Bear Legislation

My Opinion

Personally, I am not a bear hunter. I have seen a few in the woods while deer hunting and never had an urge to hunt the creature but I would if a neccessity for food arose.
As with most large game animals, it is a necessity to manage the herd for all of the reasons stated by wildlife biologists i.e. health, disease, food supply and nuisance to name but a few. I don't pretend to know the best way to do that but I do know that when bear season rolls around, the woods is not crawling with hunters whether using dogs, baiting or whatever the means. If there was a ban put on most of the means of harvesting the bear, I am afraid in a period of time several things could happen all of which would not be good. If that were the case probably our Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife would have no choice but to slaughter a certain number to help manage the population. I think that would be an inhumane way of doing it rather than having seasons of different harvesting methods and allow for the multi uses of the bear that are killed each season.
I understand the concerns of the Humane Society but their concerns would infact be creating a situation that would be far more inhumane than already exists. Whether we like it or not, we share this planet with the animals and many would argue that the animals were here first, but whatever we choose to believe, the fact remains that we must co-exist. This is why we have a department to handle the management of our wildlife and we must trust that they know the better ways of dealing with these issues. I am sure the DIFW of Maine would listen to alternative means of managing any species of wildlife. If you know of better ways, use the process in place to make your concerns known. This should not be a political issue; it is one of science.
Let's do what we can to make sure the Humane Society doesn't cause a situation of "jumping out of the pan and into the fire"!