Not legal in Va. to shoot a sow with cubs but young bears 100# dressed weight are legal. Have had many chances at young bears but found myself just chuckling at their ignorance. Never shot a bear and probably never will-don't like the meat. Young deer are another matter.

Black bears regularly adopt cubs that have lost their mothers. They even do it with cubs that are not genetically related to them in any way. Outside of humans, black bears are the only animals known to do so.

Ben Kilham's books answer almost every question you could ever have about black bear behavior.