Bear baiting: yes or no? (shoppers, farm, land)

[Submariner]

Originally Posted by Driller1

When did hunters start baiting???

About the time that crab apples started growing in Maine.

[Driller1]

Originally Posted by Submariner

About the time that crab apples started growing in Maine.

I know the Indians baited.

[kevin5098]

I'm voting no.

We need hunting to control the population. Baiting ensures a high enough success rate for hunting to be effective at controlling the population. Baiting is more humane than so called "traditional methods" as it increases the likelihood of a clean kill and decreases likelihood of shooting a sow with cubs. Rich out of staters are more than welcome to spend their money here.

[Maine Writer]

There are more misinformation and lies in this than I have energy to reply. I shot my bear over bait this year. I'm happy to answer questions.

It's nothing like dog fighting. It isn't like shooting fish in a barrel. I am eating the meat. Tradition was hunting at fruit and nut trees, the dump and nuisance bears in the yard. We don't hunt deer (or moose) over bait because we don't have a deer population that's too large. In states where there are too many deer, which cause millions of dollars of damage each year, they do bait so they can better control the population. Hunting isn't just about tagging. It's conservation. It's herd/population management.

Tonight's supper, tomorrow's blog. My trophy bear weighed 148.5 pounds. Not what you'd expect of a trophy, eh?

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by Mainer61

Vote YES....for traditional hunting.

The No vote benefits sporting (yeah, they need to change that name) camps who cater to rich out of staters who come here to 'hunt.' They have to have a bear baited for months with doughnuts because they are too incompetent to actually 'hunt.' No skill....just hand them a bear. It's disgusting. The people of Maine should be ashamed that this is allowed and advertised like it's a good thing. It's not. It's cruel and inhumane. If we want to get rid of real 'nuisances,' maybe these out of state hunters should bait drunk drivers and domestic abusers. THAT would benefit everyone.

No, a local hunting for meat is going to bait to have a decent chance of shooting one, and not taking a cub or sow with cub in the process.

[arctichomesteader]

Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly

Why are you comparing bears to humans? You can reason with a human being. Don't get mad at the bear for doing what it's suppose to do in nature. No one told those students gets to go hiking in that preserved wildlife area. That's the risk you take when you do that. As a human being you should be able to make smart judgement calls. It would be like going into the ocean and being surprise that a shark attacks you. Don't blame the shark for the attack. Blame the stupid humans for putting themselves in that position!

The bears up here run from people because there's significant hunting pressure on them. The bears in NJ have been losing their fear of humans and that's when they become dangerous. It's not natural for a black bear to view us as prey, we were always the top predator that ate them.

[Clemencia53]

Originally Posted by Mainer61

Vote YES....for traditional hunting.

The No vote benefits sporting (yeah, they need to change that name) camps who cater to rich out of staters who come here to 'hunt.' They have to have a bear baited for months with doughnuts because they are too incompetent to actually 'hunt.' No skill....just hand them a bear. It's disgusting. The people of Maine should be ashamed that this is allowed and advertised like it's a good thing. It's not. It's cruel and inhumane. If we want to get rid of real 'nuisances,' maybe these out of state hunters should bait drunk drivers and domestic abusers. THAT would benefit everyone.

I was in Maine last week and kept seeing those commercials about baiting the bears with donuts. Thought it was wild. The whole thing was pretty graphic - the dogs attacking it, the snapping of the trap - put me on the side of the bear. To me they seemed like they were asking for a fair hunt.

I live in the country and we have wild hogs and rattlesnakes out here - no bears.

[KellySou]

My co worker got her bear this year and her boyfriend did as well. They make lots of meals with it and also hunt turkey, deer and moose. They do not ever buy meat at the grocery store and have a huge garden. They save a ton of money doing that and they baited the bears and watched with game cameras so they could see the size of the bear. they do not want to get a mother or a cub so the bait allows them to watch via camera and if the bear is too small or a momma bear they do not hunt at that bait pile. Simple right? The bear is most certainly not wasted and saves them money on groceries. I see no problem with that at all.

[bigchuckie]

Originally Posted by GreenGene

I'm new to Maine, and although I'm registered to vote (one of the first things I did), I don't think I know enough about the baiting ban to vote on it. I've read what I can in the Kennebec Journal and online sources, and there's a lot of conflicting information ... or maybe that should read conflicting opinions.

I read somewhere - I believe it was KJ - that with the bear baiting that's been going on, the bear population has increased. So I went to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to do some research. I ended up more confused than before.

First it says:



Okay - that makes sense. But then it says:



This makes me wonder .... if the "most effective methods" of controlling the bear population have been in place at least since 2000, and the bear population grew anyway, is there some truth to the belief that using bait has helped grow the bear population more than the hunting with bait has controlled that population?

On the other hand, if all the various hunting/trapping/baiting techniques that have been used by hunters for years aren't really controlling the bear population, why would anyone want to take three of those methods away? Yeah, there's some question about how truly effective they are in controlling a population that grew by 7,000 in a 10-year span. But if those methods hadn't been available, would the bear population have grown by even more?

No, I don't feel like I know enough about this to vote on it. I'll leave this one blank, and that's something I hate to do.

Originally Posted by massnative71

What is their real argument FOR the ban?

The real arguement is to ban hunting plain and simple. If baiting was so succesful why does the population continue to grow?

[bangorme]

Originally Posted by Maine Writer

There are more misinformation and lies in this than I have energy to reply. I shot my bear over bait this year. I'm happy to answer questions.

It's nothing like dog fighting. It isn't like shooting fish in a barrel. I am eating the meat. Tradition was hunting at fruit and nut trees, the dump and nuisance bears in the yard. We don't hunt deer (or moose) over bait because we don't have a deer population that's too large. In states where there are too many deer, which cause millions of dollars of damage each year, they do bait so they can better control the population. Hunting isn't just about tagging. It's conservation. It's herd/population management.

Tonight's supper, tomorrow's blog. My trophy bear weighed 148.5 pounds. Not what you'd expect of a trophy, eh?

You actually eat bear steak? My grandmother used to make stew from bear and it was delicious.

Here's how I feel about this issue. Unless you are a vegetarian Christian Scientist that doesn't use leather or cosmetics, I don't want to hear from you. Well, I'll take that back. I'll still listen to you if you've worked in a slaughterhouse for a year. At least if you've worked in a slaughterhouse you know that you'd rather be a bear than go to a slaughterhouse, so you have some perspective.

The problem is that we have people that think meat grows on trees. Either that or they are hypocrites, intentionally or unintentionally.

I've never shot a bear, and never will, but I'm voting no.