| The list of West Virginia's black-bear hunting seasons keeps on growing.
Latest on the list, added just this year, will be a four-day firearm season that will begin on Oct. 25 and end on Oct. 28. If those dates seem familiar, it's because they're also the opening and closing dates for the state's early antlerless-deer season.
"This bear season was designed to coincide with the doe season," said Colin Carpenter, bear project leader for the Division of Natural Resources. "We have 13 counties where bear numbers are above our management objectives. We want hunters to harvest some of those bears so we can keep the population from growing.
Hunters will not be allowed to use dogs. Essentially, bears will be targets of opportunity for deer hunters who would be in the woods anyway.
The 13 open counties are Berkeley, Boone, Fayette, Hampshire, Jefferson, Kanawha, Mercer, Monroe, Morgan, Nicholas, Preston, Raleigh and Summers.
Hunters who hope to bag a bear during the upcoming season must have a current $10 bear-damage stamp for their hunting licenses. The bear season, like the antlerless-deer season, will be open to hunters on private lands only.
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