The guest column by Bill Randall (Jan. 18) was quite anti-hunting.

It appears that Mr. Randall doesn’t think that bait should be used in bear hunting. Bait has always been used in one form or another. In the 1950s, every town had a open dump. All you had to do was wait for a bear to come along. The dump was the bait.

The writer also implies that most bear meat is not worth eating. Bear processed right and cooked correctly is some of the best wild game I have ever eaten.

Randall also doesn’t like hunting with dogs using locator collars. I suppose this also goes for locator bells, as well as other devices that we use to locate and train all our hunting dogs.

As much as he is against bait, I find it strange that he thinks it is all right to use anise. What is the difference in using anise as bait or using doughnuts.

Let’s leave the problems of bear management to the biologists. They have been successful managing the population with help from hunters.

Bear baiting is fair chase, just like shooting deer over clover fields or under apple trees. Most game is harvested over some type of food source or some type of attractant.

Once hunting opponents stop bear hunting, they will turn their attention to other types of hunting. Who knows what would happen to the economy without lobsters, which are baited and trapped?

Ken Scribner, Durham

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