Attention Bear Hunters! Mandatory Tooth Submission
It is MANDATORY that a tooth sample from harvested bears be submitted.
Deadline: All tooth samples must be submitted or postmarked by February 15 after the harvest of the bear.
Why submit this information?
Widespread bear hunting seasons are now established in many Tennessee counties with Bear Hunt Zone (BHZ).
Widespread seasons and electronic check-in options make it impossible for Agency personnel to physically collect enough teeth from harvested bears to monitor population and harvest trends.
Collecting Teeth
The upper premolar is the tooth behind the canine.
Using a knife or screwdriver, push the gum line toward the top of the head, exposing more of the tooth.
Loosen the tooth with the knife or screwdriver using the canine for leverage. This is an important step; trying to immediately pull with pliers usually results in a broken tooth. Once loose, use pliers to finish the job.
Note: the entire tooth, roots included, is needed; collect both premolars; save 1 in case your first submission is lost in the mail. You can watch an instructional video on our YouTube channel.
Preparing and Submitting a Tooth
MAIL THE TOOTH
Once you have collected the tooth, fill out the form here and tape it to an 8 x 11 piece of paper, tape the tooth about 2/3 down the page. Then fold the paper in thirds so that the tooth is surrounded by the paper and sitting at the bottom now. Note: taping the tooth down is an important step that reduces the number of teeth that are lost in the mail during sorting.
Place the paper, tooth and form into a standard letter envelope and mail them it to:
TWRA Bear Data Collection
3030 Wildlife Way
Morristown, TN 37814
BEAR TOOTH REGISTRY
Use this tool to let us know when you mailed your tooth, AND find out the age of your past bear harvests. Go to https://twra.state.tn.us/BearHunter/Home/Index - Click on the “Bear Tooth Registry” icon - Log in with your TWRA ID number and birthdate.
Harvest Information Card & Example Submission
