Opinion

The fate of hunters

Bear baiting at a crossroads with '04 referendum

By Ryan Peters

Posted on Dec. 08, 2003, at 12:00 a.m.

The Maine Friends of Animals has formed a political action committee called “Maine Citizens for Fair Bear Hunting” and are seeking to prohibit the use of bait, dogs and traps to hunt, pursue and capture bear. As a Maine hunter and trapper, I am horror-struck by this proposal. Maine citizens will face losing the freedom to hunt black bears with anything but a rifle if the proposed referendum passes in Nov. 2004.

There are more than 23,000 bear in the State of Maine and 3,000 to 4,000 killed every fall season, the population of bears is still steadily rising. According to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, 80 percent of the bear harvests in 2001 occurred over bait. People that are not familiar with bear hunting may not understand how incredibly hard it is to hunt bear with simply a rifle. Bears can smell people, can detect human movement, and live in areas up to 100 square miles wide. These three factors make the use of bait very important. If the proposed law passed, there would be substantially fewer bears killed per year; therefore, the population of bears would grow considerably.

The overpopulation of bears will serve as a nuisance to humans. Black bears will take advantage of almost any readily available food source. Once bears learn about human food sources, it is not easy to recondition them to the wild and this can lead to conflicts between bears and people. An example of this type of conflict is that in 1996, the Massachusetts legislature passed a ban on the use of body-gripping traps. In the seven years since, the beaver population in the state has tripled to 70,000. With flooding and property damage out of control, Massachusetts was forced to spend millions of dollars on professional beaver trappers. Maine stands to make the same mistake with black bears.

According to Maine IFW, overall participation in hunting in Maine is declining. Nearly 50 percent of last year’s bear permits were issued to nonresidents of our state. Bear permit revenue was $1.4 million in 2002. If the proposed referendum passes, Maine IFW’s budget and Maine’s economy will both be drastically affected because fewer people will hunt bears. On top of that, Maine’s economy will be furthermore affected because out-of-staters will no longer bring business to Maine every bear season. If the proposed referendum passes, tourists will soon realize that Maine is no longer “the way life should be,” and it would also no longer be “vacationland.”

The MFOA is dedicated to ending animal cruelty and promoting the humane treatment of animals in Maine. However, virtually all scientific tests confirm that regularly tended and properly sized foothold traps do not cause significant, permanent, or life-threatening injuries. Foothold traps are recognized, accepted and endorsed by the conservation community. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies, The Wildlife Society and a whole host of conservation organizations support the use and need for foothold traps.

You should oppose the Bear referendum because hunters can not keep the bear population at a manageable level without bait, dogs and traps. If we cannot effectively hunt bear, we will have fewer hunters and the state will lose permit revenue. Even Gov. John Baldacci supports George Smith, the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine. Smith described the MFOA’s position best when he said, “Let’s understand what they are after. They are after every one of us and everything we enjoy about hunting, fishing and trapping in Maine. It’s all on the line, folks. This is our defining moment.”

Ryan Peters is a sophomore construction management technology major.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 8th, 2003, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.