{"id":48362,"date":"2026-09-03T16:57:34","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T20:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=48362"},"modified":"2026-09-03T16:57:34","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T20:57:34","slug":"black-bear-hunt-lottery-winners-selected-for-2026-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2026\/09\/03\/black-bear-hunt-lottery-winners-selected-for-2026-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Bear Hunt Lottery Winners Selected for 2026 Season"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bear

Photo by Bob Geary, submitted to the 2018 Maryland Department of Natural Resources Photo Contest.<\/p><\/div>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>Maryland Department of Natural Resources<\/span><\/a> (DNR) has drawn the winning <\/span>lottery entries for the 2026 Maryland Black Bear Hunt<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lottery entrants were randomly selected to receive permits valid for Maryland\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>six-day bear hunting season<\/span><\/a> open from October 26-31, 2026, in Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington counties. Entrants can check the lottery results section of DNR’s <\/span>black bear hunt webpage<\/span><\/a> for their DNR ID number.<\/span><\/p>\n

A total of 1,050 entries were selected between the two black bear hunt zones, including 950 for\u00a0<\/span>Black Bear Hunt Zone 1<\/span><\/a>, and 100 for\u00a0<\/span>Black Bear Hunt Zone 2<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

A total of 4,820 hunters applied for the lottery. Of the permits awarded, 52% went to Western Maryland residents, 38% to residents from other parts of Maryland, and 10% to non-residents.<\/span><\/p>\n

New this year, accumulated <\/span>preference points<\/span><\/a> do not expire even if the hunter did not enter this year\u2019s lottery or purchase an additional preference point.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMaryland\u2019s black bear hunt is a vital part of our efforts to responsibly manage the state\u2019s black bear population, while providing hunters with a unique opportunity to play an important role in that management,\u201d Wildlife and Heritage Service Director Karina Stonesifer said. \u201cCongratulations to this year\u2019s successful applicants. We wish everyone a safe, successful, and memorable 23rd annual black bear hunting season.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Successful applicants will receive an email or letter with instructions on how to complete the permitting process. Permittees may designate up to two sub-permittees prior to the hunt, and each hunting party may harvest one bear under the permit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Any successful applicant who has not received a notification by Sept. 17, 2026, should email <\/span>blackbear.dnr@maryland.gov<\/span><\/a> or call 301-334-4255 for assistance.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has drawn the winning lottery entries for the 2026 Maryland Black Bear Hunt.\u00a0 Lottery entrants were randomly selected to receive permits valid for Maryland\u2019s\u00a0six-day bear hunting season open from October 26-31, 2026, in Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, and Washington counties. Entrants can check the lottery results section of DNR’s black  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,3172],"tags":[2946,3960,3531,5234],"class_list":["post-48362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-hunting","tag-bears","tag-black-bear-hunt","tag-black-bears","tag-lottery"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48362"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48364,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48362\/revisions\/48364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}