Black Bears in South Dakota.

[Dakota79]

If I were to tell you we are seeing black bears every now and then in the very northwest corner of South Dakota where would you guess they are coming from?

 

[EYJONAS!]

If I were to tell you we are seeing black bears every now and then in the very northwest corner of South Dakota where would you guess they are coming from?

The Custer National Forest in MT or WY. There's a decent population there. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the bears had even came all the way from the Big Horns either.

 

[Dakota79]

The Custer National Forest in MT or WY. There's a decent population there. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the bears had even came all the way from the Big Horns either.

That was my first thought as well but somebody mentioned Minnesota so I was just curious what others would say.

 

[MTLabrador]

Definitely southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming. There’s plenty of bears just across the border around Sundance.

 

[warmer]

Waiting for the part when SD GFP shows up and confirms that there definitely are NO bears in SD! Ha.

 

[Dakota79]

Waiting for the part when SD GFP shows up and confirms that there definitely are NO bears in SD! Ha.

Pretty hard to dispute pictures but they will sure try.

 

[warmer]

After the denial of mt lions in the hills for years, seems like the playbook they will use.

 

[Dreiss1]

There have been regular sightings of bears in the BHNF in recent years, I have a friend with a cabin in the western Black Hills with several trail camera photos of bears at his property.

 

[Wild Bill]

There are plenty of credible black bear sightings in the hills and it seems like there are more each year. Maybe that is just attributed to more being reported via social media, who knows.
I'd love to see an established population in the hills and have a season, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

[antlerradar]

Waiting for the part when SD GFP shows up and confirms that there definitely are NO bears in SD! Ha.

You should be waiting for people suggesting SD GFP is relocating problem bears.

 

[Jbills]

put a cam over your gut pile and you might be surprised what shows up.

 

[The_Yuki_Yama]

South Dakota doesnt have the space to hold a population of black bears imo. There would be way too much human/bear conflict. Some may wonder through now and then but I suspect there won't ever be a serious number of them.
There have been known bears walking many hundreds of miles. Pedals migrated almost a thousand if I recall correctly. If bears from Wisconsin end up in Louisiana, no reason they couldn't be in SD. Although I agree MT/WY is more likely.