The MD. assembly has listened to testimony and arguments about hunting black bears in western MD. A bill was proposed to have a lottery so that 25 bears would be taken by experienced hunters and the bears can only be adult males. How close do you have to get? The law was proposed because there are about 300 bears in Garrett county that are wreaking havoc on the property because they are not afraid of people. Houses have been entered by bears and many sheep have been killed by bears in Garrett. Last year at least 2 bears were killed one attacked a sheep and the other attacked a dog. Bears have also been hit by cars. Also tree huggers testified that they were more afraid of hunters in the woods than they were of the bears. Our gov. would probably never allow bear hunting no matter what the vote was anyway until a bear kills someone. But if we get the bear lotto I would be the first to apply.