Photo Credit: Healing Road Foundation
Black bear hunting season in Louisiana ended the harvesting of a record-breaking 696-pound male.
“That’s the biggest one I’ve ever put my hands on,” said John Hanks, large carnivore program manager at the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. “They certainly have had bigger ones in the United States, but I don’t know if we’ve had a bigger one in Louisiana, at least not in recent decades.”
To put that in perspective, adult male black bears in Louisiana typically weigh between 450 and 550 pounds.
The massive bear was harvested by Deron Santiny of Lafayette, a Purple Heart recipient who received his permit through the Healing Road Foundation, which raffled off a permit to a Louisiana military veteran.
“I could not be prouder of the efforts of Secretary (Madison) Sheahan and the entire LDWF team for making this black bear season a reality for the first time in over 35 years,” said Gov. Landry. “Congratulations to each of the hunters who successfully harvested bears, especially to Louisiana military veteran Deron Santiny. Deron harvested the potential largest bear in state history, coming in at 696 pounds.
“Louisiana is finally back on the map for bear hunting,” Landry continued, “and we are only going to grow from here!”
Santiny’s bear was taken in Tensas Parish and is believed to be in its late teens to early 20s.
Hanks says in all, the black bear hunting season, which went from Dec. 7-22, was very successful.
“Ten out of 11 hunters were successful,” said Hanks, “so a 91% harvest rate, and it was 80% males.”
Hanks says each bear harvested will provide hundreds of meals.
“Let’s just say the bear was about 300 pounds,” said Hanks. “About a third of the bear would be food. That would be 100 pounds, and a typical serving would be eight ounces. So that would be 200 plates of food.”
This was the first black bear hunting season since 1987.
Black bears were removed from the endangered list in 2016, allowing the department to hold a black bear hunting season.
“Providing hunters in our state a chance at harvesting a bear for the first time this century is a big win for conservation,” said Secretary Sheahan, “and to see our hunters have such great success with a military veteran harvesting a potential record-breaking bear is indicative of many prosperous black bear seasons to come.”
Comments