West Virginia bear hunt help?

[BuckeyeBoy]

I know it's a ways off but I'm planning on a diy bear hunt in West Virginia in the fall. Was wondering if anyone had any tips or helpful hints? I'm going to head down a couple times in the summer to scout. I know it's a long shot to be successful, it'll be close to home and not too expensive and just nice to get away with the possibility of seeing bears is enough for me.

[BuckeyeBoy]

Can't believe no one from West Virginia wants to chime in!

[Krex1010]

So I’ve never hunted WV, I’m not sure when your hunt will be but with bears in the fall it’s all about the food and hunting pressure....I spend a lot of time in the woods in PA so I’m assuming what I know about bears here would translate to WV....acorns trump all food sources when they are falling heavily. In Pa that’s usually for about 2 weeks in Early October if that’s when you’ll be hunting I’d spend some time on your scouting trip looking for oak stands that are heavy with acorns. In my experience when the peak of the acorn drop is on, bears abandon everything else and hit the oaks. If your hunt is after the main drop and there’s agricultural crops in the area, look for places near the crops that give the bears secure cover and make a note of that. Hunting pressure is a wildcard, in Pa for the regular bear season pressure is heavy and the bears head for the nasty areas, look for funnel areas leading from food to the thickest places in the areas you hunt. The key is to not worry too much about finding bears when you scout in the summer, it’s to locate the heaviest concentration of the preferred food that will be available when you are going to be hunting. Finding an area that combines food, cover and minimal hunting pressure is the best way to boost your odds of finding bears....watch the wind, hunt hard and good luck!

[Nantahala Nut]

I don't know specifics about West Virginia but I have been around the bears in Appalachia a lot.  The acorn crop can vary by elevation so keying in on that sweet spot is important. Ridge lines and saddles are where I see the most sign and the most bears.  I see them in the evenings the most. Check and see if people are allowed to hunt bears with dogs wherever you go.  That is gonna make things hard so you will need to get far from any roads. We have lots of them in WNC and where I grew up hunting in Northeast PA.

[WVbowhunter]

What part of WV are you going to be hunting? Baiting is illegal for bears in WV so you'll have to either spot and stalk, call one in, or find someone that runs them with dogs. I haven't killed one myself but I've called several in for friends that are from out of state, always just used a turkey diaphragm call and sat in a ground blind. Closest one was shot at 6 yards with a rifle furthest was 35ish yards with a compound

[BuckeyeBoy]

I'm still feeling out where to go, probably either pocahontas or nicholas counties.

[WVbowhunter]

Both of those are pretty good options

[BuckeyeBoy]

Any experience with cranberry wma in Nicholas county?

[Rough Run]

I grew up hunting the Cranberry Backcountry and trout fishing the Cranberry and Williams rivers.  Absolutely beautiful.  In those days, the Backcountry was full of clearcuts - fantastic habitat for deer and bear.  I can't even count the number of times I encountered steaming scat or urine spots in snow, and temperatures were in the mid-20s.  And with all that, I only saw a live bear 1 time.  To be clear, there were plentiful bears but they were elusive unless dogs were running, in my experience.  Bear hunting was not permitted in the Backcountry, and it was not unusual to find bear hunters trying to track down and retrieve their hounds from a bear that ran into the Backcountry.  I was in the Backcountry the last time around 2000-01, and the place was almost unrecognizable beyond the gated access - management practices had clearly changed, and the clearcuts were grown out and the seed roads were grown up.  Game sign was sparse, comparatively speaking.  That's a real shame, in my opinion.

[Rough Run]

I should add, it wasn't called a WMA back then, it was part of the Monongahela National Forest.  I'm sure many things have changed since I left.  I usually accessed the forest right outside Richwood, in Nicholas County.  If you have the time, take your fishing equipment - Cranberry, Williams and both forks of the Cherry River were/are great trout fishing.

[Jeff D. Holchin]

You might consider the PA archery hunt for bear; I used to have a hunting camp in the Allegheny NF near Tionesta and between the NF land and paper company land, there was more land with good bear populations than you could ever hunt.  We killed a handful of bears out of my camp, some by taking a stand in a good area and some by pushing out the clearcuts.  Best areas were where a 3-5 year old clearcut or tornado-damaged area was next to a stand or ridge of white or red oaks.  You can actually get a map showing the oak tree distribution and compare it to satellite photos that show clearcuts to target areas to scout, then follow up on the ground.  When the acorns are dropping, and especially if you have a good funnel between their bedding and feeding area, you will see bears!  That was years ago, before PA opened a bear archery season; several times I had a bear under my tree or walked up on one stuffing its face with acorns, but couldn't do anything about it.  Even had a bear claim a buck that I shot at dusk and came back with my buddy to drag out several hours later.

I also hunted the Jefferson NF just across the WVA border into VA, and as mentioned, if you locate actively dropping white oaks close to a laurel thicket, you should be good to go.  The area I hunted had lots of narrow "finger ridges" going of a main ridge and most had bear trails on them; find a saddle where several of these finger ridges come together, close to some dropping white oaks, and you should be good to go.  By the way, don't be surprised to see the Bears up in the oaks, stripping off acorns or cutting off smaller branches that are loaded with acorns.  As for an area in WVA, a buddy hunted public land (monongahalia NF) near Elkins and saw a lot of bears there while deer archery hunting.

[JimB]

I've hunted some good bear areas in WV that did not have oaks.There,beech were the primary mast crop.

[BuckeyeBoy]

Thanks guys I'm really looking forward to it!