Maine bear hunting

[colorado bob]

I saw somewhere that they have enough signatures to put the banning of bear baiting on the Maine ballot. That's not good news, game management should not be in the hands of the general public but in the hands of the game department.

I know from experience that a the public votes with their hearts for a mama bear & her cute cubs anti-hunting commercial. That's how they did it in Colorado.

[Rhino]

I hear ya! Certainly agree with ya too. Game management in MS is controlled by the state govt. The Wildlife & Fisheries Dept. submits their recommendations but the final decision is made by the state house & senate through the passing of bills...then bills passed by them go to the gov. He can either sign it or veto it. Our state representatives can submit whatever bills they want too, even those opposed by the DWF&P. Many bills never get past the house or senate & die there. Glad they aren't submitted to the general public for a ballot vote.

There's always some crazy bills proposed by state representatives each year that die. There have been a few come into law though. For example...our primitive weapon season went through a progression of changes from muzzleloading rifles to...single shot pre-1900 rifles (or replicas) .38 cal or larger to...any modern single shot rifle with a hammer.35 cal or larger to...where I understand MS is going to be this coming season...no real primitive weapon season at all during that time...use any weapon you want to hunt with. That is with the exception of the antlerless only primitive weapon season they started ~3 years ago that runs during the same time as the last 12 days of bow season. It's still supposed to be any modern single shot rifle .35 cal rifle or larger. That probably won't last long till it's just an antlerless only gun season.

[stevebeilgard]

i agree also. keep the game & fish duties to the biologists and trained professionals in the game and fish department, not on the ballot where the untrained people vote on things.