AUGUSTA (AP) – A state panel created to review Maine’s bear-hunting rules is recommending banning steel-jawed leg traps and limiting trappers to one device at a time instead of two as currently allowed.

The so-called “bear working group” also wants additional studies about how bait used by hunters is affecting the size and health of the state’s bear population, as well as the number of bear trappers in Maine.

The panel organized and led by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife was created after the unsuccessful referendum campaign in November 2004 to end bear trapping, hounding and baiting in Maine.

Its report probably won’t be the final word.

In fact, at least two anti-hunting groups that participated in the task force are hinting at another voter referendum to change Maine’s bear-hunting laws.

The game department and the panel “had a chance to be viewed as positive agents for change. Instead their lack of any action is only going to polarize sides like never before,” said Robert Fisk Jr., president of Maine Friends of Animals and the leader of the failed bear-hunting referendum.

The recommendations on limiting types and numbers of traps would require the department to initiate a rule change. The studies of bears and bear trappers are contingent on funding, which is already scarce in the department.

The panel’s four meetings were contentious.

Fisk also accused DIF&W of an “unholy alliance” with the hunting lobby despite the fact that the majority of Mainers do not hunt or fish.

Skip Trask, who represented the Maine Trappers Association and the Maine Professional Guides Association, said the meetings were nothing but a rehash.

“I guess the way I viewed the whole thing is just another chapter in the never-ending battle between those who want to ban hunting and trapping and those of us who want to enjoy those traditional activities,” he said.

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