Next Nevada bear hunt may not include Lake Tahoe
By Jeff Delong, Reno Gazette-Journal
Nevada’s second bear-hunting season would be shorter and no hunting allowed within the Lake Tahoe Basin under new regulations proposed by Nevada wildlife officials.
The proposal will be considered early next month in Las Vegas as the Nevada Wildlife Commission reviews hunting season regulations proposed for black bears and all other big-game animals. Discussions come a month after the state ended its inaugural bear season amid widespread controversy that shows little sign of dissipating.
One significant change would prohibit bear hunting west of the Tahoe Rim Trail, effectively barring all hunting within the Tahoe Basin, said Chris Healy, spokesman for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. The season’s opening would come be Sept. 15 rather than Aug. 20, a change Healy said was requested by hunters to avoid summer heat hard on both them and their dogs.
Prohibiting hunting in Tahoe came in response to both the hunt’s controversy there as well as enforcement difficulty associated with a checkerboard pattern of land where hunting was allowed in some places but prohibited in others, Healy said.