Come Sundays this fall, the sound of gunfire may ring out within privately held lands in Connecticut. But, at least for now, bears need not worry.

As this year’s General Assembly session drew to a close Wednesday, state lawmakers broke a years-long stalemate to give final approval to legislation allowing Sunday hunting. Meanwhile, a separate bill that would have allowed for a bear hunt fell victim to a late amendment and a dwindling clock.

Hunters have fought unsuccessfully for decades to overturn the state’s ban on Sunday hunting, which they have described as the last of Connecticut’s historic “blue laws.” In 2015, lawmakers partially repealed the ban for bow hunters.

Critics, however, argue that Sundays are a day of recreation by many non-hunters who would be disturbed — or potentially put in harm’s way — if hunters were allowed to shoot on Sundays.

As a compromise, lawmakers agreed to limit Sunday hunting to private property and prohibit any hunting within 40 yards of a blue-blazed or federally designated hiking trail. The bill also prohibits the hunting of migratory birds on Sundays.

The resulting legislation, Senate Bill 7231, passed both chambers over the opposition of several Democrats. Gov. Ned Lamont said he plans to sign the bill into law.

“It’s always seemed a little odd and unjust to us that we wouldn’t be able to use our own property for this purpose,” said Julie Cammarata, a lobbyist for Friends of Connecticut Sportsmen. “So obviously, they’re thrilled. They’re thrilled.”

Around the same time that the Senate took up the Sunday hunting bill Wednesday, House lawmakers moved to amend another bill, S.B. 1523, which was originally written to allow the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to establish a bear hunting season to manage Connecticut’s growing population of black bears.

Those hunting provisions were stripped from the bill in committee, only to be added back in on the Senate floor last month. In the House, members voted to change the bill again, this time directing DEEP to assess the state’s existing bear population and come up with management plan that includes nonlethal methods for reducing conflicts with humans.

In addition, the plan will include “proposals for how a regulated bear hunt could be implemented.” Any future decision on a hunt would have to come back before lawmakers.

“It is my belief that that’s not the right step for us right now,” said state Rep. John-Michael Parker, D-Madison, the co-chair of the Environment Committee who introduced the amendment.

“This is a challenge we’re facing, we’ve seen it again across farmers and livestock, and even in our front and back yards,” he added. “So we need to take some really proactive steps, and what we’re asking the agency to do is to come back to us with their best ideas of what that might look like.”

Bear hunt opponents, however, saw the bill as simply clearing the way to target bears in the future. Both Gov. Ned Lamont and DEEP officials, they noted, have already signaled their support for a lottery-based hunt.

“We can try to sugarcoat it by calling it a bear hunt,” said state Rep. Mike Demicco, D-Farmington. “It will be a bear execution.”

Hunting bears is allowed in New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey. It is not allowed in Rhode Island, which has a smaller population of bears.

While both hunting bills drew some amount of bipartisan support, they were of particular interest to many Republican lawmakers representing more rural districts. For that reason, the bills were viewed as potential trading chips by Democrats as the clock neared midnight on Wednesday, the final day of the legislative session.

Republicans generally gain leverage through their ability to filibuster legislation in the final days of the session, grinding work to a halt and stymying controversial bills. Democrats, however, can offer to run certain bills in exchange for Republicans agreeing to limit their debates.

That’s what happened in the case of the Sunday hunting bill, which was taken up immediately following climate-related legislation, H.B. 5004, which had been a priority for House Democrats.

“If 5004 ran, Sunday hunting would run,” said Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding, R-Brookfield. “I was hoping a potential bear hunt would be part of a deal, but there wasn’t enough support in the House.”

Even without a bear hunt, S.B. 1523 contained other provisions clarifying the circumstances in which farmers may kill a bear that is damaging their crops or livestock. Harding, who represents many farmers in Litchfield County, said he was holding out hope to that language passed early Wednesday afternoon.

But the House’s amendment forced the bill to go back before the upper chamber with just a few hours to spare Wednesday and dozens of bills left on the agenda.

When the Senate adjourned at 11:58 p.m., the bill was among those left behind.