Although Maine’s 2006 bear hunt does not get under way officially until Aug. 28, the groundwork begins this week in bear country. Guides, outfitters and casual bear hunters will begin baiting their hunt sites and erecting tree stands. By law, baiting may start up to 30 days before opening day of the hunt.

As you may recall, it was just two years ago this fall that Maine’s traditional bear hunt hung in the balance. Thankfully, Maine voters came to understand that managing wildlife – including black bears – rightfully belongs within the purview of professional wildlife managers, and not within the political arena. But even though the bear referendum proponents were defeated at the ballot box, they have not gone away. Through every means at their disposal, the Maine Friends of Animals and the Wildlife Alliance of Maine persist and press on. They still seek to outlaw the harvesting of bears by bait, hounds or traps. This winter, long after the fall bear hunt has concluded, the same players with the same arguments will be plying the legislative halls with the same agenda.

At the peak of the 2004 bear referendum debate, the proponents pooh-poohed our contention that an unregulated bear population could be potentially harmful to Maine humans, and damaging to livestock. Ironically, and tragically, two children were killed in separate unprovoked attacks this year by black bears in Tennessee and Ohio. A 6-year old girl was mauled to death by a large black bear in the Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee. In Ohio, a woman hiker and her two kids were attacked by a 400-pound black bear on a remote trail in a recreational forest. The bear bit one of the kids on his head and punctured his skull.

The mother tried to fight the bear off with sticks and rocks, but was attacked and dragged off the trail by the bear. An hour later searchers found the woman’s other child about 100 yards from the trail. The big bear was found by searchers standing over the young girl’s lifeless body. Skip Trask, spokesman for the Maine Professional Guides Association, noted in the MPGA magazine, “We’ve been extremely lucky in Maine. Even though we have the country’s highest bear density (bears per square mile), nobody has been killed by a bear, at least not for a very long time.”

As long as wildlife managers are responsible for regulating bear numbers (and not politicians or special interest groups), Maine can count itself blessed by its large and healthy black bear population. Eclipsed only by our November deer hunt, the early fall hunt for black bears has become a major contributor to the state’s rural economy. Guided bear hunts in early September by nonresident hunters bagging their bears at baited sites comprise the largest proportion of the annual bear kill.

Each year, hunters take about 10 percent of Maine’s estimated bear population, which is in excess of 22,000. More bear are bagged in Aroostook County than in any other county, and about 70 percent of the statewide bear tagged are taken by nonresident hunters who spend about a week in Maine paying guides, sporting camps and buying gas and groceries.

Maine’s economy: The 1988 survey of bear hunters estimated that bear hunting generated $6.4 million, including $3.4 million of new money for the state’s economy provided by nonresident hunters.

Guides and outfitters: Using the percentage of nonresident hunters that use a guide as a basis and multiplying by an average price of $1,000 for a guided hunt, the direct fiscal impact to the guiding industry is $4,564,440. This figure does not include any measure of other impacts such as retail sales or taxidermy. This impact is delivered in the more rural areas of the state primarily the northern, eastern and western mountain regions.

Department revenue: Although overall participation in hunting in Maine is declining slightly, sales of bear permits are rising, from 12,000 permits in 1990 to 15,214 in 2002. That same year, Maine residents purchased over half of the permits. (resident 7,852, non-resident 7,362). The fiscal impact of the early bear season on the Fish and Wildlife Department is also significant because of the number of permits sold.

The author 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].