On Tuesday Maine voted to reject the Humane Society of the United States' attempt to end bear hunting in Maine. It was a referendum question on the ballot. Vote went about 52% against HSUS' proposal to 48% for it. The closeness of the outcome is scary when you consider what a great hunting tradition Maine has. I suspect there were some hunters who voted against their fellow hunters.

Hi Mainer,

It makes me sick to see this kind of stuff being put up for a vote.The PETA and humaine people Just love to see hunter against hunter.If you hunt and you voted for the ban you are helping to kill our hunting rights and the 2 amendment.I wish we could all be on the same page.

Riflemen10x

Thank god 52% of the voters have there head on right...

Hi Mainer,

It makes me sick to see this kind of stuff being put up for a vote.The PETA and humaine people Just love to see hunter against hunter.If you hunt and you voted for the ban you are helping to kill our hunting rights and the 2 amendment.I wish we could all be on the same page.

Riflemen10x

Thank god 52% of the voters have there head on right...
I live in New Hampshire and I saw a lot of the ads on this issue. The antis ran an ad showing a snared bear being shot with a revolver and then the hunter walking around the wounded and snared bear slowly watching him suffer for awhile before he shot it dead. First, I'm not sure snaring bears at a bait station is even legal in Maine, it sure isn't in NH. Second, I don't know where the antis got this footage but its clear that the hunter in it(if he is a hunter and not a poacher) did not ethically kill that bear. I tell ya it was hard to watch even for a hunter who's made meat. The antis are good at pulling the non hunters heart strings with stuff like this and it makes me all the more determined to defend my sport and to take my game ethically.

Topbreak

If you look at where most of the "for" votes came from, it was in the south western end of the state...high population densities....."city" societies.....high load tourist areas. York and Cumberland counties. They had the electronic vote machines and their votes showed up eaarly and gave the "Antis" a cheer of hope....but as the less populated central and northern area votes began to show up, the overall vote shifted against the referendum. This was a wake-up call to Maine wildlife managers and hunters in general. Don't even think that this is over. They'll be baaack. We need some strong legislation protecting hunting in Maine.

samchap

Topbreak - The footage in the ad you refer to was made by one of the leaders of the Maine group that backed this referendum. It was filmed on a hunt by him in Oregon - mainly because this individual lost, for life, his Maine hunting privileges due to fish & wildlife infractions. So he's got a big chip on his shoulder, not to mention the one in between his ears (as in "cow chip").

Sam - You're right. Maine hunting and fishing needs to be protected in our state constitution.

Topbreak - The footage in the ad you refer to was made by one of the leaders of the Maine group that backed this referendum. It was filmed on a hunt by him in Oregon - mainly because this individual lost, for life, his Maine hunting privileges due to fish & wildlife infractions. So he's got a big chip on his shoulder, not to mention the one in between his ears (as in "cow chip").

Sam - You're right. Maine hunting and fishing needs to be protected in our state constitution.
I figured the guy in the footage was not on the up and up. Just some poaching skumbag trying to give other hunters a bad name. You say the footage was from a hunt in Oregon? Is snaring in Maine legal? Anyway I knew the hunter in that footage wasn't ethical. Your post was very enlightening.

Topbreak