Teeth from the 2003 samples have been received and hunters have been notified of their bear's age. Nine hundred and seventy-four of the 1,025 hunter harvested teeth were useable for age identification. The remaining 51 teeth were not able to be aged because of a broken tooth, wrong tooth submitted by hunter, etc. Twenty nine percent (215 M: 68F) were yearlings, 34% (223M: 105F) were 2-year olds, 11% (56M: 48F) were 3-year olds, and the remaining 26% were 4-years old or older. The oldest reported bear was a 23-year old female in Upshur County , harvested by a young hunter from Buckhannon High School . I am sure that it won't be the last bear that young hunter harvests in her life.

Written by Christopher W. Ryan