Black Bear Harvest Falls Slightly

West Virginia bear hunters saw fewer bears harvested in fall 2011 than the previous year.  The DNR reports the tally of black bears killed during the fall season was 2,007.    It represents a 16% drop from the 2010 season, but was not unexpected.    The 2010 season in which 2,392 bears were bagged was the highest kill on record.   The 2011 season ranked 3rd highest in history.

"As predicted in the 2011 Mast Survey and Hunting Outlook brochure, mast conditions had a tremendous influence on the distribution of this year’s bear harvest,” said DNR Game Management Chief Paul Johansen. “Lower mast availability in 2011 allowed archers to pattern bears more effectively and led to an increased archery harvest. However, a shortage of fall foods drives bears to den earlier, which leads to a lower firearms harvest in the traditional December season. The firearm harvest for bears remained steady compared to previous years because of the early firearms seasons. These early seasons are designed to ensure that counties remain at their management goal.”

The breakdown finds 619 bears were killed during the archery season and 1,388 during the gun season.    The early season for 2011 saw hunters kill 631 bears and 76 were killed during the season which ran concurrently to the whitetail buck season.

The top five bear hunting counties in 2011 were Randolph at 148, Greenbrier 141, Pendleton 132, Pocahontas 112, and Webster 110.