Hunters are reminded that a concurrent bear season without dogs will occur from Nov. 25-Dec. 7, on private land in 19 counties, according to Colin Carpenter, black bear project leader for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources.<!--more--> Barbour, Braxton, Clay, Grant, Greenbrier, Hardy, Lewis, Mercer, Mineral, Monroe, Nicholas, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Randolph, Summers, Taylor, Tucker, Upshur, and Webster counties will be open for concurrent bear hunting during the traditional buck-gun season by permit only. Resident landowners, their resident children or resident tenants who live on the land are not required to apply for a limited bear firearms season permit or purchase a class DS bear hunting stamp to bear hunt on their own land. “Counties that will be open for bear hunting during the buck-gun season are above their management objective and need additional bears harvested to achieve their goal,” Carpenter said. “Timing is critical when setting bear hunting seasons, and the limited bear firearms season will occur when the maximum number of hunters are in the woods. This is the first time that hunters in the majority of these counties will have the opportunity to harvest a black bear during the buck-gun season, and we hope they will take advantage of it.” Each hunter must fill out a separate application that must be signed, dated, legible, complete, and received by the DNR Application Section by Aug. 19. Successful applicants will be sent an “Eligibility Card” (permit) in October. This permit will indicate the county in which the applicant may hunt and provide instructions for obtaining a class DS stamp. Neither the permit, nor the class DS stamp, is transferrable, and the county of hunt cannot be changed. Applications will be available at the following locations: online at www.wvdnr.gov; hunting license agents; DNR District Offices; DNR Elkins Operations Center; and the DNR Main Office in South Charleston. Completed applications must be mailed to the Application Section, West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 67, Elkins, WV 26241-0067 by Aug. 19. Details concerning bear hunting seasons can be found on pages 36-39 of the 2013-2014 Hunting and Trapping Regulations Summary.
