Hunters need apology

Whatever was John Holyoke thinking when he gave free press to an anti-hunter posing as a Maine guide (BDN, Feb. 7-8). Cecil Gray is not from Maine and neither is HSUS. HSUS has enough money to pay almost anyone to speak for them and that is their right, but the BDN should not print it free for as many as 100,000 readers.

I realize that John is new to hunting and other outdoor activities, but that is no excuse not to get some advice before going against the very people you write for and work with.

I have talked to many hunters and some guides about this and, believe me, John has lost a lot of credibility over this.

He owes the hunters of Maine an apology.

Clarence Brown

Registered Maine Guide

Carmel

Vote on bear facts

I just read my letter I received from the citizens for Fair Bear Hunting and I’ve got a nice piece of ocean front property in Springfield I think they could sell for me.

I won’t say too much because what I’m thinking can not be put in the newspaper. However, I will say this. You need some type of lure or bait to catch fish. You use traps to catch your bait and most people have a fish finder (hound dog) in their boat.

So what is wrong with bear hunting? You drag a fish around by the mouth for half an hour and if you don’t want it you throw it back. If I look at a bear by my bait and don’t want it, I just don’t shoot it. I don’t see anything inhumane and unfair about that.

Regardless of what has been said, bear hunting is not just a slaughter. Please vote on the facts, not the fiction.

Ken Robinson

Springfield

Protect the smelts

I am writing to express my concern over the vast number of smelts that are being harvested from many lakes and ponds in Maine.

As you may know, in Maine, smelts are the most important food to landlock salmon and to a certain extent the trout population. The overharvesting of smelts through the ice threatens the salmon species in Maine and contributes to the plight of other fish like the brown trout, larger brook and rainbow trout. My principal concern is the use of dip netting and drop netting to harvest smelts – a practice generally used by baitfish dealers. Does the everyday fisherman know that this practice may be going on at their favorite trout pond?

Currently, the holder of a smelts wholesaler’s license may use a dip net, a drop net, a lift net, or a bag net to take up to eight quarts of smelts in a 24-hour period from specific inland waters designated by the state. Without adequate numbers of smelts in our inland waters, salmon and the trout species growth and body conditions will suffer significantly.

It is imperative that we take a hard look at our smelt harvesting regulations and look to implement a statewide requirement that lines and hooks be used when fishing them rather that allowing harvesting with drop nets. This requirement is in force on several of central Maine’s lakes and it is my hope that a similar requirement will be imposed on all lakes and ponds as means of better management.

Rufus W. Cox

Jay

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