Hunters killed 2,469 black bears during the combined 2025 archery and firearms seasons, according to the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, mirroring the 2024 season. The preliminary harvest shows a total of just 10 bears short of last year’s total. Firearms season resulted in more success than early archery and crossbow seasons, following trends officials have seen for several years.
During the first segment of the 2025 bow seasons (September 27 to November 23), hunters killed 543 bears. Of these, 252 were taken with vertical bows and 291 were taken with crossbows. The top five counties were Fayette (47), Raleigh (35), Greenbrier (29), Logan (28) and Boone (27).
During the firearms season, hunters killed 1,925 bears, a 22 percent increase over last year’s 1,580 bears. This included 506 bears taken during the September and October seasons, 152 bears during the September youth, Class Q, XS season, five bears during the October youth, Class Q, XS season, 33 bears during the concurrent antlerless deer/bear season and 316 during the three early firearms seasons.
Additionally, hunters harvested 290 bears during the concurrent buck-gun bear season and 1,129 bears during the traditional December season. One bear was killed with a muzzleloader during the Mountaineer Heritage season. The top five counties for firearms harvests were Boone (169), Kanawha (136), Randolph (124), Webster (122) and Pocahontas (102).
