The NC Wildlife Resources website lists the big game regulations for 2017-18. I was fascinated by the fact that we now have open bear seasons in every county in the state! That's 100 counties, with a human population of 10 million or so. Just 10 years ago, bear were pretty much confined to Western NC west of I 77, and Eastern NC east of I 95, with none in the middle of the state.

Also interesting is the fact that the world record bear comes from Eastern NC - over 800 lbs.