The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission adopted 2025 big game hunting regulations at its recent meeting, marking a win for wildlife management, hunters and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
“We learned a week before the hearing that anti-hunting interests were sending letters to the commission,” said Ryan Bronson, RMEF director of government affairs. “They wanted to ban spring bear hunting, so we activated our members and they generated 912 comments in support of the ODFW staff 2025 recommendations, including a small increase in bear tags as a response to a growing state bear population,” said Ryan Bronson, RMEF director of government affairs.
The commission first heard staff testimony about the population status of Oregon’s game mammals, most of which are stable to increasing. No major changes were proposed or made to 2025 big game regulations beyond season date changes reflecting calendar date shifts and minor changes to tag numbers.
Much of the public comments and testimony about the regulations focused on spring bear hunting, with thousands of emailed comments received and about 30 people testifying for and against. The commission did not make any major changes to spring bear hunt structure, approving the staff proposal for a slight increase in tags (2 percent) and a new bear hunt for youth hunters.
Oregon’s current bear population is estimated at about 44,000 bears of all age classes.
The commission’s decision is in line with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists, which is in stark contrast to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission which ignored recommendations from its Washington Fish and Wildlife Department biologists and ended the annual spring bear hunt in that state.
(Photo credit: Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife)