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DNR Denies Bear Hunting Season in Maryland

Earlier this year, DNR Secretary Sarah Taylor-Rogers virtually ruled out black hear hunting in Maryland. She said there would be no bear season before the fall of 2002 at the earliest. Then she announced plans for a study of the issue that would probably extend beyond the November 2002 election.

State biologists have concluded that the state's population of about 400 bears could withstand the sort of limited hunt proposed in January by the Maryland Sportsmen's Association and endorsed in February by the state Wildlife Advisory Commission.

But Taylor-Rogers said most of her calls and letters on the subject were against a bear season.

"Even in Garrett County, where we have the largest population of bear, it has been made known to me that the people out there are somewhat divided on whether to have a hunt." She said her agency would collect opinions from as many as six focus groups and then establish a task force to make recommendations on bear management. It could take the task force until the end of 2002 to finish its work