In response to a letter from Gina Stoll of Portland (Aug. 19), let me set you all straight about bear hunting and fair chase.

The gubernatorial candidates and the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Department are for the present practice of bear hunting for good reason. The practice is the only way to control the population from exploding.

Six hundred complaints about nuisance bears for a year is too many. Bears kill many moose calves and newborn fawns. You can bet they die a very cruel death.

The bear population has exploded in the past 35 years because they aren’t harvesting enough. The biologists say the season’s too short to harvest the required number.

We can vote “no” in November to save wildlife — moose calves and deer fawns — and reduce 600 nuisance complaints.

I don’t want to have to play dead from a marauding black bear.

Jean R. Arsenault, Mexico