Referendum Question 1 is not about fair hunting or doing what’s best in the interest of Maine Wildlife or Maine residents, hunters, guides or related businesses in regions where revenue from bear hunting and other outdoor pursuits are a significant part of those locales’ economy. The real purpose of this referendum is HSUS’ attempt to use Maine to launch a national campaign to end all hunting which they have publicly stated.

The current media campaign by proponents of Question 1 is paid for by prodigious amounts of out of state money to disseminate misleading ads carefully crafted to play on the emotions of the uninformed. Disgruntled guides state that an unsubstantiated 7 million pounds of bait are left in the woods each year under the misleading proclamation that “feeding” bears’ increases prolificacy resulting in our current overpopulation of bears. What they aren’t telling voters is that all bear bait sites are required by law to be completely cleaned up by November 10th of each year. Long before this deadline, bait site leftovers are consumed by numerous other birds and animals. Their other assertions such as bear baiting causing the habituation of bears to humans and that bears can be successfully hunted by spot and stalk methods are not empirically sound or proven by empirical data.

“Yes on One” proponents churn out baseless fabrications that fly in the face of scientific information researched and compiled by experienced wildlife biologists who manage one of the countries’ most recognized bear management programs. Data compiled by these same biologists’ shows that bears prefer natural food sources over bait and that two months of baiting with sugar laden food does not increase bear fecundity. Before voting on referendum Question 1, it is imperative to research the proven, scientific facts at www.maine.gov/ifw/wildlife/spe cies/mammals/2014BearReferendum. html.

Bob Lane, Licensed Master
Maine Guide
Augusta