Louisiana · Bear · 2026 Edition
Louisiana Bear Season 2026: Dates, Zones & Bag Limits
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zone | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Any legal weapon (firearm, muzzleloader, or archery — see bagLimits for specs) — 8 permits (5 landowner, 3 general) | Bear Area 1 — Acadia, Assumption, Cameron, Iberia, Lafayette, Lafourche, St. Mary, Terrebonne, Vermilion (full parishes), plus portions of Allen, Ascension, Calcasieu, Iberville, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Martin and West Baton Rouge | Dec 5 – Dec 20 |
| Any legal weapon (firearm, muzzleloader, or archery) — 4 permits (3 landowner, 1 general) | Bear Area 2 — Pointe Coupee, West Feliciana (full parishes), plus portions of Iberville, St. Landry, St. Martin and West Baton Rouge | Dec 5 – Dec 20 |
| Any legal weapon (firearm, muzzleloader, or archery) — 4 permits (2 landowner, 1 general, 1 WMA) | Bear Area 3 — Avoyelles, Concordia, LaSalle (full parishes), plus the portion of Catahoula west of US Highway 425 | Dec 5 – Dec 20 |
| Any legal weapon (firearm, muzzleloader, or archery) — 19 permits (14 landowner, 4 general, 1 WMA) | Bear Area 4 — East Carroll, Franklin, Madison, Tensas, West Carroll (full parishes), plus portions of Catahoula and Richland east of US Highway 425 | Dec 5 – Dec 20 |
| Any legal weapon (firearm, muzzleloader, or archery) — 2 permits (general) | Bear Area 5 — Caldwell, Ouachita, Morehouse, Union (full parishes), plus the portion of Richland west of US Highway 425 | Dec 5 – Dec 20 |
| Any legal weapon (firearm, muzzleloader, or archery) — 2 permits (general) | Bear Area 6 — Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Claiborne, DeSoto, Evangeline, Grant, Jackson, Lincoln, Natchitoches, Rapides, Red River, Sabine, Vernon, Webster, Winn (full parishes), plus portions of Allen, Calcasieu, Jefferson Davis and St. Landry | Dec 5 – Dec 20 |
| Any legal weapon (firearm, muzzleloader, or archery) — 2 permits (general) | Bear Area 7 — East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Livingston, St. Bernard, St. Helena, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Washington (full parishes), plus portions of several parishes east of the Mississippi River (exact list not independently confirmed this round) | Dec 5 – Dec 20 |
02 — Bag limits & check-in
| Statewide (all permit holders) | 1 bear per harvest permit per season |
|---|---|
| Cub/sow protection | Harvest of cubs (75 lbs or less) and females with cubs is prohibited |
| Legal weapons | Centerfire rifle/pistol .25 cal+ or rimfire .30 cal+, shotgun 10 ga. or smaller with slugs; muzzleloading rifle/pistol .44 cal+ or muzzleloading shotgun 10 ga. or smaller with black powder; pre-charged pneumatic airgun .30 cal+/150+ grain/800+ fps; or archery gear with 30+ lb minimum draw weight |
| Shooting hours | One-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset |
| Tagging | Bear must be tagged immediately upon harvest and before being moved from the kill site |
| Harvest reporting | Hunter must immediately contact their designated LDWF biologist to report the kill and schedule mandatory biological data collection |
03 — Shooting hours
Legal light on opening day (December 5, 2026) 06:22 — 17:35
Rule: 'Bears may only be harvested one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset' — stated directly on LDWF's Black Bear Hunting Lottery page. NOTE: LDWF's general 2026-27 hunting-regulations booklet still carries older conservation messaging saying bear hunting is not yet legal in Louisiana ('when legal bear hunting will once again occur') — that text has not been updated to reflect this narrow, permit-only lottery season (8/4/4/etc. permits per Bear Area, confirmed directly on the lottery page 2026-08-15). The lottery hunt is real and current; the booklet's boilerplate is stale. Sunrise/sunset shift daily — the times above are computed for opening day; use your local Louisiana sun times for any other date.
04 — License
Bear hunters in Louisiana need a Louisiana hunting license — a valid Louisiana black bear hunting license plus a drawn harvest permit; successful lottery applicants must also attend a mandatory LDWF bear hunter training course before hunting, held Oct 16, 17, 22, or 23, 2026 (LDWF confirms no separate charge for the permit itself if drawn — only the $50 application fee) Check-in or reporting a harvest is typically mandatory; see the row above for Louisiana's specific rule.
Louisiana hunting license cost →
Where to hunt public land in Louisiana — WMAs by county & access rules →
05 — Scouting gear
Patterning bear activity before Louisiana's opener usually means glassing feeding areas and running a trail camera through summer — check the state's own rules on baiting before you set one over bait.
- Hunting binoculars on Amazon →
- Trail cameras on Amazon →
- Trail camera SD cards — class, capacity & format explained →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. These are category links, not a single named pick — we run no product tests of our own.
06 — FAQ
When does bear season open in Louisiana?
The earliest 2026 opener is December 5, 2026. See the table above for each method and zone.
When does bear season end in Louisiana?
The latest 2026 closing date is December 20, 2026. Individual segments and zones can close earlier — see the table above.
Do I need a separate bear license or tag in Louisiana?
a valid Louisiana black bear hunting license plus a drawn harvest permit; successful lottery applicants must also attend a mandatory LDWF bear hunter training course before hunting, held Oct 16, 17, 22, or 23, 2026 (LDWF confirms no separate charge for the permit itself if drawn — only the $50 application fee)
How many bears can you shoot in Louisiana?
2026 bag limits: Statewide (all permit holders) — 1 bear per harvest permit per season. Cub/sow protection — Harvest of cubs (75 lbs or less) and females with cubs is prohibited. Legal weapons — Centerfire rifle/pistol .25 cal+ or rimfire .30 cal+, shotgun 10 ga. or smaller with slugs; muzzleloading rifle/pistol .44 cal+ or muzzleloading shotgun 10 ga. or smaller with black powder; pre-charged pneumatic airgun .30 cal+/150+ grain/800+ fps; or archery gear with 30+ lb minimum draw weight. Shooting hours — One-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset. Tagging — Bear must be tagged immediately upon harvest and before being moved from the kill site. Harvest reporting — Hunter must immediately contact their designated LDWF biologist to report the kill and schedule mandatory biological data collection. Limits are set per zone and per permit — check the agency's own regulations before you hunt.
What time can you start shooting bear in Louisiana?
On opening day (December 5, 2026) legal light runs 06:22 to 17:35. The rule is: 'Bears may only be harvested one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset' — stated directly on LDWF's Black Bear Hunting Lottery page. NOTE: LDWF's general 2026-27 hunting-regulations booklet still carries older conservation messaging saying bear hunting is not yet legal in Louisiana ('when legal bear hunting will once again occur') — that text has not been updated to reflect this narrow, permit-only lottery season (8/4/4/etc. permits per Bear Area, confirmed directly on the lottery page 2026-08-15). The lottery hunt is real and current; the booklet's boilerplate is stale. Sunrise and sunset shift daily, so work the offset against your local Louisiana sun times for any other date.
Can I hunt bear on my own land in Louisiana without a license?
No — Louisiana's own agency lists only two hunting-license exemptions (hunters 17 and under, and residents born before June 1, 1940), and landowners aren't among them.
Verified · Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries · Last verified 2026-08-15
Publisher's note. UPDATED 2026-08-15: wlf.louisiana.gov, previously blocked (403) for this project, was fetchable directly this round — the primary lottery page was read verbatim. This upgrades and corrects the prior pass, which had to rely on secondary syndication for Bear Area boundaries: Area 2 was previously listed as including Avoyelles, Concordia and LaSalle parishes, which is WRONG — those three parishes actually belong to Area 3 (confirmed directly on LDWF's own page); Area 2 is only Pointe Coupee and West Feliciana in full, plus partial Iberville/St. Landry/St. Martin/West Baton Rouge. All seven Bear Areas' parish boundaries are now taken directly from LDWF's verbatim page text, including highway-line qualifiers (e.g. Catahoula/Richland split along US 425 between Areas 3/4 and Area 5). Season dates confirmed verbatim: 'Black bear season opens the first Saturday in December and remains open through Sunday following the third Saturday in December' (Dec 5-20, 2026); lottery window confirmed verbatim: 'The 2026 Black Bear Lottery is open from July 28 - August 28' (in progress as of this verification date). Permit count confirmed at 41 total across the seven areas (8+4+4+19+2+2+2), each now broken down by landowner/general/WMA sub-allocation per LDWF's own table, plus the separately-sold LDWF Secretary's auction permit bringing the effective total to 42 — matching the prior pass's total exactly, just now with the full official breakdown instead of a syndicated summary. Application fee confirmed verbatim at $50 per applicant, with no separate charge for the permit itself if drawn. Mandatory training dates (Oct 16, 17, 22, or 23, 2026) and legal-weapon specs also reconfirmed verbatim against this same primary page, matching what was previously sourced from the separate support.louisianaoutdoors.com portal. One gap remains: Area 7's 'portions of several parishes east of the Mississippi River' was returned by this fetch as a summarized list rather than the full verbatim parish-by-parish text — recommend a follow-up direct read of the page (or LDWF's official area map PDF) to fill in the complete Area 7 boundary before treating it as fully confirmed.