In addition to the regulation prescriptions, the usual weather and mast conditions that can affect the harvest must not be underestimated. For example, many of the stars were lined up just right to aid and abet the hunter last year. There was enough mast to keep the bruins out and about for the December gun hunts without a brutalizing weather pattern which with poor mast could have caused early hibernation and a reduced gun kill.

And with all that, let's not forget to discuss those new-fangled September gun seasons in further detail. When the gun smoke cleared, a smashing record of 1,590 bears was bagged by the bullet. Of that total lot, an astounding 670 were taken during the new September hunts alone! Yet another 109 were taken during concurrent gun buck hunting seasons. The remaining half (811) of the gun kill came during the "traditional" December season.

Not to underestimate the contribution of the archery specific kill of 479 bruins, it was, in fact, the sixth highest on record for that hunting implement. Though archers didn't arrow their own individual category record for 2008, fully seven of the best ever bow takes have occurred in the past nine years alone!

These kinds of records are amazing by any measure. Uncommon just a generation back, bear hunting memories are now being made in bunches. Here's just such a fond memory from the record season that will forever be emblazed in the hunting annals of one successful bear hunter.

This fortunate young bowhunter was just a single example within the recipient thousands of last year's record bounty. Fifteen-year-old Daniel Coakley of Taylor County arrowed a handsome Webster County bruin. This was not only his first bear, but also his only big-game animal of any sort with a bow. Talk about getting off to a good start.

Though he had previously taken some venison with the gun, the 150-pound male bear was squarely arrowed, then went just a short and easy to follow 80 yards to recovery. Daniel's dad, Scott indicates he was even more excited than his son when he got the news via cell phone. Though dad has had several close bear calls with his bow, he has yet to arrow a bruin for himself.

Odds are good that both Daniel and his dad are likely to find future success as well, though we're sure that Dad would have never dreamed of such opportunities during his youth. It's for bounties like this that we sometimes take for granted and must give pause for thanks.

For Daniel's feat, the youngster was honored as one of three Junior Bowhunters of the Year at the annual banquet of the West Virginia Bowhunters Association (WVBA). The WVBA continues to be a major supporter of our DNR black bear season, Hunters Helping the Hungry (HHH) and Archery in the Schools programs.

The West Virginia Trophy Hunters Association and Black Bear Hunters Association should also be recognized for their contributions to this resource success in one way or another over the many years of restoration. Former DNR Black Bear Project leader, Joe Rieffenberger along with Ryan at present are nationally recognized bear experts. But without an army of helping hands, including fellow employees and other volunteers, even these gentlemen could not have achieved the bear restoration success kudos that for the last quarter of the 20th century was once reserved for the restoration of the wild turkey. But after all, it is a new century.

Even neighboring Ohio and Kentucky attribute freshly blooming bear populations to natural expansion from their neighbor to the east, namely West Virginia. In fact, and after a 100-year hiatus, the Bluegrass State of Kentucky will feature its first (though very limited) bear hunt this year at selected ranges fairly close to our border.