On Aug. 30, I had the opportunity to harvest a 370-pound Maine black bear. This bear had two tags in its ears, put there by the Maine Warden Service because the bear was a nuisance bear from Fryeburg. It was relocated to the Swift River Pond area, but the bear was heading back toward society.

For an entire month, I brought 50-pound bags of bait every other day to my sites. At one, a female bear and several cubs came to feed.

Most hunters, myself included, will not shoot a female bear. The best part of bear baiting is watching the bears’ coats go from a gritty looking coat to a beautiful shiny jet-black coat. At the beginning of the season, the bears are very skinny and without baiting many bears wouldn’t get enough fat to survive through the winter.

I’ve been in and around the woods all of my life. I’ve seen a bear in the wild a total of three times. Bear hunting limits the number of bears, preventing overpopulation. The bear I harvested was given to the Maine Hunters for the Hungry organization.

I do not support Question 2. It would ruin a hunting experience that many Mainers enjoy. If bear baiting, trapping and the use of hounds are abolished, three very useful methods of hunting will be gone. True hunters and sportsmen, like myself, care very much about the wildlife and when we harvest an animal we make it a quick and humane harvest.

Dustin Arsenault, Mexico