Update on our bear hunting issues..
 

This is just a short update on our Save The Maine bear hunting campaign going on up here.. As some may or may not know we are currently under attack by HSUS on our bear hunting, and trapping rules.. We have been getting everyone we can ready for the vote this November as we will try and send them packing..
Anyways here is a short video to let you know how it is going..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_Fh...C8Fw8bLZgeE6iv

I never heard of HSUS before. So I just googled all the information on it. Many hunters prefer fair chase & not bait. So you may have a problem. At times, I have seriously thought of baiting deer, but I can't do it legally. So most seasons, I come home with tags.

But back to bear, I've considered doing bear over bait in Canada. Then I watched videos of the bears attacking the bait drums. I'm not sure how I feel about it. Especially coming from a state where all baiting is illegal.

The hound dogs sound more interesting. I feel that is more fair chase than bait. Let us know how it works out.

Hunting over bait is not a "slam dunk". I took my son to Canada and we sat over baits for 6 nights without seeing a single bear.

The problem facing Maine and also New Hampshire, is that you're being invaded by idiots from Mass. The same thing happened in my native CO when the clowns from CA began invading it in the late 1980's and early 1990's. They managed to get a bill on the ballot in 1992 that effectively stopped the spring bear hunt, hunting over bait, hunting with dogs and they added a trapping ban on as a rider to the bill. Due to the massive influx of brain dead fools from the Pacific coast, the bill passed and became law.

I wish you the best, but I fear you may lose this battle. The MA$$HOLES will turn out in spades for this and they very well may carry the day. All you have to do is look at CO to see that your right to hunt can and very well may be voted away from you.

I will keep everyone updated as this plays out. I do believe we will beat them again but, will not know for sure until after the vote in November.. They have tried this once 10 years ago and now we are back at it again.. Hopefully we can bury the axe on this one once and for all.. Baiting up here is a way to try and get a bear with no guarantees.. The woods is thick and sighting a bear during hunting season is rare with only around 7% of them getting shot by chance hunters.. The chances of seeing and selecting which bear to shoot also increases somewhat over baiting. This also makes it easier to avoid shooting sows that have cubs with her..

This is an interesting read for those who happen to have a difference of opinion on baiting for bear.. It explains a lot of stuff and has some great info..

http://huntfishrepeat.wordpress.com/...t-opinionated/

PA has about as many bears as any state that I know of. We have no bait and no hounds. Last I checked, we have at least 100,000 bear hunters. Our success rate is 3%.

I am in no way going to argue which state has the most bears as to me that does not matter any.. The issues at hand is what matters and as you have stated on the 3% rate is a low rate of kill for that many bears.. I posted that link so others could actually take a look and think about it.. As surely most hunters know that while your odds may increase it is really nothing like going to the candy store..

I hope to have a better understanding of where this is at after tomorrow evening.. They are having a Super Banquet to help raise money for this attack.. It is going to be a great event with the door price being at $5,000 plus 1 rifle or bow is being given out ( your choice ) for ever 25 people that attends and a lot of other door prizes. There will be a lot of other stuff going on as well. That is not to mention silent auctions/ auctions and a great supper will be getting put out as well. It should be a great event to help raise funding for the battle taking place in November.. All the tickets have been sold even after putting up some extra tables and more want to attend.. The weather is going to be great so we are trying to get them to set some tables up outside.. I am not sure how that is going though..

What I meant to point out is: with no bait or hounds, you can't really manage bear numbers through hunting. With as many bears and hunters as we have sharing the woods, we have such a low success percentage. It means that bear hunting without bait or hounds is like playing the powerball.

I understand BarnesX.308 and i posted that last link to show others that even though there is baiting involved it takes a lot of work and no guarantees.. There is a lot of berries this year and apples are falling off some of the early trees right now.. So there is a lot of other food out there besides a bait barrel and sometimes bears just will not come in or are there only at night. It may increase the chances but, it is no different than someone's food plot hunting whitetails.. Any how I am going to have to start getting ready for my drive down to Augusta as the doors open at 3 and I have a 4 hour drive and a couple of stops along the way.. Hopefully I can stop by a nice little snack bar that has the best lobster rolls you can get at a decent price to boot. The last time my wife and I went by there you could not get near the place with such a line up.. Hopefully we will have a better understanding on how things are looking when I leave there tonight..

Phil, I will be up there in a few weeks for a bear hunt. I wish you guys all the luck in the world with this vote. The libtards are trying to ruin this country.

Good Luck on getting yourself a bear.. I hope your hunt is enjoyable and will be remember for a long time..

Well guys i went to the banquet and it was packed!! That is what everyone was hoping for, a full house and I had gotten to meet some really nice people there.. Donations has been coming in from groups all over the country!! We thanked them all as we prepare for the November vote!! I feel pretty confident that we will come out on top of this vote.. I can only hope so though as we have all heard I will vote and then what happens to them? Anyways I have got a little something that is surely going to help us out some at least.. That is as long as we keep pushing it and letting people know what is really going on with HSUS.. Here is a link that is worth the read if nothing else. But it does start the battles of pushing them back into the rat hole they came out of.. Only a start and hopefully we can keep the pressure on them..
http://www.awesomeocean.com/2014/07/...harity-rating/

I wanted to add that the U.S. Sportsman's Alliance had donated a large amount of money for the cause.. A big thank you to them.. It surely will be getting used to help this battle..

Here is a link to some of the info on the Banquet which was the biggest hunting banquet in our state's history..

http://savemainesbearhunt.com/super-banquet/

While this was going on a Portland Maine News Station was airing the President of HSUS and his gang trying to get votes out of Portland.. Now there is a huge campaign at calling the news station to find out why they had failed to mention anything about our side of this and asking them to talking with our wardens or our states biologists on this issue.. I am quite sure they do not care for the attention this has drawn on to them now.. We all feel it is more of a money issue with HSUS footing the bill for the interview.. Any ways this is moving right along getting things ready for November's vote..

Thanks Phil. I saw on Facebook that my outfitter won the bid on an African Hunt.

While I can not recall who had won everything Congrats to them.. They got a great deal on that one as there was not an awful lot of bidding on it.. They deffinately had a lot of nice stuff getting bidded on from all over the country and eastern Canada.. It really was a great event and I am glad I was there as history is being made..

The very same day of the Banquet is when HSUS's president was in Portland.. They have another event coming up shortly and this time a responce will be there to meet them..

good luck with the fight. ill be up in a few weeks myself for hound hunt. i cant wait.

Good Luck on your hunt up here.. You should make some enjoyable memories up on your hunt..

The battle appears to be in our favor right now.. As we all know it still is a battle to the finish line.. The antis tried to gather 150 people at one of there meets threw invites.. They only had 25 of them show up.. They have been running over signs and the like as well. That is illegal up here for two reasons.. One they are on private property and two it is illegal here to tamper with any political sign. So trail cams are going up along with nails being placed by the signs and paint ball being set up to help paint a couple of cars for the law officers to catch them with.. So as this draws closer some areas in southern parts of the state are getting heated up. Another one of our campaigns is to get our lobster fishing men on board as PETA has been trying to shut them down as well. The battle rages on..

Antis. We lost our first round of fights over guns down here in ct but the battle is far from over.

Yes and i wish you all luck down there.. I have a relative that lives there and hopefully your govenor will get the boot as well..

That's the plan. He is the biggest waste on the planet . I feel like if I had to choose between malloy and Obama id have to choose Obama .

Makes my stomach turn just saying it too

I hear you bikerman9967...

Now this is where things are starting to get heated up.. Our senator SDusan Collins a Republican has excepted money from HSUS and is backing them up from what we know however she will not state what position she actually has.. Just the idea of her excepting money from the antis is enough to take her votes away from her..

Also HSUS is getting ready for a media blitz here in which by the time they are done will be around 3 million dollars in tv adds and the like.. That is dollars the sportsmen here do not have to compete against. Here is a link to the latest news on what they are gearing up for.. http://georgesoutdoornews.bangordail...ion-in-tv-ads/

We still believe we can beat them with grass roots organizing so we are working on that and will continue to do so.. One thing that is good is all dems running for office has our backs on this issue and will be backing us up on this battle.. So why is a republican going with HSUS is beyond us other than she is afraid of not getting enough votes to win.. But, that is where things are up here on this issue right now..

Traitor . The liberals infect the weak with their disease

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Hey all,
I am glad to visit on this website..I never heard of HSUS before. So I just googled all the information on it. Many hunters prefer fair chase & not bait. So you may have a problem. At times, I have seriously thought of baiting deer, but I can't do it legally. So most seasons, I come home with tags. Thanks for sharing all that great information...

Bears and deer are 2 different animals all together.. Most states allow food plots for whitetails as well. Food plots is actually a form of baiting.. While bear baiting is different it is also the only effective way of controlling bear populations. Unlike a lot of states Maine is heavily forested with very thick undergrowth that bears enjoy. Even with baiting our bear numbers continue to increase. Baiting has proved to be effective in selecting of bears which allow sows with cubs to survive so they can continue to bring the cubs up. It allows a better ethical shot placement as well meaning a quick kill. Unlike a chance meeting with bears offering a rapid fire shot without knowing whether there is cubs nearby or a wounded bear that will end up dying sometime down the road..It is also not just baiting that is under attack it is hunting with hounds and trapping of bears as well.

bears in Maine are almost impossible to hunt without bait or hounds. they tend to roam and feed at night and don't have any particular pattern of life. deer live a very routine life and are predictable with scrapes and walking lanes through the woods. not hard to set up a stand on a deer run without using bait or food plots. setting up over bait for black bear is not a given bear. you need to be as still as stone, make no movements what so ever because they see everything. much more then deer IMO. also you have a great chance of seeing cubs or small bears which most hunters dont want to shoot.

i know many hunters who saw 5-10 bears on a week long bait hunt and came home empty handed. kind of like if you went on a monster whitetail hunt and all you saw was doe's and spikes.

Here is a debate that took place last night with these clowns trying to ban our bear hunting practices.. They have no real facts to actually back themselves up. They are more trying to get to the compassionate side of things.. They are claiming on their web page up here that they were set up in this debate and are hollering foul.. LOL They want no more debates with this referendum now.. Here is a link for anyone interested..

http://wgme.com/news/features/top-st...l#.VAn7jcVdXS2

Here is another link to how our only legal snare type of bear trap works for anyone interested in this as well. The only other trap legal in Maine is a cage trap normally made from a decent size culvert..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJqi...ature=youtu.be

Can't you guys in Maine call in bears?

No Muley we do not have that part mastered yet.. I have seen them come out before on a moose call once and a while.. Just nothing you can rely on. I do know how to find them when I am out trout fishing though and mostly the worst ones to meet up with as well.. Those being sows with cubs and it is no fun being surprised when you meet up with them.. The old brook trout pole does not appear to be much of a weapon with a bear though..

I always have some bear spray with me when i'm fly fishing the high mountain creeks. I've never needed it. Bears just take off when they see me.

My last close call was this past summer when I was walking down a grassy road from an old cutting. On the end of it was some small birch trees and then a small opening just before an old skidder road. We never saw each other until the sow started snapping it's jaws and making some funny sounds I looked to my right and saw her and 2 cubs heading up a tree. The sow was around 15 feet of me and scared the crap out of me. I hollered and it did no good.. I decided to try to sound like an old hound and with that she jumped back around another 15 feet. Then I slowly backed my way out of there to get more ground between us. It was not a very friendly encounter at all. I was some glad she let me back away from her.. I then waited a little while to give her and the cubs a chance to get away from me and continued on making sure to make some loud sounds of my own all the way in there..

I'll be up in the morning . Been loading the truck all day . (And watching college football) can't wait .

Some beautiful bears have been taken from the camp I'm going to. One had a nice white horseshoe on its chest.

That's the biggest problem with bears. A sow with cubs. You were lucky.
If i'm not hunting I try to make a lot of noise so they know i'm coming.

When i'm hunting i'm a still hunter, so i'm moving slow and quiet. exactly what we're not suppose to do in bear country. I've been lucky to not surprise any bears.

hunters unite
 

A vote against hounds & baiting is a vote against all hunting there agenda is to divide hunters against each other like they did in colo in which they almost closed all bear hunting !!! they don't care about the well fare of animals look at what they did for the horse industry they closed all packing plant in the US!!! Now the horses endure long truck rides to Mexico & horrible deaths even PETA was even against this !!! look at how corrupt this origination is read this https://www.consumerfreedom.com/2012...ow-about-hsus/ Don't get fooled if you haven't walk a mile in another hunters shoes don't tell them they're wrong !!! Most hunters couldn't walk a mile in any hounds men shoe!!!

Good Luck bikerman, I hope you have a safe an enjoyable trip up here.. I also hope you have a great success story to tell us all about. There has been quite a few decent bears getting shot with the white patch on their chest this year so far.. I like the patch on them..

Yes Muley I felt some lucky and even had to check my pants for that brown mess no one wants to have in them.. I was very greatful she did not come at me and just held her ground so that I could get away from them..

Yes kslivstkbroker, we all have to stick together on this issue up here.. I am still confident that we will win this even though it most likely will be close.. They have stated in that debate how bears will starve to death and that will cause them to balance out an already large population of them.. They say this while saying it is unethical to shoot them. They also say it is ok for our wildlife officials to bait, trap, or hound them if they are being problem bears but it is not ok for hunters to use these methods..

PETA up here is currently trying to go after lobster fishermen/ women as well because they use traps to catch them along with everyone that likes to boil them because it hurts them?? But, that will be another battle sometime after this one ends..

If we do pass this we will be pushing hard for legislation to keep these antis out of here. We will be requesting them to let our biologists decide what is good or bad for our way of life up here. Some states have recently already have this legislation passed now and hopefully others will follow before they have the issues like this hitting them once again..

Not sure where you got that idea? In Colorado the anti hunting yuppies voted out baiting and hounds. They took the spring hunt away too. Hunters didn't vote it in.

I don't agree with baiting, but i'd never vote against it. It's just my personal feelings.

The biggest reason Maine allows baiting as an ethical way to hunt is because we over 73% forested. Those forests are very thick and make stocking a bear nearly impossible. Also there would be now way to tell if it is a sow or a sow that has cubs. Hunting over bait offers a selection and even then bait does not work the way one thinks. At times bears will only hit at night past legal hunting hours or change and go after nuts, berries and the like. These guys spend hours upon hours trying to bait and get ready for a bear and nothing happens to a large portion of them..

I still say you can call them in. It normally just brings in the boars.

I pretty much just hunt thick blow down dark timber. Don't feel the west in nothing but open country. The animals don't hang out in the open during the day. TV shows make it seem that way, but that's because they're mostly on private ranches, and it's easy to film.

I was born and brought up in New England. I'm aware of the terrain.

If I ever decide to hunt them some one would have to teach me how to call one of them out for a shot.. I have no idea on that one.. Do you use predator calls when calling them?

Yes, a predator, fawn, call, but you call much longer, and much harder like a rabbit is being strangled. When you stop calling the bear stops coming.

I am not sure but, I may get the urge to try that.. I just do not like eating them but my mom says she does.. Thanks for filing me in as I have never heard tell of calling a bear in..