AUGUSTA – Hundreds turned out Tuesday for a heated debate on a bill that would end Maine’s distinction as the only state in the nation to allow recreational bear trapping.

Supporters of the proposed ban described Maine’s bear-trapping season as an embarrassment that gives the state a “backwoods” reputation in the rest of the country.

They also suggested that the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, which regulates hunting and trapping, is out of touch with the times and the majority view in the state.

“When thinking people examine traditions and find them to be wrong, it’s logical to want to change those traditions,” Carlene Pritschet of Bass Harbor told lawmakers on the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee.

Bear trapping, Pritschet said, is a “cruel convenience for the small number of people who do it.”

But to the trappers and other sportsmen in the crowd, who grossly outnumbered ban supporters, the push to restrict trapping is merely the latest attempt by “animal rights extremists” to chip away at the heritage and culture that shaped the state.

“To say someone is unethical to hunt or trap is to show how little they know about rural Maine,” countered Steven Wilcox, a sporting camp owner from Wytopitlock, who said hunting and trapping are an integral part of his family’s history.

As proposed, LD 1635 would ban all types of bear trapping except for research, damage control or to protect the public.

Tuesday’s debate was, in many ways, a continuation of a political fight that waged for months in the media and in television ads back in 2004. That fall, sportsmen narrowly defeated a ballot question that would have outlawed not only bear trapping but also hunting bear with bait or with dogs.

DIF&W has since outlawed the use of steel-jawed devices for bears, meaning trappers are restricted to snare-type foothold traps used by biologists and researchers, or to large cages.

But the changes did not appease the anti-bear trapping crowd. And voters may get another say on the issue of bear trapping.

If LD 1635 fails to pass the Legislature – and odds are that it won’t pass – bill supporters have indicated that they plan to initiate another voter referendum just on bear trapping.

People on both sides of the issue have said that the 2004 referendum might have passed with strong voter support had it not included a ban on hunting bear with bait.

“I consider bear trapping to be one of the most egregious things that goes on in the Maine woods … and I am determined to stop the practice of bear trapping,” Daryl DeJoy, executive director of the Wildlife Alliance of Maine, told the committee.

DIF&W officials acknowledge that, unlike bear hunting, bear trapping is not a significant or necessary part of the agency’s bear management toolbox.

Trappers accounted for just 130 of the 2,873 bears killed during the 2005 season. The number of bear killed by trappers rose to 146 last year but remained a tiny portion of the overall harvest, DIF&W officials said Tuesday.

Nonetheless, department staff strongly defended modern bear trapping as a safe, humane and biologically sound tradition in Maine.

“Many of the traditional uses that the department (oversees) are not necessary for management,” said Ken Elowe, head of DIF&W’s resource management division.

At one point, Elowe responded to those claiming that trapping is not a “fair chase” by pointing out that, unlike hunted bears, trapped bears can be safely and quickly killed with a clear shot.

That prompted an angry response from Cecil Gray, a registered guide and lifelong hunter from Bingham who serves on the board of the Wildlife Alliance of Maine.

“What part of the 12 hours before that animal finally gets whacked is a clean kill?” Gray asked.

Gray distributed to lawmakers a DVD with several clips of bears struggling to free themselves from traps. Several of the occasionally graphic homemade videos also show trappers shooting the trapped bears.

Many supporters of the bill said repeatedly that they were not aiming to end all trapping or hunting, although several speakers did advocate for an end to all “consumptive” sports in Maine. They also said their views represented the majority of Mainers, describing the sportsmen at Tuesday’s hearing as a very small but vocal minority.

But the bill’s critics were unconvinced, warning of a “slippery slope” and questioning what activity WAM and other groups would target next. Describing the issue as a cultural clash, they also seized on the fact that several people who spoke in support of the bill were not Maine natives.

“Why does she have to move here and try to change the things that matter to me?” George Smith, executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, said in response to the comments from a recent transplant.

The committee may discuss the bill in work session later this week.