Virginia bear harvest breaks state record
Hunters report 3,540 kills during the 2019–20 season
The past year was a “beary” good season for folks who hunt the large animals. In fact, it broke a record, said the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. There’s only one bear species in Virginia, the American black bear, and hunters reported 3,540 kills during the state’s 2019–20 season.
The numbers were much larger than they’ve been in previous years, including last year’s 2,700, said Stephanie Simek, the department’s bear project leader. The bear harvest was 38% higher than the previous five-year average.
“If anything, it says that bears appear to be doing very well in Virginia, and if you’re interested in harvesting bears, you might consider Virginia as a place to come,” she said.
The department says the record number is likely due to adjustments made to the state’s hunting seasons over the past few years because of high bear populations in some areas, including out to the west. In Hampton Roads, the goal is to stabilize the bear population, Simek said.
Someoftheseasonswereextendedbyafew days, and others were extended by a week or so, Simek said. Some start as early as the end of September or early October, and run through the first weekend in January.
The biggest significant change is the threeday early bear season.
“It’s earlier than it has been in the past,” Simeksaid.“It’sindesignatedareas.It’smostly the western part of the state.”
Chesapeake, Suffolk and Virginia Beach have the longest hunting season for firearms. This past year, it lasted from Oct. 1 to Jan. 4. Ten bears were reported killed in Chesapeake, and 53 in Suffolk, Simek said, but none reported in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Portsmouth, Newport News or Hampton.
It’ll take a couple of years to see how populations are impacted by the regulation changes, but the department plans to look at their target areas within the next month or so.
Simek said the record number also may have been impacted by hunters taking advantage of the sportsman’s hunting and fishing license, which allows them to harvest any species, whether it’s deer, turkey or bears. This past season, 37,392 sportsman’s licenses were sold — three times as many as the previous season.
This was also the first year that hunters were able to easily report their kills electronically, Simek said.
The mild fall and winter may have also contributed, as well as the spotty production of food sources for bears, like acorns.
“Say there’s a cluster of acorns on the side of a mountain and those trees produce acorns, bears will seek that,” Simek said. “They’ll go miles for food resources, and acorn crops are the most popular food resource here, so they’ll go for miles to find those.”
Hunters, she said, are more likely to come across them as they travel to the same areas in search of food.