Surveys of Black Bear Hunters on Private Forest Ownerships in Eastern North Carolina
Over the past 30 years, American black bear (Ursus americanus; hereafter, bear) numbers have increased in eastern North Carolina. In response, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) set a goal to increase harvest rates of black bears on selected private lands in eastern North Carolina to manage the population. During 1993-2008, we annually surveyed leaseholders that leased hunting rights from Weyerhaeuser Company, a large landowner in this region, to better understand bear hunter and harvest dynamics. We received 1,937 surveys from 359 different leaseholders of which...
