Maine bear hunting

alcestwo

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Update - 11/5/14: Thanks for supporting the Maine bear hunting community. According to the Portland paper's website, the ban on bear hunting is defeated 52.5% - 47.5%. Thanks again.



About three weeks to go before voting day in Maine. Sportsman's Alliance of Maine estimates that it needs about another $250,000 to complete its advertising buys. I sent in another $50. Can you also help?

Please visit www.savemainesbearhunt.com to learn more and make a contribution.

We’re all in this together. Please help.
 
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i dunno i kinda disagree with baiting and dogs.

Ok, if they are going to ban those things they need to allow night hunting for them.

It's very difficult to hunt a primarily nocturnal predator without giving it a reason to come out during daylight.

If they are going to eliminate the only effective ways of hunting bears just ban hunting them all together until people start getting tired of bears sleeping on their porches and eating fluffy the Pomeranian.
 
If you can't handle hunting them then don't. Baiting seems Llike cheating. I'm all for hunting. Just seems Luke the wrong way to go about it but baiting

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You want to feel alive?

try walking out of your bait stand bow hunting after dark, when you have seen a big ole bear, at the bait, but not in your shooting lane,and he wanders off.
then you climb down in darkness and walk out to the dirt road 1/4 mile away to get picked up by your guide.

I did not feel like I was cheating, try it before you condemn .
 
Just seems wrong. Like it takes the sport out of it. I'm not saying your a bad guy. Just not my thing. And I wouldn't do it. If you want to then fight for you right to do it. And I would fight for your right with you. just nothing I ever plan to do. And btw I ate a vegetable yesterday so this may be why I'm all granola-y

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I still like how people think it is easy using dogs or baiting. Like you just place some food in the woods and come back with a bear in 10 minutes. According to the Maine wildlife the target harvest number for bear is about 3,500 pear year and they have consistently been falling short at harvesting 3,000 to 3,200. So even with the "cheating" target harvest numbers are still not being reached.

The question I like to ask people is: if you are against baiting, when is the last time you went fishing without bait or a lure (aka bait imitation)? I know I have never gone fishing without at least using a lure because I can't seem to get them to bite a bare hook.
 
Different animals. You believe what you want I'll do the same. I am open to learning more. I know I can be wrong. Just what I understood from it seems wrong. Don't get angry. Educate

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Thanks to the NH Trappers Association for the donation. If Maine falls, the rest of the northeast won't be too far behind.
 
Dgrantdoherty -

Echoing one of the earlier posts, ME IF&W calculates a 33% chance of success over bait. My family's success is 37.5% (3 bears in 8 tries). Hunts have been wrecked due to heat (keeping the bears nocturnal), thunder & lightning and even the remnants of a hurricane in 2010 & 2011. Success for the whole hunting party has ranged from 25% to 50% with some people not seeing any bears the entire week.

Like another poster said, it is a rush to be in the woods with bears around. I've gotten moose, deer & turkey. The most exciting thing I've ever experienced is to look away from the bait, then look back and the bear is already there. The adrenalin rush is unbelievable. I was reluctant about bait for a long time, gave it a try and now I'm hooked. Give it a try
 
I will say in your defense that I am not fully educated on the subject. What makes the bait so important. I suppose there are no other ways to get them to co.e to you?

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R u kidding ? That's a freekin Liberal Ma answer . And maybe from someone who has never hunted, killed, and gutted an animal.

You speak with anger but no knowledge. I wasnt trying toatart a war. But obviously I twisted some panties.....

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No grasshopper, I speak with the wisdom of having heard the anti's saying the same thing. They speak from what they know not.

Yup ok you are great my ideas mean nothing ill back out of this convo. Pretend I was never here. You are always right sure sure. Read all of my posts before you look like a complete **** bag

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Alcestwo had the right approach. Inform me of his thoughts and told me to try it before I knock it. You just want to argue

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I will say in your defense that I am not fully educated on the subject. What makes the bait so important. I suppose there are no other ways to get them to co.e to you?

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As I said before, hunting a predator is different than hunting prey. Prey animals you can track/stalk/wait for on their normal trails and habitat and even then it's not "easy" but it's at least reasonable. Predators are doing the same thing you are doing when you hunt a prey animal, they are out tracking sources of food whether it is an animal or a berry patch. Which means they can be pretty much anywhere, there isn't a lot of pattern involved unless there is a steady food source that they always come back to which isn't usually the case with most predators.

Predators also have very keen senses, not that a deer is stupid but it's definitely easier to sneak up on a deer than it is a bear or coyote. I'm not saying it doesn't happen and sometimes the bear doesn't think you're sneaking up on it, sometimes it wants to see what you are, see if maybe you're prey.

So without bait and dogs, your option is to literally wander the woods looking for a black animal that sleeps during most daylight hours and has extremely keen senses to know when you're coming. There would still be some success, but at that point it's more just luck than anything else, it would be very rare in those circumstances for an animal to be taken. It would also greatly increase the risk to the hunters who are out wandering the area trying to come across a 150->500+lb animal that would be content to eat them.
 
As I said before, hunting a predator is different than hunting prey. Prey animals you can track/stalk/wait for on their normal trails and habitat and even then it's not "easy" but it's at least reasonable. Predators are doing the same thing you are doing when you hunt a prey animal, they are out tracking sources of food whether it is an animal or a berry patch. Which means they can be pretty much anywhere, there isn't a lot of pattern involved unless there is a steady food source that they always come back to which isn't usually the case with most predators.

Predators also have very keen senses, not that a deer is stupid but it's definitely easier to sneak up on a deer than it is a bear or coyote. I'm not saying it doesn't happen and sometimes the bear doesn't think you're sneaking up on it, sometimes it wants to see what you are, see if maybe you're prey.

So without bait and dogs, your option is to literally wander the woods looking for a black animal that sleeps during most daylight hours and has extremely keen senses to know when you're coming. There would still be some success, but at that point it's more just luck than anything else, it would be very rare in those circumstances for an animal to be taken. It would also greatly increase the risk to the hunters who are out wandering the area trying to come across a 150->500+lb animal that would be content to eat them.

Well put thank you

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If you couldn't bait, trap, or run dogs on bear, the kill would be under 200 per year, I bet.
I've been in the North woods for about 30 years during all seasons and I've seen a total of 2 bears. And those 2 were just shit luck; our paths just happened to cross.

Bear hunting practices are not about hunting; they are about bear population management. Dogs, traps, and bait are the only three techniques that are effective.
 
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