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. 

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TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: ar; attack; banglist; bear; bearrepublic; bearsrepeating; righttoarmbears; thingsiworryabout; unbearable

[marktwain]

Bear populations are increasing all over the world. Human populations in the US are increasing.

[xp38]

ergo....human/bear encounters are increasing

[Hyman Roth]

Naw man. It’s global warming or climate change or something.

[Red Badger]

Florida did the same thing Arkansas did and now we are up to our ears in bears. Two attacks this year as well, one fatal.

I have seen bears here in town in a very populated area, heavy traffic.

Had to scare off one bear with my car horn!

I have seen bears climb over a 10 foot chain link fence like it wasn’t even there.......................

[Red Badger]

We have these signs along our roads..........

[logi_cal869]

I’ll go there:

Were they democrats? /s

[healy61]

I always have wondered how the authorities know which bear attacked and killed someone. The bears are captured and released elsewhere. How do they know?

[Carriage Hill]

Just move the bear crossing area to an uninhanited by humans, area:

‘https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=deer+crossing

[logi_cal869]

Usually proximity and bio evidence (scat, remains, etc.).

Unless I’m mistaken (seems logical based upon what I’ve read).

[bert]

Encounters yes.

Unprovoked attack no.

[TheDon]

Also the stomach contents of the bear are checked to confirm.

[marktwain]

I always have wondered how the authorities know which bear attacked and killed someone. The bears are captured and released elsewhere. How do they know?

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Today, they rely heavily on DNA evidence.

[Dr. Franklin]

People living in places named Mountain Home and Mulberry Mountain need to own rifles. Bears are not cute and cuddy critters. They are very dangerous. A couple of dogs might have chased it off. People living in the boonies need to respect that there are dangerous things in the woods that can and do snatch children.

[logi_cal869]

I was eating breakfast and covered that with ‘etc.’ /s

But seriously: That usually only takes place as confirmation of the target predator after reasonable tracking to identify a suspect/culprit.

[Uncle Miltie]

What do you have against large hairy gay dudes?

[ronniesgal]

Hillary’s back in Arkansas?

[mosaicwolf]

When I go out of my house with my Pyrenees dog I always carry my Ruger 44 magnum on my hip. I have a couple of nuisance bears in the area. Game camera photo looks like the bears are about 200-300 lbs. The bears usually drag off my garbage container and tear it to pieces over night.

One morning I noticed my garbage container was gone from my property. I strapped on my 44 and drove my ATV around my property. About a half mile away down this steep ravine (very remote area) a spotted my garbage container ripped to pieces and trash all over the area.

A hungry black bear can be very dangerous and anyone wondering around the mountains without a big bore fire arm is not smart.

[LambSlave]

Bear attacks are “rare” because who actually reports them? Seriously, unless someone is hospitalized or killed, the kind of people who spend lots of time in the woods are not going to call the “authorities” (who is even the appropriate authority?). I have been charged by aggressive bears a few times in my life, and once I had to fight... one shovel stroke to the head was enough to send the bear in full retreat. I never even considered reporting these to anyone, and I’m sure there are thousands of others with similar experiences. Bears are unpredictable and dangerous, like ALL predators.

[Red Badger]

One town west of here, Gulf Breeze, has had to issue ‘Bear Proof’ garbage cans to residents because of the bears..................

[fwdude]

It’s a fallacy that bears (or coyotes, or ____) just always happen to be where humans decide to build communities. It’s more often the case that human settlements pose feeding opportunities for wild animals who have to scrape to survive in the wild, and flock to these concentrations of human civilization whenever possible.