Two Fatal Bear Attacks in Arkansas for the First Time in Over a Century

AmmoLand ^ | October 23, 2025 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

Two fatal bear attacks occurred in Arkansas in 2025. The first attack occurred on September 3, 2025, near the Mulberry Mountain area of north-west Arkansas. The second attack happened on October 1st or 2nd, near the Sam’s Throne campground near Mount Judea. The two attacks happened in or on the edge of the Ozark National Forest, about 45 miles apart.

The last fatal bear attack recorded in Arkansas occurred in 1892, as reported from the May 10 edition of the Arkansas Democrat. From aktimes.com:

Mountain Home, Ark., May 10 — Mrs. Mary Carter, a widow, with a small family of children, is a raving maniac, as the result of a raid upon her little cabin by a half-starved black bear, in which two of her children lost their lives and one [was] half devoured before assistance arrived. Her five children were playing in the yard while the mother was engaged in scrubbing. Suddenly the screams of the children startled her. She saw an enormous bear strike down her oldest boy, who had bravely attempted to defend the children in his charge. The beast seized the baby and ran rapidly away. The animal tore the little one to pieces before the mother’s eyes and escaped to the forest.

Black bears were reduced to a small remnant by 1927.  The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission prohibited bear hunting in that year. An active program of reintroducing black bears was implemented from 1956 to 1968. No bear hunting season was allowed until 1980.

AmmoLand covered the first fatal bear attack in Arkansas in 2025.

A 72-year-old man, Vernon Patton, was working on a gravel road with his tractor when a 70-pound juvenile male black bear attacked him. The attack happened on September 3, 2025, in the Mulberry Mountain area of Arkansas. 

[riverrunner]

Hide should be high

[Vaduz]

Depends on area maybe Eskimos nod

[riverrunner]

Polar bear hides are the exceptions.

As the sale and hunting them have been very restricted.

My ref is for black bear hides.

[Vaduz]

Agree