The bear facts - near and far        

By Tom Hennessey

Editor's note: Second of three parts

Reprinted from the Bangor Daily News

"The end of the bait hunt in Maine is the end of bear management in Maine."

With those words Randy Cross, a wildlife biologist and bear specialist with the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, publicly expressed the department's opposition to the forthcoming referendum aimed at prohibiting bear trapping and bear hunting with baits and hounds. The reason being that regulated hunting is integral to stabilizing Maine's current bear population of 23,000 animals statewide, the management objective set by DIF&W. The objective is based on social carrying capacity, that is, the number of bears the public can tolerate.

To meet their management objectives, DIF&W's bear biologists estimate that hunters must kill 3,500-4,000 bears each year. However, owing to the restricted visibility in Maine's dense, mixed-growth forests and the wariness of bears, the consensus of hunters, guides, and biologists is that the chances of stalking and still-hunting the animals successfully are minimal. Baiting, therefore, is the most productive method of bear hunting and DIF&W's most effective means of achieving its bear-management objectives.

Proponents of the referendum, however, say shooting bears attracted to baits is unsportsmanlike and argue that bears can be stalked and still-hunted successfully.

Obviously, baiting is the biggest bone of contention in the referendum that threatens not only the hunting heritage symbolic of Maine, but of states nationwide. Keep in mind that the ballot initiative involves two national anti-hunting organizations, the Humane Society of the United States and Fund for Animals.

Because the majority of Maine residents have no knowledge of bear hunting or bear management, it's clear that providing the public with such information will be pivotal to defeating the referendum. Herein, then, let's look at the record regarding the interactions of bear management and bear hunting in Maine.

To begin, I'll say that in discussing the bear referendum with wildlife biologists (bear specialists) in several states, I learned that Maine's bear-management program was highly respected.

And for good reason.

The DIF&W conducts one of the most extensive, comprehensive, and longstanding bear-management programs in North America. The scientific studies employ the most modern methods and state-of-the-art equipment available to wildlife managers.

Radio telemetry has played an important part in controlling Maine's bear population, the largest east of the Mississippi River and one of the largest in the continental United States. Since 1975, more than 2,000 bears have been captured, collared, and released. Thus, between 40 and 78 bears are monitored annually, including visits to 40-50 dens each winter. The resulting information - birth rates, survival, behavior, animal condition - enables biologists to regulate hunting so that bear-conservation goals and population objectives can be achieved. The annual bear kill by hunters has been recorded since 1969.

The total of bears tagged in Maine's 2003 hunting season was 3,900. According to the department's records, from 1999-2002 Maine's annual bear kill averaged 3,712. Seventy-eight percent of the animals were shot at bait sites. Hound hunts accounted for 10 percent, another 10 percent were shot incidental to deer hunting. Only 2 percent were trapped. For the uninitiated, baits, hounds, and traps are not used in combination. That is, bait is not used to attract a bear so that it can be run by hounds until it is caught in a trap. Nor are baits poisoned. Again, public education is paramount to defeating the referendum.

Because the percentage of bears shot at bait sites is misleading to the unwitting public, it isn't surprising that enough signatures were obtained to achieve the ballot initiative. What the majority of the public doesn't know, however, is that in spite of current hunting regulations, Maine's bear population has increased by nearly 30 percent since 1990.

The logical expectation is that the state's bear population will burgeon if bait hunts are prohibited. Affirming that is DIF&W's Black Bear Assessment written in 1999. The author, bear specialist Craig McLaughlin, stated, "The absence of hunting would result in the doubling of the population in five years." Surely, the Massachusetts Division of Fish and Wildlife will vouch for that. The state's bear population has doubled since baiting and hunting with hounds were abolished in that neck of the woods.

Proponents of the referendum argue that bears are self-regulating, therefore bait-hunting isn't necessary to control bear populations. That could be a valid argument had it come from professional wildlife managers. However, the subject of self-regulation wasn't mentioned in my conversations with wildlife biologists in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina. Kelcey Burguess, a bear specialist with the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, said the agency's increase in bear complaints - about 1,500 reported last year - resulted in the state training local police departments to handle the problems.

But because many of the departments didn't report the complaints they handled in 2003, Burguess estimated the statewide total at more than 2,000. Worse yet, more than 50 complaints involved bears breaking into homes. Nevertheless, anti-hunters are opposing New Jersey's six-day bear hunt implemented in 2003. It was the state's first bear hunt in 33 years. Burguess said 328 bears were killed during the hunt that allowed baiting but banned the use of hounds. New Jersey's bear population, estimated at 1,490 in 2003, showed a 20 percent increase in the past three years.

Mark Ternent of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said hunters killed 3,000 bears in the state's three-day bear season last year. The extraordinary hunter success rate is attributable to bear drives being legal in Pennsylvania, where woodlands are smaller and more open than in Maine. Ternent said a drive may legally include 25 hunters. In spite of the high annual kill, the state's bear population, currently estimated at 15,000, is increasing. With regard to predation of bears on deer, Ternent said a recent study conducted by Penn State University's Wildlife Coop showed a high percentage of radio-collared fawns were killed by bears.

Closer to home, DIF&W's deer project leader, Gerry Lavigne, says a high percentage of the fawns born in eastern and northern Maine are killed by bears and coyotes. Likewise, newborn moose calves are easy prey for bears rummaging for meals when Mother Nature's spring cupboards are all but bare.

South of the Mason-Dixon Line, Mark Jones, bear specialist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, said the state's bear population, currently estimated at 11,000, was increasing. Jones affirmed that hunters tagged record numbers of bears in the last two years. Baiting is illegal in North Carolina, but bears can be hunted with hounds.

According to Dave Bostwick of Michigan's Department of Natural Resources, the state has a bear population of 17,000, give or take. Bostwick said that in spite of baiting and hunting with hounds - Michigan sportsmen soundly defeated a 1996 referendum to prohibit those hunts - the state's bear population was increasing at a rate of 2-4 percent annually.

When asked if they thought stalking and still-hunting were viable methods for killing 3,500-4,000 bears annually in Maine, the biologists' negative responses were aimed directly at the state's sprawling spruce-thick forests. Equally straightforward is the statement by wildlife biologist Jennifer Vashon, leader of DIF&W's bear-management program: "To harvest 3,700 bears, without baiting and hounds, we'd need 125,000 bear hunters, with a success rate of 3 percent." At that success rate, who would bother buying a bear permit?

Let's face it, if the bear referendum is enacted, Maine's black bear factory isn't going to regulate production according to DIF&W's bear-management objectives. Surely, there was a time when all wildlife was self-regulating. But that was before man began degrading and eradicating environments and ecologies, which, of course, was justified as progress. Since then, nature's scales have been irreparably out of balance, to the point that nowadays the term "problem wildlife" is being heard nationwide. A more accurate and honest description would be "problem people," in reference to the increasing human population encroaching on wildlife habitats. Accordingly, DIF&W biologists and game wardens receive more than 300 bear complaints annually.

Not surprisingly, bird feeders are prime targets for bears that are voracious after leaving dens in springtime. Those tracks were clear when, in mid-May, I talked with Harvey Jordan, part-owner and manager of the Ellsworth Feed and Seed Co.

"It's unbelievable," Jordan replied when asked about bears raiding bird feeders. "The complaints are constant. I had seven yesterday and two already this morning. And it'll get worse. I'll get 20 to 30 complaints a week from now into July. I saw five different bears in one week while driving to my home near Branch Pond after work. They're great for my business, though; bird feeders sell for $25 to $50 apiece and bears are staving them up right and left."

Game warden Calvin Hale, whose long arm of the law reaches across the coastal communities of Blue Hill, Penobscot, Castine, and beyond, echoed Jordan's comments: "I get a lot of bear complaints. No matter where I stop there's a bear story. There are more bears around here than people realize or want to know about. And there'll be a lot more if this referendum passes." In the past few weeks, Hale has received more than 30 bear complaints.

Granted, the backyard-bear complaints that have appeared in recent news reports can be described as normal bear behavior in springtime. Trouble is, the number of bears behaving normally is increasing - and can only multiply if the referendum is enacted. Unless, of course, someone can convince the animals to self-regulate in accordance with social carrying capacity.

It's common knowledge that bears damage beehives placed on blueberry barrens for pollination purposes. But when Sid Reynolds of Cherryfield Foods Inc., one of the Down East area's largest blueberry growers, described the extent of the problem, I was taken aback.

"We put out 24,000 beehives and bears have been hitting 15-20 every night. The electric fences around the hives don't bother the bears a bit. They just barge through them. We increased the voltage of one fence and we could see where a bear walked around it, probably after getting a good jolt. It didn't stop him, though; he dug a hole under the fence." Reynolds said five company employees gather the damaged hives daily and repair them if possible. "The hives are rented," he explained. "If they can't be repaired we have to pay $35 per hive, plus the rental fee. It costs us about $4,000 a year."

It's interesting that, although honey satisfies a bear's sweet tooth, the animal's primary reason for breaking into hives is to feed on the highly nutritious larval-stage bees.

Considering the blight of suburban sprawl that has struck Maine, it's a sure bet that encounters between bears and humans will increase; which, of course, increases the possibility of human fatalities. Unfortunately, black bears often are described and depicted as clumsy, docile clowns. Nothing could be further from the truth. The animals are as quick and agile as cats, incredibly powerful and dangerous when they decide to be. Throughout North America, the list of people attacked by black bears is growing.

Nevertheless, it has to be said that bears are truly remarkable animals. Intelligent, wonderfully wild, and important to forest ecosystems, bears are normally wary and man-shy. It's obvious, however, that when driven by hunger, the animals are not fearful of people. So the question begs: Does it make sense to compound the problem by prohibiting baiting and thereby depriving DIF&W of its only effective means of managing Maine's bear population? Moreover, does it make sense to place wildlife management in the hands of voters who know absolutely nothing about the science so important to this state? Think about it.

As for baiting, proponents of the referendum would have everyone believing that a bucketful of bacon fat or a dozen or so jelly doughnuts guarantees a shot at a bear. What they're not saying, though, is that only 25 percent of Maine's 15,214 permitted bear hunters, resident and nonresident, are successful. That's slim pickings compared to the 80 percent success rate of moose hunters.

Personally, I've had a couple of memorable encounters with bears - one while bird hunting, the other while rabbit hunting - but I have never hunted the animals. Simply put, I have no desire to set my sights on the makings of a bear rug or wall mount. Even though I have had ample opportunity to do so. Galen Ruhlin, my longtime friend and hunting and fishing partner, has guided bear hunters for 30 years, give or take. Regarding baiting, which is strictly regulated, the Gouldsboro guide said, "There's more to it than meets the eye. Most baits are hit at night, some are only hit once, some are never touched, especially if there's a lot of feed in the woods. It's like all hunting, you never know until you go. I've guided one hunter for four years and he has yet to shoot a bear. He's had chances, but he just hasn't seen the bear he wants to shoot."

Therein is testimony to the conservation aspect of bear baiting: It provides opportunity to observe the animals at close range plus the probability of a quick, clean kill. As an aside, if anyone tells you bear meat is poor table fare, you can tell them it's because of poor cooking. The bear steaks I've eaten were as tender and flavorful as any supermarket sirloin I ever stuck a fork into.

As for hunting bears with hounds, Ruhlin said there aren't many hunters who are in good enough shape for it. "It can be a long, hard race," he said. "Bears are smart and tough. They know the country, they can outrun dogs and they don't tree as soon as a hound takes their track - like these people who've never stepped off the main road claim they do."

Speaking of hounds, hunters who enjoy hunting with dogs -rabbit hounds, cat-and-coon hounds, bird dogs, retrievers, whatever - can rest assured that, if the referendum is successful, their canine hunting companions will be fair game in future anti-hunting initiatives. Animal-rights activists already have attempted to abolish field trials, claiming the activity is stressful to songbirds and other wildlife. It's your call, Sport. Your days with gun dogs could be numbered if you don't arrive at the ballot box loaded for bear.