Published: March 08, 2008 11:43 pm         

Early W.Va. bear hunt being eyed

Because West Virginia bears rule, there may very likely be a new set of West Virginia bear rules come next hunting season.

Biologists with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources believe that there are just too many doggone bears in some counties, including those that bump up against Garrett County, Md.

The agency is being driven by its pocketbook. This past year, DNR paid a record $188,004 for claims of bear damage to corn, beehives and livestock. Top bear guy, Chris Ryan, said such an expense is an indicator that bear populations are too high and need to be reduced 10 to 15 percent.

Ryan recently proposed that bears be hunted during September in 15 counties. If the plan is approved by the agency’s board of commissioners, there would be a Sept.19-27 hunt in Boone, Fayette, Kanawha and Raleigh counties. There would be a Sept. 22-27 hunt in Barbour, Grant, Greenbrier, Hardy, Nicholas, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Preston, Randolph, Tucker and Webster counties. This is a firearms season we’re talking about.

Ryan proposes that the bear bag limit increase from one to two in Boone, Fayette, Kanawha and Raleigh counties.

The public will have the opportunity to comment on these potential hunts and other hunting regulation proposals during hearings conducted by the agency in March. One such meeting will take place March 17 at the Rumsey Technical School in Martinsburg and another on March 18 at Moorefield Junior High School. Each starts at 7 p.m.

Hunting in September would likely increase the harvest of female bears, which would tend to depress the population. Currently, a rifle season that takes place in December puts hunters afield when many sow bears have already gone to dens.

I find it interesting that West Virginia wildlife managers see a need to increase the kill in Preston, where 92 bears were taken this past season, in Tucker, where 72 were killed, and in Grant, where 70 were checked in.

Just across the state line from these West Virginia counties is Maryland’s Garrett County, where 43 bears were bagged in just four days by a limited number of hunters. To hunt bears in Maryland, you have to be lucky enough to draw one of the 220 available tags. To hunt bears in West Virginia, you buy a license.

Is there any chance Garrett County is serving as a bear incubator for the nearby West Virginia counties? I think there is a very good chance. After all, Maryland’s bear guy, Harry Spiker, said Garrett County is some of the best black bear habitat on the planet. It is certainly possible that when a niche is created by the taking of a West Virginia bear than one of Maryland’s young bruins who is wandering and looking for a home becomes a Mountaineer instead of a Terrapin.

To be fair to the Maryland Wildlife and Heritage Service, that agency is currently proposing some bear hunting changes as well. Rather than set a kill quota, Maryland wants the option to set the season by number of days, though the duration of the hunt has not yet been revealed.

The length of that hunt could go a long way toward increasing the bear kill in Garrett County, which, in my opinion, would be an appropriate result. The local Maryland hunt regulation meeting is Thursday at Fort Hill High School at 7 p.m.

Because of the vocal though minor anti-hunting crowd in Maryland, including some elected delegates, wildlife officials there have to be cautious in the way they word things.

In West Virginia they just say, “Hey, we need to kill more girl bears.”

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.