Ryan's comments about non-traditional counties adding to the harvest deserve amplification as well. Gun hunters checked in 173 animals during special seasons held in Boone, Fayette, Kanawha and Raleigh counties. As a group, these counties boasted a 25 percent increase. Of that total, 121 (52 male, 69 female) were taken during the early November season with dogs and 52 (28 male, 24 females) during the late November season without dogs.

Elsewhere, the top five traditional counties sported solid harvests (with the totals in parentheses): Randolph (141), Pocahontas (123), Pendleton (117), Greenbrier (85) and Webster (81). Among the archery brigade, the top counties were Randolph (74), Webster (67), Greenbrier (54), Fayette (54) and Nicholas (50).

Are bear numbers likely to increase more in the future?

"Except for the southern study area where we've had liberal seasons and have tried to reduce and stabilize the population, the entire state is still growing," continued Ryan. "We've proposed additional seasons in some counties for 2008 that are above their management objective."

Was there anything new going on in the bear research realm? Ryan said at in August 2007, the DNR purchased 23 Global Positioning System (GPS) radio collars for the state's southern study area. Wildlife managers and biologists in districts IV and V were pleased that they captured 49 bears in only 10 days. Staff also placed 21 GPS collars on female bears.

The collars are designed with a VHF radio beacon, a GPS unit to record locations and a drop-off device. The GPS unit will record one location every 19 hours from Jan. 1 through April 30, and one location every four hours from May 1 through Dec. 31. A state-of-the-art computer system records the locations along with air temperature, activity patterns and other information.

Interestingly, the drop-off unit depends on an internal clock that will break apart in 100 weeks if DNR staff members do not remove the collar beforehand. This means that staff can collect the data if personnel were unable to change the collar before the bears go to their dens. The DNR hopes that the collar-generated data will result in information on home ranges, habitat selection and activity patterns of female bears. Of special interest to sportsmen, the project will with any luck give information that will help the DNR to study bear movements in hunted versus non-hunted areas.

West Virginia is a state that allows hunting deer over bait. Is this practice affecting the bear harvest?

"We have no specific data on a management unit scale about deer baiting," Ryan said. "I can't say how it's affecting the bear harvest, because we don't have any specific baiting data. I can say, and have seen in the scientific articles, that there is evidence that during years of bad or spotty mast conditions the bear archery harvest increases. However, I can't be quoted on how deer baiting is affecting the bear harvest because of lack of data. Of course, it is illegal to leave bait out if a bear is coming to it."