The animal-rights lobby in Maine is unrelenting. Like a starving coyote trying to bring a deer down by tearing off its flesh piece by piece, the animals rights activists keep nipping away incrementally at Maine’s hunting heritage. The latest foray against the rights of Maine hunters is legislative proposal LD 560, “An Act to Ban Hunting of Animals in Enclosed Areas.”

Here is part of my written testimony submitted to the legislative committee, which will decide the fate of this anti-hunting legislation:

“As you might expect, I am strongly opposed to this bill. There are a number of reasons. As with so many other well-meaning initiatives advanced by the animal rights folks, this one no doubt has a quick-glance surface appeal that is emotionally based, but not grounded in facts or good sense.

“1. “Enclosed areas” is a misleading concept that conjures a vision of a hunter shooting an animal in a cage. As you will learn from the testimony of other opponents to this bill, most deer hunting farms or preserves encompass multiple acres of woodlands. This acreage may be bordered by fencing, but the animals are “free-ranging” in the sense that they are in natural terrain with wooded areas, thickets, and other security areas. I have hunted these, both in Maine and in Texas. There is, for the hunter, an element of fair chase. In fact, in Southwest Texas, where deer hunting is considered unmatched in North America, every deer ranch, no matter how big or how small, has high fencing on its ranch boundaries. The deer, though technically “fenced in,” are nonetheless free-ranging wild animals that are as wary as Maine’s north woods whitetails.

“2. There are many different and varied forms of recreational hunting. To some extent, the definition of fair chase varies from hunter to hunter. For a physically disabled, or elder hunter, who is unable to participate in a conventional big woods deer hunt, the opportunity to stay in Maine and enjoy a day’s hunt on an elk or deer farm, spells the difference between hunting or not hunting at all. Two years ago, I spent a day with a father and son hunt team on a Maine elk farm. The 12-year-old son was enduring a physical handicap that was progressively debilitating. An avid deer hunter, the boy’s dream was to hunt an elk. The father and son hunted in deep snow. The father carried his son on his shoulders throughout the elk farm’s wooded areas. On the second day, the boy fulfilled his dream and skillfully shot his bull elk through heavy brush at about 100 yards. It was an exciting, emotional moment, for all: the boy, his father, the elk farmer who donated the animal, and for me. In short, there is a place for commercial hunting operations in Maine, whether they be upland bird hunting operations or elk and deer farms offering big game hunts. In fact, looking down the road, these areas that you are trying to put out of business, will become more important for recreational hunting as land becomes increasingly inaccessible and Maine’s wildlife department struggles for funding to manage our dwindling deer resource.

“3. Last but certainly not least, there is a dimension to this issue that goes far beyond the debate about the single-minded preoccupation that this bill’s proponents have with the so-called “humanness” issue. It is simple economics. In Maine, more and more hard-working, energetic rural citizens have created these commercial hunting operations in order to make an honest living, create some jobs for others, and bring some recreational dollars into this state’s foundering welfare economy. And yet, again, the animals rights lobby and a few misguided state lawmakers, want to shut down these businesses for no really compelling reasons.

“When is Maine going to wake up? I urge this committee to think this through, weigh all of the aspects of this awful idea, and give it what it deserves: a unanimous ought-not-to-pass vote.

“Thank you for your time and consideration.”

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].