Discover the Largest Bear Ever Caught in West Virginia

West Virginia does not keep close records of bears caught in the state by size. Therefore, it’s impossible to know exactly which bear was the largest and how big it was.

However, there are several reports of large bears being caught at different times. Furthermore, some independent organizations keep their own records. Therefore, the largest bear probably belongs to one of these hunters.

West Virginia Bow Hunters Association

This association keeps records of bears that its members kill. Of course, because it is a bow association, only bears killed by bows are included. Therefore, it is not a complete record by any means.

Furthermore, the records are kept similarly to “official” bear records. Instead of tracking the weight of the bear, which can vary from season to season, the greatest length and width of the bear are taken. Then, they are added together to provide a sizing score. This score is then used to range the animal.

The largest bear in their records had a score of 22 8/16. More specifically, the bear was 14 1/16″ long and 6 7/16″ wide.

This bear was killed in 1991 in Kanawha. The hunters are labeled as G. Murphy and V. Ryan. However, we don’t have much information on the bear other than that.

The largest bear caught by West Virginia Bow Hunters Association was 14 1/16" long and 6 7/16" wide. — The largest bear reported by the West Virginia Bow Hunters Association was 14 1/16″ long and 6 7/16″ wide.
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Greenbrier Bear

An extremely large black bear was found dead on the I-64 in 2008. This bear was found to be about 400 pounds. Bears being killed by traffic isn’t super uncommon in the state, which sees dozens of bears killed in this manner each year. However, this is absolutely one of the largest bears to be killed in this manner.

Furthermore, this bear was found in the spring. Therefore, it was likely skinner than usual, as it had just come out of hibernation. It’s very likely that the bear would have weighed more if it had been killed later in the year.

The bear was processed, and the meat was donated. Of course, this bear won’t appear in any hunting records, as a hunter didn’t kill it.