Scott Waldman in Capital New York reports that just as the state Department of Environmental Conservation considers expanding black bear hunting to manage the growing population, State Senators passed a bill sponsored by State Senator Tom Libous, by a vote of 56 to 4 on March 2, that would allow for rifle hunting of bears in the Southern Tier. The new DEC regulations may make New York, after Maine, the second state in the nation where it is legal to trap a bear. The new rules also would allow for the use of dogs and bait to attract bears during hunting, and increase the hunting season in the Catskills and allow for killing of females and bears younger than a year in other regions. New York has an estimated 8,000 bears, with about half in the Adirondacks, a third in the Catskills and the rest in the central and western part of the state. The DEC has a draft plan for bear management at http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/bbplandraft2014.pdf bit.ly/1azHyo3. The public comment closed on the plan Feb. 21. Read the full story in Capital New York.