Tag Archives: Maine bear hunting referendum

Maine Bear Hunting Referendum: Thoughts from an out-of-stater

Pat Rayta and his Maine black bear taken in 2005.

I met Pat Rayta online in a group devoted to saving Maine’s proven hunting methods. It’s a big group, more than 1,300 men and women who love the outdoors, understand or are learning about hunting as a means of conversation, and who are passionate about keeping Maine’s bear population healthy. It didn’t take long to […]

Maine Bear Hunting Referendum: Ballot box biology shouldn’t replace biologists

Tenley Bennett, Registered Maine Guide

I’ve asked people who are involved in Maine’s bear hunt to tell us their stories. We’re likely to be voting on a referendum in November that calls for the end of baiting, hounding and snaring/trapping. If this passes it will affect the bears, hunters, timber management companies, store owners, guides, lodge and camp owners and […]

My no-bear bear baiting experience

That’s right…no bear. There’s a bear or two around but they aren’t coming to the barrel. We set up the tree stand and barrel on July 27, the first day baiting was allowed. Taylor held the ladder in place while Steve climbed to the top to secure the seat to the tree. He trimmed a […]

A cow moose walks into a bear baiting station…

This cow moose strolled through the bait station at 5 pm Friday. She looked at the barrel for 20 seconds before moving on. She’s the only thing on the game cam; even the raccoon hasn’t been back. The moose has been walking up and down the road. She’s bigger than I guessed from her tracks. […]

Bear Baiting: a little discouraged

As of yesterday (Monday) afternoon there hasn’t been a bear at my bait barrel. I’ve changed bait from meat and sweet goat chow to doughnuts. The doughnuts did get the attention of one critter on the first night. I was excited for a split second when I saw the tipped barrel and a log on […]

Bear Baiting: tending the bait

Tending the barrel has been quick and easy. I park at the bottom of the hill at the washout and walk a quarter-mile to the barrel. I enjoy the daily trip. I make noise going in to help prevent meeting up with bears at the site. With If I have someone with me, we talk. […]

Bear Baiting: The barrel

I’m using an old plastic 50 gallon barrel the girls had for barrel racing as my bait barrel. Steve cut a hole in it with the chainsaw. The size of the hole isn’t particularly important to me. I’ve seen large holes bears can stick their heads into and small holes they have to reach into […]

Don’t store bear bait in the… (reader shared story)

Bear fur

Steve’s putting together a tree stand for the bear bait site. I’m getting the game cameras’ batteries replaced, cards formatted and inserted, and a little bait together. A cortisone shot in my injured, arthritic knee on Thursday is working nicely today so rolling the barrel up hill won’t be so bad. I need to figure […]

Bear baiting opens July 27

Bear baiting opens this Saturday. I started thinking last winter about where I wanted to put the bait barrel. It seems like somewhere on this 45 acres we own there would be a good spot. There isn’t. For the sake of the dogs and bears, who should never meet, it needs to be far from […]

Yes, I Bait Bears

Bear baiting. It’s probably the most controversial topic out there regarding hunting in Maine. I hated it passionately. How can anyone sit over a bait bucket and shoot an animal? How unfair. It made me furious. I wasn’t a hunter at the time. I had no personal knowledge, only hearsay, but that was good enough […]