Kentucky’s decisions about hunting bears show why more people need to be making them

By: Todd Blevins

Outlets: Kentucky Lantern

Published: April 6, 2026

Words: 779

Last Updated: 3 months, 3 weeks ago

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It may be a surprise to learn that Kentucky was once known as “the Black Bear State.” Biologists suggest that in the early 1800s, Eastern Kentucky’s rich forests likely supported the largest black bear population in North America.

When it was settled later that century by Daniel Boone and other market hunters and trappers, the state’s wildlife — including its bears — were heavily hunted, with the pelts, hides and meat sold for monetary …

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