As a wise sage once said, the only thing constant is change.

Take hunting, or the right to hunt. It may be part of our American cultural heritage, but in a democracy it can be taken away.

The upcoming bear referendum is a perfect example. People with enough money and strong convictions can take away your privilege to hunt.

As our culture changes and becomes more urbanized voters become less connected to the land and less informed about the role that recreational hunting plays in wildlife conservation.

Although there has been an uptick the last few years in the number of licensed American hunters, the overall trend is a decline in hunters and a corresponding increase in the number of Americans uneasy about hunting as a recreational sport.

As outdoor writer Steven Rinella points out, there is nothing new about the cultural debate over hunting. It goes back to Biblical times with brothers Esau and Jacob. One was a hunter and one was not. It was a source of deep family tension. Esau, the hunter, was his father’s favorite (he brought meat). Brother Jacob, on the other hand, was a city­dwelling momma’s boy.

Interestingly, there are fewer hunters on earth today than at any other time in human history, according to Rinella. Only about 5 percent of Americans hunt, down from 7 percent a decade ago.

With an eye and an ear to the changing times, sportsmen in a number of states across the country have become proactive in trying to safeguard their right to hunt ­ while there is still time. At the urging of Nebraska sportsmen, state legislators there championed a right­to­hunt amendment to that state’s constitution. It passed and was enacted in 2012. In keeping with the constitutional provision, Nebraska governor Dave Heineman this year vetoed a bill on his desk that would have banned the hunting of cougars in his state.

A number of other states have either enacted a state right­-to­-hunt provision in their constitution or are in the process of trying to do so.

In Arizona some legislators supported legislation that would have amended the state constitution and given the state legislature sole authority to regulate hunting and wildlife management. Three guesses which well-heeled national organization successfully lobbied to nix the Arizona amendment? Yes, the Humane Society of the United States, HSUS, the same group that is trying, in Maine, to get bear hunting banned!

Last year, there was an attempt by the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to get legislative support for a right-to­-hunt amendment to our state constitution. HSUS reportedly lobbied hard against this in Maine, just as it did in Arizona.

A former state legislator told me that as a group the state legislature was “uncomfortable” about “meddling” with the state constitution just to protect hunting. This makes me want to move to Nebraska.

Hindsight is cheap, but if Maine had amended its state constitution 10 years ago after the first bear referendum, our right to hunt bears would not be balancing on the fickle pinnacle of public opinion as it is today.

V. Paul Reynolds is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co­host of a weekly radio program “Maine Outdoors” heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News­Talk Network (WVOM­-FM 103.9, WQVM-­FM 101.3) and former information officer for the Maine Department of Fish and Wildlife. His e­mail address is paul@sportingjournal.com . He has two books “A Maine Deer Hunter’s Logbook” and his latest, “Backtrack.”

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