DNR photo
Departtyment of Natural Resources photo
Bear hunting season in Michigan begins Sept. 10 in the Upper Peninsula and four days later in the Lower Peninsula.
Which leads us to ask: What's the black bear population in Michigan these days?
According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, there's an estimated 14,000 adult black bears in the state, with about 11,000 residing in the Upper Peninsula and nearly 3,000 in the northern Lower Peninsula.
For each of the 2017 and 2018 hunting seasons, 7,140 bear licenses were available, according to the DNR.
“Over half of the state is open to regulated bear hunting,” Kevin Swanson, wildlife management specialist with the DNR’s bear and wolf program, says in a statement. “Hunters are an important part of managing the number of bear and where they are located, and they have been part of bear management in Michigan since 1925.”
