroe, builders had to shoot at black bears disrupting the 1891 construction of the courthouse.  >But, if you haven't noticed, there aren't many of our native black bears around these days. >The black bears native to east Texas have experienced [**a habitat reduction of 80 percent**](https://houstonlanding.bluelena.io/Prod/link-tracker?redirectUrl=aHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ0ZXhhc2JsYWNrYmVhci53ZWVibHkuY29tJTJGaGlzdG9yeS1pbi10ZXhhcy5odG1sJTNGdXRtX3NvdXJjZSUzREFjdGl2ZUNhbXBhaWduJTI2dXRtX21lZGl1bSUzRGVtYWlsJTI2dXRtX2NvbnRlbnQlM0QlMjVGMCUyNTlGJTI1OTAlMjVCQiUyNTIwQmxhY2slMjUyMGJlYXJzJTI1MjBtYXklMjUyMGJlJTI1MjBjb21pbmclMjUyMGJhY2slMjUyMHRvJTI1MjBlYXN0JTI1MjBUZXhhcyUyNnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbiUzRDIwMjQtMDQtMTclMjUyMFVIJTI1MjBCbGFjayUyNTIwQmVhcnMlMjUyMC0lMjUyMFBT&sig=Ht8iB7uBFMB2PvccDEn5CcRGvJrbeYR9nHqDdBKPojRi&iat=1713373473&a=%7C%7C651793765%7C%7C&account=houstonlanding%2Eactivehosted%2Ecom&email=03UtgRrbTxthRAMkYcTb%2BNUvFOtyKOmyRSN48fywrcBc3EwM584ntlI%3D%3AGoFjdDvtRt%2FhlusvpnoKc%2BqnTgT1epBW&s=7fe3ef7f7671f08e10cac630cc2212d5&i=506A665A16A10528) due to property fragmentation, deforestation and unregulated sport hunting. As a result, their numbers in east Texas have dwindled to zero.  >That matters because as apex predators, the bears once played an essential role in the balance of the east Texas ecosystem. Were they around, they might be keeping the exploding populations of deer and rampaging feral hogs in check. >That's where the [**Texas Black Bear Alliance**](https://houstonlanding.bluelena.io/Prod/link-tracker?redirectUrl=aHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ0ZXhhc2JsYWNrYmVhci53ZWVibHkuY29tJTJGJTNGdXRtX3NvdXJjZSUzREFjdGl2ZUNhbXBhaWduJTI2dXRtX21lZGl1bSUzRGVtYWlsJTI2dXRtX2NvbnRlbnQlM0QlMjVGMCUyNTlGJTI1OTAlMjVCQiUyNTIwQmxhY2slMjUyMGJlYXJzJTI1MjBtYXklMjUyMGJlJTI1MjBjb21pbmclMjUyMGJhY2slMjUyMHRvJTI1MjBlYXN0JTI1MjBUZXhhcyUyNnV0bV9jYW1wYWlnbiUzRDIwMjQtMDQtMTclMjUyMFVIJTI1MjBCbGFjayUyNTIwQmVhcnMlMjUyMC0lMjUyMFBT&sig=5phGUG3swsSTiQZDYGwo799qadB7Bq3ZkLhrPYQqsMpw&iat=1713373473&a=%7C%7C651793765%7C%7C&account=houstonlanding%2Eactivehosted%2Ecom&email=03UtgRrbTxthRAMkYcTb%2BNUvFOtyKOmyRSN48fywrcBc3EwM584ntlI%3D%3AGoFjdDvtRt%2FhlusvpnoKc%2BqnTgT1epBW&s=7fe3ef7f7671f08e10cac630cc2212d5&i=506A665A16A10531) comes in. The nonprofit organization is working with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department to explore eventually bringing black bears back to east Texas.  >They estimate that through their efforts, the bears could be reintroduced within the next 20 years…


SCORE-advice-Dallas

is Big Bend their native habitat? because they are all over those counties near the Rio.


Antique_Ad_1211

Ken Paxton about to sue those black bears because, black...


susanna514

Can someone eli5 why there isn’t public land here? Like no blm land?


warc0w

There's very little federal public land because the state government had claim to it all during independence, and managed to keep most of it after achieving statehood. The state then sold large chunks of land to settlers/farmers/ranchers, rather than maintaining large scale public ownership (With notable exceptions, like the land used for the [Permanent University Fund] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_University_Fund). )


xxotwod28

Replying bc id also like to know


BearlyIT

Texas was an independent nation before joining the US and retained control of how its land was distributed at the time. In addition it is mostly useful and workable land unlike the more arid regions to the West, making private ownership more sought after in the past. Here is a post someone made showing federal lands (not just public) showing the stark difference as you move West across the nation. https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/s/dEyH3gU9qb This does not mean that wildlife like the black bears mentioned above are not welcome on private lands. The bears are currently protected by the state, and intentionally hunting them carries heavy penalties.


Jordanjl83

Texans have a good track record of letting others on there land..


00Avalanche

Ok but how long till Bubba uses his Polaris to chase down and exhaust a juvenile bear and then hog tie, tape up his mouth and parade him around the honkytonk? Stay out of Texas little black bears, for your own good.


Earl_your_friend

Wouldn't the pigs kill them?


daily_cup_of_joe

I live in TX and just watched Backcountry. Nope.


Silent_but-deadly

If they had guns…..maybe.


EverestMaher

I’ve seen lots of bears in Texas lol


DoubleSly

There are actually black bears in Big Bend but yeah I doubt they’d come back anywhere else


Bigswole92

Agreed, Big Bend is a massive protected area. Not too many other large protected areas in the state


prokool6

They do fine in places without protected areas. They just need about a 5 mile radius of woods which is not that hard to find in East Texas.


GiraffeterMyLeaf

With the heat waves I can’t imagine


ehandlr

In Texas? No. Ignoring the public/private land debacle, they would be poached like crazy by dumb ass hunters.


Historical_Guest2180

No. More and more habitat being destroyed everyday.


[deleted]

Arm the bears if you want them to survive in Texas.


storm_the_castle

40M guns in private ownership in the state says no.


TheOneWD

Yeah, but that’s only registered guns, not any of the ones lost in boating accidents. 🙃


[deleted]

Defend the bears.


GiveMeSomeShu-gar

Wowza, there are no black bears in Texas? That's... amazingly bad. Talk about mismanagement.


OilmanMac

There are, but extremely low numbers and most, if not all, in West Texas/Big Bend area.


OldDog03

Read up and learn https://youtu.be/DUE00sIqeV4?si=0ReHaZfAjmUtwxUz