When I was a boy growing up in Salem, the year I was 10 (1962) my parents decided they would take my sister and me on a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains. One of the main reasons for this trip was to view black bears — an animal that none of us had ever seen, even though my parents had grown up in rural Franklin County.

When my family arrived at the park and saw bruins prowling through trash cans along the road, my mom had Dad stop the Ford Galaxy and she snapped color slides of the creatures. Upon our return home, I regaled my neighborhood male peers with tales of how my sister and I had escaped the jaws of death.

Today, I seriously doubt that anyone from Virginia would feel the need to travel to the Smoky Mountains just to observe black bears. Indeed, the bear population seems to be doing quite well here in Virginia.

During the 2005-06 season, hunters tagged 1,440 bears — the second highest kill on record. The harvest included some 60 percent males for a tally of 871 and 569 sows. Overall, the total was 27 percent greater than the 2004-05 harvest of 1,130 and just 5 percent lower than the record kill of 1,511 in 2003-04.

Last year’s harvest showed increases in most categories. Archers arrowed 311 animals, a 52 percent increase from the previous year’s tally of 205 and 22 percent of the total harvest. During their four-day season, smokepolers checked in 146 animals, 10 percent of the harvest and a 59 percent jump from 2004-05.

The regular firearms kill reached 983 with 715 of those taken during the hound season. Before dog season began, gun hunters took 268 bruins, a drop of 13 percent from the 2004-05 total of 308. The dog season harvest, however, was 36 percent higher than the previous year’s 526.

Regionally, the kill also showed an upsurge. West of the Blue Ridge, the harvest was 1,089, an increase of 24 percent from 2004-05. East of the Blue Ridge, the tally was 351, up 24 percent. As expected, the three traditional bear gathering grounds the eight counties that have parts of the Shenandoah National Park, the western mountains, and the Great Dismal Swamp accounted for 94 percent of the harvest.

The top counties (with their harvests in parentheses) were Rockingham (153), Madison (95), Alleghany (88), Augusta (86), Rockbridge (84), Albemarle (66), Shenandoah (66), Page (60), Rappahannock (57) and Bath (56).

Dave Steffen, research biologist supervisor for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF), confirms that three areas of the state host the most bruins.

“One of the biggest concentrations is in the counties that make up the Shenandoah National Park (SNP), in particular Page County,” he said. “Rockingham, Madison, Greene, Warren and Rappahannock counties also contain plenty of bears.

“The Dismal Swamp area in Tidewater is another area of concentration. In the Alleghany Mountains, county populations are also good from Highland, Augusta and Albemarle south to Bland and Giles.”

All of these regions typically feature a good kill per square mile of habitat. Indeed, in much of the state, bear numbers are increasing or at least holding steady. Notable exceptions include the counties in the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck regions of Tidewater, which have not had many bear sightings.