BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) — The second edition of the revived Louisiana Black Bear hunt has more hunters applying for permits and more permits issued than last year’s inaugural hunt.

According to the Louisiana Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, a total of 1,330 applications from 1,119 applicants were entered into the 2025 Louisiana Black Bear Hunting Lottery, which ended Aug. 28.

The hunt, administered by LDWF, will be held in Louisiana Black Bear Management Areas 1, 2 and 4 from Dec. 6-21 with 26 permits issued, an increase from the 11 permits issued in 2024. The 2024 hunt drew 973 applications and 814 individual applicants entering.

The applications for the 2025 lottery included 554 for the private landowner lottery, 212 for the LDWF Wildlife Management Area (WMA) lottery in Bear Area 4 and 564 for the general lottery, officials said.

There will be eight permits issued in Bear Management Area 1, three permits in Bear Management Area 2 and 15 permits, including a Secretary’s permit, in Bear Management Area 4.

LDWF reminds hunters that bear areas are different from Louisiana’s deer areas. See a map of the Bear Management Areas below.

Cubs and females with cubs are not legal to harvest. A cub is defined as any bear less than or equal to 75 pounds.

Applicants not selected will be given a preference point for each subsequent year in which they apply. Each preference point serves as an additional lottery opportunity and the points are capped at five. Successful lottery applicants are not eligible to be selected for another bear permit for two years after being drawn.

The Louisiana black bear was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1992. It was removed from the list in 2016.

For more information on the Louisiana black bear, click here. And for more information on the black bear hunting lottery, click here. If you need to get a hunting license, click here.

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