Some say you can tell a southern bear from a northern one by its drawl! All kidding aside, no one ever expected the Mountain State's southern bears to do so much talking in the first place. That is, the kind of talk that has made the New Millennium's first decade a blockbuster for bruin expansion.

That expansion has come with a slough of record kills that just keep on ticking. We're talking the bow, gun and total kills here. Last year was no exception with the gun kill record coming in at over 1,100 bruins for the first time ever. It may be high time to head south young man for bear, that is, to the new but non-traditional turfs. Or if you live in the southern bear zone, just stay home to hunt!

The DNR folks have labeled it the southern bear project for the research that is being conducted all but in downtown the State Capitol city of Charleston. To go hunting we're going to have to get specific quick.

The new southern epicenter is the likes of a batch of counties formed by Fayette, Raleigh, Boone and Kanawha. Nicholas is kind of like a Mason-Dixon bear county in that it could be claimed by both the more traditional "northern" and non-traditional "southern" bear ranges.

DNR staff point to a particularly hot epicenter for bears. This one could use some hunters to help alleviate the volume of conflict situations. All that per the bears backyard proximity to some pretty dang high human population densities as well. The hot spot is formed by a rather large combined segment of southern Kanawha and northern Boone counties.

The box shaped area is formed by the Kanawha River to the north, the Big Coal River to the south, by U.S. 119 (Corridor G) to the west and the Kanawha/Fayette County line to the east. Much of this vast parcel is in private land and coal company holdings. Posting is most prevalent near active coal mining complexes.

However, the bulk of it remains un-posted with access having generally been graciously allowed by long standing practice. One public land options is available within the epicenter. It's the fringing 9,200 acre Kanawha State Forest, which is well marked around its border with the Capitol. Though just slightly south of this hotbed area for bears, the 7,000 acre Fork Creek Wildlife Management area near the town of Nellis in Boone County is another good bet.

DNR researchers continue to study these fascinating new southern bear haunts. They have determined that the number of cubs per litter is quite high in relation to their upstate cousins. From the many marked and radio-collared study subjects they've also learned another thing.

The hunter harvest rates are actually quite low to boot. In effect you have lots of bears having lots of cubs with dang few of them getting shot off. What more could a bear hunter ask for?