While bowhunting in the River Hill area of Preston County, Allen Shahan bagged this 475-pound black bear. It is one of the largest bears ever taken in West Virginia. Photo by Dale Sparks

Allen Shahan has been actively hunting black bears ever since the first season opened in Preston County over 10 years ago. The Reedsville resident has been a bowhunter for over 20 years. His zeal for this type of hunting took a slightly unexpected turn back in the mid-'90s when the black bear population started to increase in Preston County at a fairly steady clip.

Our bruin population started to take off back in the early 1990s as the bears slowly followed the spine of the Cheat River and worked their way in from Tucker County.

Shahan had initially spotted one particular bear while bowhunting for deer in the fall of 1998. It was in an area known as River Hill, which is just north of Albright. This region is extremely steep, with numerous rock outcroppings. It is relatively inaccessible. In a word, it is excellent bear habitat! When Shahan first saw the bear from his tree stand, he noticed that it was already a good-sized animal in the 275- to 300-pound range.

Over the next couple of gun seasons, he would kill and tag two other decent bears during the short gun season. Shahan and a couple of buddies would utilize a buddy system to hunt these bruins. Following a fresh snowfall when they could cut a fresh set of tracks, they would take turns with one hunter on the track and one or two other hunters flanking one or both sides of the track.

The last bear they shot using this method led them into a rocky outcropping along the Cheat River where they couldn't get the bear to flush from its protective spot. Shahan ended up crawling in and shooting the bear at point-blank range of 6 to 7 feet! Shahan said that getting the bear out led to some initial moments of heightened anxiety as one might guess in trying to retrieve a 250-pound bear out of rather cramped quarters.

In the interim, Shahan kept hunting the big black bear that he would see from time to time, but never could get close enough for a clean shot. As the seasons rolled past, the bear kept piling on weight. Shahan was starting to wonder whether he would ever get an opportunity at the ever-growing bruin.

In 1999, while walking into his stand late in the afternoon during the second week of the six-week-long season, he spotted the bear within 25 to 30 yards of his stand. At about the same time that Shahan spotted the bear, the bruin winded him and beat a hasty retreat over the ridge. Over the course of the 2000 bow season, he hunted every night but two evenings and only saw the big bear once during that time.

As the 2001 season approached, the sportsman wondered if the big bear had made it through another winter, spring and summer. Just before the opening of the fall bow season, his prayers were answered once again, as he sighted the enormous bruin just a short distance away. The first two days of the season passed with little happening.

Then, on the third evening of the season, Shahan had given some serious thought to possibly climbing out of his stand early because of extremely windy conditions with winds gusting from 30 to 35 mph and the temperature dropping into the low 40s. He decided to try and tough it out till dark, and it was just shortly after committing to staying put that he spotted the big bear about 90 to 100 yards out from his stand and slowly moving in his direction.