Oregon · Bear · 2026 Edition
Oregon Bear Season 2026: Dates, Zones & Bag Limits
01 — Seasons
| Season | Zone | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| Spring controlled hunt (drawn permit; no bait, no dogs) | 14 hunt areas statewide — NW Oregon (710A), Alsea-Stott Mtn (717A/717T), SW Oregon (722A), South Central (731A), White River-Hood (741A), S Blue Mtns (746A), Starkey-Ukiah (752A), Mt Emily-Walla Walla (754A/754T), Wenaha (756), Sled Springs-Chesnimnus (757A/757T), Snake River (759), Minam-Imnaha (760A/760T), Pine Cr-Keating-Catherine Cr (762A), Lookout Mtn (764) — plus 5 youth-only spring hunts | Apr 1 – May 31 |
| Fall general season — General Season Fall Tag & optional Additional Bear Tag (OTC; no bait, no dogs) | Statewide (all WMUs; a permanent closure applies within 1 mile of the Rogue River between Grave Creek and Lobster Creek) | Aug 1 – Dec 31 |
02 — Bag limits & check-in
| Statewide | 1 bear per tag; a hunter may hold both a General Season Fall Tag and an Additional Bear Tag in the fall season, for up to 2 bears; taking a cub under one year old, or a sow accompanied by cub(s) under one year old, is illegal |
|---|---|
| Methods | Baiting and hunting with dogs are illegal statewide for black bear (ORS 498.164, Measure 18, 1994, reaffirmed by voters in 1996) |
| Mandatory check-in | The unfrozen skull, with the mouth propped open, must be presented to an ODFW office by appointment (Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.) within 10 days of harvest; hunters are asked but not required to also submit the reproductive tract of any harvested female |
| Mandatory hunter report | Every bear tag holder, successful or not, must complete an online hunter report by Jan. 31 following the season |
03 — Shooting hours
Legal light on opening day (April 1, 2026) 06:11 — 19:59
Rule: One-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset — Oregon's general game-mammal shooting-hours rule (OAR 635-065-0730), which applies to black bear as a regulated game mammal. Sunrise/sunset shift daily — the times above are computed for opening day; use your local Oregon sun times for any other date.
04 — License
Bear hunters in Oregon need an Oregon hunting license — a hunting license plus either a drawn spring controlled-hunt bear tag (apply by Feb. 10) or an over-the-counter fall General Season Fall Tag (tag sales run through roughly Oct. 2); an Additional Bear Tag may be purchased for a second bear during the fall season Check-in or reporting a harvest is typically mandatory; see the row above for Oregon's specific rule.
Where to hunt public land in Oregon — WMAs by county & access rules →
05 — Scouting gear
Patterning bear activity before Oregon'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 Oregon?
The earliest 2026 opener is April 1, 2026. See the table above for each method and zone.
When does bear season end in Oregon?
The latest 2026 closing date is December 31, 2026. Individual segments and zones can close earlier — see the table above.
Do I need a separate bear license or tag in Oregon?
a hunting license plus either a drawn spring controlled-hunt bear tag (apply by Feb. 10) or an over-the-counter fall General Season Fall Tag (tag sales run through roughly Oct. 2); an Additional Bear Tag may be purchased for a second bear during the fall season
How many bears can you shoot in Oregon?
2026 bag limits: Statewide — 1 bear per tag; a hunter may hold both a General Season Fall Tag and an Additional Bear Tag in the fall season, for up to 2 bears; taking a cub under one year old, or a sow accompanied by cub(s) under one year old, is illegal. Methods — Baiting and hunting with dogs are illegal statewide for black bear (ORS 498.164, Measure 18, 1994, reaffirmed by voters in 1996). Mandatory check-in — The unfrozen skull, with the mouth propped open, must be presented to an ODFW office by appointment (Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-5 p.m.) within 10 days of harvest; hunters are asked but not required to also submit the reproductive tract of any harvested female. Mandatory hunter report — Every bear tag holder, successful or not, must complete an online hunter report by Jan. 31 following the season. 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 Oregon?
On opening day (April 1, 2026) legal light runs 06:11 to 19:59. The rule is: One-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset — Oregon's general game-mammal shooting-hours rule (OAR 635-065-0730), which applies to black bear as a regulated game mammal. Sunrise and sunset shift daily, so work the offset against your local Oregon sun times for any other date.
Can I hunt bear on my own land in Oregon without a license?
Oregon exempts a resident hunting on land they or an immediate family member owns and lives on — for every species except the ones that need a tag or permit, which still applies for big game.
Verified · Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife · Last verified 2026-08-14
Publisher's note. Season-date framework and bag-limit/method rules read directly from three official ODFW pages: myodfw.com/articles/hunting-bear-oregon, myodfw.com/big-game-hunting/seasons, and myodfw.com/articles/2026-spring-bear-hunting-forecast (the last one lists all 2026 spring controlled-hunt numbers and tag counts by area). Oregon runs bear as two structurally different hunts, unlike a simple statewide-limited-permit system: a spring controlled hunt (drawn permit only, no OTC option) April 1-May 31 across 14 named hunt areas covering the whole state plus five additional youth-only hunts, and a fall general season (OTC tag, no draw) Aug. 1-Dec. 31 statewide, during which a hunter may also buy an Additional Bear Tag for a second bear (confirmed as an official tag type by Oregon Administrative Rule 635-065-0301, 'General Black Bear Season', fetched directly from its statute mirror at oregon.public.law/rules/oar_635-065-0301). The official Big Game Regulations PDF that would contain the full per-hunt-number WMU table could not be parsed as text (WebFetch returned raw PDF binary rather than readable content), so the WMU-to-hunt-number mapping below (which units fall under each of the 14 named hunt areas) was cross-checked against eRegulations.com's black-bear-hunt-descriptions page, an aggregator, used here only to fill in unit numbers that were consistent with, and did not contradict, the official ODFW area names and tag counts. The bait/hound ban is confirmed directly from ORS 498.164 (Oregon Measure 18, approved by voters in 1994 and reaffirmed in a 1996 re-vote): it is unlawful to use bait to attract or take black bear, or to use one or more dogs to hunt or pursue black bear, anywhere in Oregon. Legal hunting hours were confirmed via OAR 635-065-0730 ('Shooting Hours'), fetched directly from its statute mirror: unlawful to hunt any game mammal from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise — black bear is regulated as a game mammal under the same administrative division (OAR 635-065-0301 sits in the same chapter). Mandatory skull check-in (unfrozen, mouth propped open, within 10 days, by appointment at an ODFW office) and the separate online hunter-report deadline (Jan. 31 following the season) are both stated directly on the official hunting-bear-oregon page. Not independently confirmed this round: the exact bear tag fee schedule and the precise WMU list for every one of the 14 spring hunt areas (a few areas' unit lists were only available via the aggregator cross-check, not the official PDF) — confirm exact unit boundaries at myodfw.com or hunt.utah.gov-equivalent hunt.myodfw.com before applying.