The voters have spoken.

By a small margin, Mainers have decided that making bear baiting a crime is not a wise way to go. So this decision by the electorate will give us something additional to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. This threat to our hunting heritage and way of life has been beaten back – for now. Although most of the campaign funds and hard work that went into defeating this nationally- sponsored initiative referendum came from outdoor folks with the most to lose, the entire state is the real winner. Maine’s robust bear population will continue to be managed and protected, not by idle rich animal rights extremists from Upper Manhatten, but by trained professional wildlife scientists and managers.

We prevailed in this contest because we applied time-tested principles. We worked together. We planned. We had a message backed up by logic and facts. We recognized early that our opposition was well-heeled and willing to spend big bucks. We bankrolled our own campaign war chest and gave until it hurt. And we found able people to strategize and navigate us through the shoal-filled waters of high stakes political gamesmanship.

Now what?

Conventional wisdom and historical precedent tells us that, like the monster in the horror movie, they will be back! The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is by its own mission statements hell bent on stopping all forms of sport hunting in America.

Although we won the bear vote, we did not hand HSUS a crushing defeat. The animal rightists did well in the Other Maine, especially in our highly populated urban areas near Portland. Following the editorial lead of the Portland newspapers, Maine’s largest city voted for the ban by the widest of margins. If ever there was a question about Maine being made up of two distinct social-cultural populations, this vote lays this question to rest. HSUS political planners know that there remains fertile ground in that neck of the woods that some have come to regard pejoratively as part of Greater Boston.

We might start by addressing these questions:

1. Should Maine sportsmen maintain through an umbrella agency a campaign war chest, a bank account that can be used to pay for fighting future anti-hunting initiatives?

2. Is Maine’s citizen referendum process too easy, too accessible to fringe groups with an agenda?

3. How do we embolden our legislative leaders to make the hard choices that rightfully belong to them?

4. How can Maine trappers better tell their story and get their message to Maine’s naive and uninformed urban populations?

5. What should be the public’s role in establishing policy on wildlife management?

6. How can we convince public schools that they need to do a better job educating our young citizens about the enabling role that hunting and hunters play in American wildlife conservation and resource management?

If you are a sportsman, you might take time this Thanksgiving to offer an appreciative prayer for His bounty, not the least of which are the 15,000 wonderful men and women and organizations that put their shoulders to the wheel. Without their efforts, a big part of Maine’s hunting heritage would be history.

Before the ink on the headlines is barely dry, the Sportsmen’s Alliance of Maine (SAM) has begun to lay the ground work for a state Constitutional Amendment that would disallow public referenda (citizen initiatives) on wildlife management issues. It may be the only way to stop another bear referendum in Maine.

V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WCME-FM 96.7) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is [email protected].