Another Bear Debate

Well, it has been quite a while since my last entry. Needless to say it has been a crazy winter and spring here in Maine. Hopefully I will be better about updating this blog! A very good friend of mine started blogging and I figured together he and I could possibly draw more interest into our hunting community. For some reason it seems that in the world of politics issues never are put to rest and never go away. It looks like there will be a new Bear Hunting Referendum in the fall of 2014 which will seek to not only limit bear hunting in Maine but essentially make it disappear. The sponsoring group, the Humane Society of the United States, HSUS for short, recently sponsored a bill in the Maine legislature to ban the use of hounds and traps for harvesting black bears in the state of Maine. Many people, including many hunters honestly seem that they wouldn't have a problem with that way of harvesting bears disappearing. Well I personally do, and in my opinion for good reason. Back in 2004 the bear referendum that was put up for vote included a ban on "bear baiting" and the people of the state of Maine voted it down. Baiting is the reason we have a black bear hunt in the state. I have no statistics but an overwhelming majority of bears harvested in Maine are harvested over bait and without it, we essentially don't have a bear hunt. Hundreds of outfitters and guides make a large amount of their yearly income by keeping bait locations and bringing hunters to these areas to harvest a bear. The reason I did not support this most recent legislative bill, and why I'm glad the Maine legislature did not approve this most recent bill is because HSUS will not stop at the hounds and the trapping; they will return for the baiting as well. Guess what people, I was correct. It seems that HSUS is doing what it can to get signatures to have a public referendum on the ballot in November which WILL INCLUDE a ban on baiting along with trapping and hounds as well as increases fines for harvesting illegal bears, changing yearly bear limits from 2 down to 1 and prevent us from ever reinstating a spring bear hunt (I have no problem with increased penalties for poachers and would support these measures but it seems HSUS is an all or nothing deal type of organization). What upsets me most about this is I see nothing but an erosion on the rights of sportsmen across this country. Think about it, when was the last time you heard of hunting privileges being opened up or expanded? Most recently we had a bill LD 1303 which would amend the Maine State Constitution to guarantee sportsman the rights to harvest game by all traditional means and that any game regulations would have to come from Maine IF&W. This was a gut reaction from a variety of people to prevent large special interest groups such as HSUS from stepping on our rights as hunters. As much as that sounds great I honestly am glad it did not pass. Taking away the voting rights of the Maine people is not the correct way to fight this battle. In order to preserve our hunting rights we need to get people informed about the massive threat this referendum is to our hunting traditions as well as the economic well being of very small towns in rural Maine where bear hunting is a large and essential industry. I hope all who read this will stand with me voting in November to keep our bear hunting rights. This debate and discussion will get passionate and very offensive at times but I urge my friends in the hunting community, and my friends who don't hunt but support the rural way of life, to not play into irrational name calling and ignorant bashing of the opposition. This will only block our ability to send our message. Please, if you call me your friend, stand with me in voting down a public referendum that would greatly hinder the harvesting of black bears in the state of Maine.