It seems like the bear population across Virginia has exploded. Used to be there were seasons west of the Blue Ridge and in the eastern slope counties and the Dismal Swamp cities. Now every county in the state except the Eastern Shore counties have seasons. Eastern NC is crawling with bears. I hike and photograph Dare andf Tyrell counties and never fail to see a bear. My high count is 16 different bears in just a couple of hours.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]
https://vcdl.org/