Black Bears in Texas?

     East Texas is one of those rare places on earth, where Mother Nature really outdid herself.  If I had to describe our outdoors in one word… fortunate would be an understatement, blessed would pretty much cover it.  From the big white oaks and beech trees in our river bottoms, the thick gums scattered through the bay galls and sloughs, to the rich green pine plantations stretching on forever…whew, talk about God’s country.  You can’t walk twenty yards in these woods, without appreciating everything we have been entrusted with, and wonder how in the world we ever got so lucky.  Just when you’re thinking; it can’t get any better than this…take a look at all the wildlife that decided to make the Piney woods their home.

     Now…I’m no Wildlife Biologist, and I can’t quote how many species of wrens or woodpeckers nest in these woods, but I can tell you we are more than fortunate in the animal department.  I think it’s a testament to all of us when you look at how far we have come with our wildlife populations, and it will turn any skeptic around when you start crunching the numbers.  Not too many years ago in the Piney woods; whitetails had gotten about as scarce as hen’s teeth, and if you were looking for a turkey…you better go to your local Market Basket or Brookshire Brothers store.  Boy, times have changed; Texas now has one of the largest populations of whitetail deer, not to mention a turkey population that is thriving in East Texas.  Believe it or not this didn’t just happen overnight, it took a major effort with a lot of commitment piled on top of that effort.  From our sportsman, Texas Parks & Wildlife, our timber industry, individual landowners, the list goes on…it’s amazing what can be accomplished when Texans pull together.

     I consider myself an outdoorsman, a dedicated sportsman, and always liked to imagine I knew a few things about these East Texas woods.  Come to find out, I didn’t know near what I thought I did.  Gary Calkins (regional Biologist with Texas Parks & Wildlife) called me the other day, and casually asked me if I would participate in the development of a conservation plan directed at managing black bears in Texas.  This kind of threw me, to say the least…the only bears I had ever had dealings with were on the other side of a fence at the Houston Zoo.  After gaining my composure, I was determined to find out just what the heck black bears had to do with East Texas.  It didn’t take me long after hitting the internet, talking to a few old timers, and digging up some old newspaper articles…black bears were right there with all the other critters that called East Texas their home!

     It turned out from the Trinity River bottoms to the Big Thicket, bears were a big part of the landscape, and a source for all kind of interesting tales.  It wasn’t until the late 1800’s that over-hunting and habitat destruction, had begun to take it’s toll, and was the beginning of the end to our East Texas bears.

     Here over 100 years later, black bears seem to be heading to those East Texas woods they once called home.  They have already returned to West Texas in the last 15 years, with bear sightings increasing over the last 10 years here in East Texas. With aggressive Black bear efforts in neighboring States, who could blame them for wanting to jump the fence and enjoy what we here in East Texas have all been blessed with.  I expect that we were just in time to start thinking about how this all figures into the scheme of things, and I’m tickled we may all have an opportunity to make that happen. Just like the whitetails and turkeys, we’ve proven what Texans can do once we set our minds to it…and I have no doubt one of these days we will have another resident in our woods for everyone to enjoy!

Rusty Goates