Oklahoma Bear Hunting Rules
March 30, 2009
It was nearly three years ago that I reported that Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry signed a bill that would allow for bear hunting in Oklahoma. At that time, it was made very clear that even though he was signing this bill there were no immediate plans for a bear hunt.
By golly, he was right. Three years later rules have been laid out for a bear hunt.
?Hunting would be allowed only in Pushmataha, Le Flore, McCurtain and Latimer counties.
?Only archery and muzzleloader hunting would be permitted.
?The archery season would begin Oct. 1 and run through the Friday before deer muzzleloader season, which begins Oct. 25.
?Only 20 bears could be killed. If a total of 20 bears had not been taken by bow hunters, then muzzleloader hunting of bears would be allowed during the deer muzzleloader season: Oct. 25-Nov. 2.
?No cubs or female bears with cubs could be killed. No den hunting would be allowed. No dogs could be used.
?Baiting would be allowed on private land, but not public land.
?A bear hunting license would cost $100 for Oklahoma residents and $500 for non-residents.
I always get in trouble when I begin questioning the methods when new opportunities for hunters have been presented and so here I go again. I’ll do what I always do and say right up front that I welcome all new hunting opportunities no matter what they are. In this case, Oklahoma is offering hunters a chance at hunting black bears and I think that is exciting. But I’m having a difficult time understanding some of the methods chosen.
Above I highlighted one part. 20 bears will be the quota. I don’t have an issue with that. Officials should know how many bears can be taken to meet their management goals. What I don’t understand is why the opportunities where preferential to archery hunters? I might be missing something here, so if I am, please weigh in.
It says 20 bears will be taken total by archery hunting. If 20 bears haven’t been taken at the conclusion of the archery season, the remaining number of tags to be filled will be given to muzzle loader hunters. Why are the other methods being shut out?
I emailed the Oklahoma Division of Wildlife Conservation and as soon as I get an explanation from them, I will share it here.
Tom Remington
After a little internet searching, reading, and checking up on this stuff I found it’s a pretty well established product in Canada and hails from Quebec where they have this funny habit of speaking a lot of French. Thus the name, Jig-A-Loo, and the company’s claim it derives from a saying they have up north, “I’ve got it!” 
Tom, I can probably shed some light on your question about the archery season on bear in SE Oklahoma. I have lived and hunted in SE Oklahoma now for almost 30 years. I know where we have been, where we are now and where we would like to be. I commend the wildlife dept on this new bear season, it has been well thought out and many years of research and study have gone into it. This is the final analaysis. The wildlife department decided the best time for a bear season in SE OK. would be a fall versus a spring season. In the spring, the adult boar bears are thin, their hair is not usually as good as in the fall and the young are small and may not be as apt to be seen by a hunter with their mother as they may be trailing behind. Now if you are going to have a fall season, you do not want it to cause conflicts with the deer season which is the most popular game animal to hunt in SE Ok. SE OKlahoma has had a long history of illegal hunting especially of deer poaching. In the counties where the bear season is proposed there is a lot of land available for public hunting and the wildlife department has their arms full trying to enforce the laws. If it was legal for people to be out there with a high powered rifle (hunting bear) from Oct. 1 on it would make it a lot harder to enforce laws against deer poaching. Consequently they made it an archery hunt during the same time it is also legal to be archery deer hunting, so as to reduce poaching and not cause conflict with the deer hunters. This was a wise move and most local sportsmen support this. Now why does bear season end when it does and not go into deer rifle season? Usually the bears disappear into their dens right after most of the acorns are gone which usually is right after the muzzleloading season. They do den up even here in SE Okla. even though our winters are pretty mild. Many of the laws passed here may seem odd to someone that is not local, but make sense when you know the whole story. As far as the 20 limit goes, this was based on the estimated population in the area. I am sure they will probably be able to meet the quota, even though it is primarily archery as there are a lot of archers in SE OK. I hope this answers your questions. The wildlife department will probably have a little different version because they may be hesitant to talk about the poaching problem in SE Ok.
B.J. – Thanks. I never could muster a response from Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation. Some states are eager to answer questions and others refuse unless you are a resident……go figure.
I appreciate you taking the time out to offer your take on this, which isn’t too far from some of my speculations. I can respect that perspective and I do hope, as you said, the majority of sportsmen agree with how this is being done. I can say this wouldn’t be the case everywhere and that’s the basis for my questioning.
Thanks again.