Updated Dec. 4 at 4:30pm: The commission voted 8-0 to allow bear hunting in Nevada.

By Jeff Delong, Reno Gazette-Journal

Nevada wildlife commissioners are poised to approve the first bear hunting season in state history today following an impassioned hearing Friday in Reno.

Dozens of people testified to the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners, with supporters saying the state’s black bear population can safely support a hunting season. Nevada is the only Western state that prohibits bear hunting.

But the idea has many detractors, some of whom asked commissioners not to proceed with a plan they call cruel and unnecessary.

With game wardens standing to enforce order, shouts of “murderers” and “killers” were issued by some audience members after comments made by commissioners at the close of Friday’s meeting made it apparent that the idea will probably be approved when the panel reconvenes today.

No details about seasons or quotas have been determined, but early proposals called for seasonal hunting of about 20 bears, said Carl Lackey, a biologist with the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

Nevada has a core bear population of between 200 and 300, mostly clustered at Lake Tahoe and adjoining areas of the Carson Range, Lackey said. The number could be higher, counting bears living in other areas such as the Wassuk and Sweetwater ranges to the south, Lackey said.

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