On a sunny West Texas May morning in Terlingua Ranch, graduate student Matt Hewitt pulls his truck to the side of the road and gets out. He's spotted something.

He pulls out a pair of binoculars and holds them up to his face. There it is: beneath a deer feeder sits a huge black bear, its back turned. The bear shifts position, and its long snout comes into view as it snuffles around for more deer corn. It sits under the feeder for a few more minutes, then pads off into the creosote brush.

A few decades ago, this sighting would have been incredibly rare. But these days, Hewitt, who' s researching black bear ecology at Texas Tech University and Sul Ross State University' s Borderlands Research Institute, finds plenty of bears roaming Terlingua Ranch. As part of a long-term study on bears in West Texas, Hewitt and his colleagues have trapped 28 bears since 2021, tagged them, taken DNA samples and fitted them with GPS collars that allow researchers to track their movements.

Texas once had bears in abundance, but they were hunted and driven from the state in the 1900s. Thanks to regulations in Mexico and Texas protecting the animals, the past four decades have seen an increase in black bear populations in West Texas.

Through the multiyear study, researchers at Sul Ross and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) are hoping to better understand bear ecology, including their range, habits, population numbers and diets. They also aim to give West Texas residents a toolkit to manage the growing populations.

The prevailing attitude among West Texans, says Hewitt, is one of enthusiasm for a conservation success story. “People are pretty excited that bears are coming back to Texas,” he says. As the charismatic animals return to their old stomping grounds, Texans must learn (or relearn) to live with them. That means adopting bear-wise practices such as bear-proofing dumpsters, feeding pets indoors and sharing bear sightings with neighbors.

“We can live alongside each other just fine,” says Texas state mammalogist Dana Karelus. As long as Texans follow safe practices, “Everybody will get along, and there'll be something that more people can be proud of and appreciate about Texas.”

What Happened to the Bears?

Black Bears were once common across the state. People in the 1800s hunted them for food, sport and protection. The Austin American-Statesman reported in 1879 that “A black bear weighing 910 pounds was slaughtered in Galveston for Christmas roasts.” In 1890, the same paper published a recipe for Ham of Wild Black Bear prepared with a sherry wine sauce.

Bears especially thrived in West Texas. In his 1905 book Biological Surveys of Texas, naturalist Vernon Bailey recounts finding the animals roaming the Chisos, Guadalupe and Davis mountains in abundance in spite of the harsh landscape.

But by the early 20th century, shortly after the publication of Bailey's book, people began to notice declining bear populations.

“It was mostly due to overhunting — hunting for recreation and gain, but also hunting to eliminate competition with humans over livestock,” says Amanda Veals Dutt, a postdoctoral scholar and carnivore specialist at the Borderlands Research Institute.

The few bears left in West Texas escaped to safety in the mountains of northern Mexico. “By the 1940s, we essentially had lost our population not only in West Texas, but across the entire state,” says Krysta Demere, a TPWD wildlife diversity biologist in Fort Davis.

It wasn't until 1985 that Mexico listed the black bear on its endangered species list and closed the hunting season. Texas followed suit the next year. Over the next decade, bears began to slowly return to the region by first taking refuge in the federally protected lands of Big Bend National Park.

“It's been a slow, gradual process since the 1980s,” says Demere. “Big Bend National Park has been a stronghold, and gave [the bears] a doorway into Texas and a place for them to get established. And since the 1980s, we've slowly seen black bears expand out from the national park.”

In 2021, there were more than 70 confirmed reports of bears in Texas, most of them in Brewster County. “That's now going to cause kind of a unique challenge where we have this really large, charismatic carnivore that doesn't mind being around people, and that's a recipe for a lot of conflict,” says Dutt.

Conflict, in this case, can mean anything that involves bears interacting with humans and human infrastructure. For example, TPWD responded to a call in 2020 about a bear on the roof of a West Texas home. That same year, a bear was shot by a resident in Del Rio. And in 2022, reports of a bear frequenting Terlingua Ghost Town led to the bear being relocated (after much careful consideration by TPWD).

Demere acknowledges that West Texas residents may face new challenges in trying to live with black bears, but she says, “I also hope that there continues to be excitement that this native species has been allowed to return.”

The Borderlands Research Institute study hopes to give residents a toolkit to adapt to the new neighbors. “We wanted to get on the leading edge of that natural recolonization to understand what's going on and how we can best provide information ... to help landowners and the general public,” Dutt says.

Bears on the Move

We drove 70 miles back from Terlingua Ranch to Sul Ross in Alpine, where I stepped into Hewitt's office. He pulled up the bear-tracking software, and showed me his screen. Hundreds of colorful dots appeared on the map of West Texas, each representing a specific bear from the cohort we watched earlier. The GPS collars on the bears allow the team to observe the bears' movements from afar. On the side of the screen, a key identifies the bears by number and nickname: bear number BBF020 is Ophelia; BBM012, Thumper; BBM004, Beechie (named in honor of a late resident of Terlingua Ranch).

As Hewitt manipulated the software, patterns became apparent. All the bears move around quite a bit, but males in particular had really big ranges. “The thing that surprised me the most is just how far these animals are moving,” says Dutt.

“This population is very dynamic,” says Hewitt. “We have bears that we caught in Terlingua Ranch that, less than four or five weeks later, could be 80 miles down in Mexico.”

This behavior marks a difference between the Texas bear population and other populations of bears in North America. What makes the Texas population so mobile? The researchers don't quite know.

“[We] knew that bears are capable of making these long movements, but just how frequently they do it here and the degree to which they do it is extremely unique,” Hewitt says. “In studies out of the Northeast where food resources are much more dense, bears just don't have to move that much.” Whether the cause is mating- or food-related, Texas bears have to cover long distances to meet their needs.

The Bear Necessities

In addition to revealing the large-scale patterns of Texas bears, tracking them has given researchers a better glimpse into their everyday lives. For example, Texas' mild winters mean that this population doesn't hibernate the way other bears do. They do bulk up for the cold season, but instead of going to sleep for several months, Texas bears reduce their metabolic processes so they use less energy but remain active.

During warmer months, the bears take naps during the midday heat. Their beds are round bowls scooped out of the dirt. They can be identified by a telltale pile of scat and the distinct smell of bear, which BRI researcher Nicole Dickan describes as “a mixture of forest and wet dog.”

Researchers have also learned where omnivorous bears find their food in the very arid, rocky West Texas landscape. Turns out, they are more likely to forage for vegetation such as berries and cactus than hunt live prey.

“People are like, ‘Oh, there's actually food out there for them?’” says Dutt. “But there is. They eat a lot of the prickly pear cactus fruits, and they'll dig up ant hills essentially and eat all the ants in there.”

Texas bears have been documented eating the soft inner core of sotol and yucca plants, as well as sumac and agarita berries, persimmons, piñon nuts and acorns. They also eat insects, deer, javelina and carrion.

Although researchers have gained many insights about Texas bears from the study, one thing that remains a mystery is their total population. Ultimately, Hewitt hopes to discern just how many bears are roaming West Texas. The team has already set up camera traps to capture bears on video, and Hewitt, with funding from TPWD, is placing hair snares — objects designed to catch a couple of a bear's hairs as the animal brushes against them — near watering holes and other places bears are known to frequent.

Texas is Bear Country

On a June afternoon in Alpine, artist Chris Ruggia is having a book signing for a new book, American Black Bears: New Neighbors in the Big Bend. Several dozen people are crowded into Alpine's Front Street Books to buy a copy and hear Ruggia, Hewitt and two of his fellow bear researchers. Ruggia, who recently completed an art residency at Big Bend National Park, has a soft spot for the West Texas bears. The crowd is engaged; they ply the researchers with questions on bear biology and how to deal with bears in their neighborhood.

For many parts of the U.S., being bear-aware is second nature. But in Texas, it will take some time to develop. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists and regional partners have been working hard to get the word out. Posters on how to be “bear-wise” are visible in Terlingua Ranch, and TPWD has hosted presentations and created web resources for residents.

Bear-wise practices include securing trash, feeding pets inside, and cleaning and storing grills. “As soon as the bears showed up, we started securing our garbage, got a bear proof dumpster,” says Terlingua Ranch resident Alida Lorio.

“Just slightly modifying our behavior to bring in pet food or bird feeders at night will really limit any type of human-created food source in the environment for black bear, and it will greatly benefit reducing human-bear conflicts,” says Demere.

While most management strategies call for residents to be proactive, biologists do intervene when a bear is becoming a little too comfortable with humans. Several bears have been “hazed” to give them a negative association with people.

The Sul Ross study has already been providing real-time updates to the department and community groups who are working on managing the bear population. “Managing bears is very easy — much easier than managing people,” Hewitt jokes.

“I like to think that if all these other states can learn to live with black bears, then Texans can as well,” says Demere. “I hope that's something that Texans can embrace.”

Be Bear Aware

Never Feed or Approach Bears

Intentionally feeding bears may encourage them to approach homes and people.

Secure Food, Garbage and Recycling

Food and food odors attract bears, so don't reward them with easily available food, liquids or garbage.

Remove Bird Feeders
When Bears Are Active

Birdseed and grains have lots of calories, so they're very attractive to bears. Removing feeders will avoid creating conflicts.

Never Leave Pet Food Outdoors

Feed pets indoors when possible. If you must feed pets outside, feed in single portions and remove food and bowls after feeding. Securely store pet food.

Clean & Store Grills

Clean grills after each use to ensure food particles are removed. Store clean grills and smokers in a secure area.

Alert Neighbors to Bear Activity

If you see bears or evidence of bears, tell your neighbors and share information on how to avoid bear conflicts. Bears have adapted to living near people; now it's up to us to adapt to living near bears.

Check out Episode 2, Season 40 of the Texas Parks and Wildlife PBS show on our YouTube channel for more information about Texas black bears.

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