Weekly trout stocking report

Dunmore, W.Va. – Here is your weekly AMR Sports trout stocking report. Unfortunately, due to bad weather, the DNR did no stocking during the previous week. So, here are some statistics from the 2012 bear and turkey hunting seasons.

West Virginia hunters harvested a record 2,683 black bears during the combined archery and firearms seasons, 34 percent higher than last year and 12 percent higher than the previous record set two years ago. During archery season, hunters took 746 bears. The top five counties were Webster, Nicholas, Randolph, Fayette and Preston. In Pocahontas County, just 11 bears were killed by archery hunters.

However, Pocahontas County was the number one county for bear hunting with firearms. Pocahontas led the state with 183 bears harvested during gun season, followed by Pendleton, Randolph, Webster and Greenbrier counties.

DNR officials stated that favorable mast conditions, combined with multiple counties open during September, led to a large increase in the firearms harvest this season.
Turkey hunters harvested 1,233 turkeys this season, four percent higher than last year and slightly higher than the five-year average. The top five counties for turkeys were Greenbrier (139), Nicholas (98), Randolph (91), Monroe (89) and Summers (71).

In Pocahontas County, the turkey harvest drastically decreased from 68 to 24.