West Virginia’s Special Youth Bear Season closed its first weekend on Sunday, ending the opening half of a two-part youth-only opening that gives young, senior and disabled hunters an early chance at black bear before the regular seasons begin.
Only hunters under the age of 18, seniors and hunters with disabilities were allowed to hunt bear during the two-day opener. Hunters under 15 needed a licensed adult alongside them, and that adult could not hunt bear during the youth days. Children may still hunt bear during the general seasons, but the youth weekends are meant to keep the woods quieter for them and to open the season with a mentorship window before adult hunters follow.
Locally, the season covered several southern counties, including Raleigh, Fayette, Wyoming, McDowell and Greenbrier. The second half of the youth-only opening is Oct. 17-18.
Squirrel season opened for everyone this weekend and stays open through the end of February, giving young hunters a longer window in the woods after the bear hunt closes.
Archery and crossbow season for both deer and bear opens Sept. 26, two weeks after the youth bear closer. That opener sets the general bear framework in motion for the rest of the fall in the state.
The youth season sits inside a wider set of bear regulations that the state’s wildlife agency publishes each year. Bag limits, tagging requirements and season structures vary by county and by weapon type, and hunters age 15 and up have to hold the appropriate license and stamp before taking a bear.
West Virginia has run some form of youth bear weekend for several seasons, with the openings scheduled early enough that they precede the general firearm seasons and give young hunters and their mentors the woods to themselves for a short window. The October youth-only weekend will follow the same format before the general firearm bear seasons begin later in the fall.
Hunters headed into the second youth weekend or into the archery opener will find a set of dates and county-by-county rules laid out in the state’s current hunting regulations pamphlet and on the wildlife agency’s site.
