I read Will LaPage’s commentary, “Maine’s shooting-gallery bears” (BDN, Sept. 7), with real concern. With all due respect to his outdoor background, he has some serious misconceptions about hunting bear over bait.

I’ve hunted all my life. I was taught sportsmanship and respect for game animals as a boy, and I’ve incorporated those lessons deeply into my life as an outdoorsman. I’ve been a full-time outdoor writer since 1985. I’ve interviewed many bear hunters and biologists, in other states and Canada as well as in Maine, and have hunted bears myself. I can tell you categorically that bear hunting with bait is no slam-dunk guaranteed hunt.

One look at the statistics shows this. Although 85 percent of the bears tagged in Maine are shot over bait, the actual hunter success rate is only 25 percent. Compare this to the 23 percent success rate of deer hunters. Even LaPage will admit deer hunting is acknowledged to be a true challenge.

LaPage makes a strong case for skill in hunting. He evidently doesn’t understand the considerable skill needed to hunt bears with bait.

It takes real woodsmanship and knowledge of bear habits and sign to determine the right location for a bait. If a bait isn’t placed properly it will be ignored. Only a fraction of baits get hit, and once bears find one they often come in only intermittently, and then often at night. Weather changes can stop bait activity for days, and bears are famous for abandoning baits entirely for natural food sources. Hunters routinely sit over baits for days without seeing a bear.

Adult bears are extremely wary and approach baits very cautiously. Their acute senses are on high alert and focused intensely on the area around the bait, which is where the hunter is sitting. The hunter must be absolutely motionless and silent. Even when the bear is at the bait, the slight movement or sound of raising a gun or bow can spook them. Bears also come in from behind, or other directions that make a shot difficult or impossible.

Any hunter who has sat motionless for days overlooking a bait will take strong exception to LaPage’s statement that bait hunters “change the wild to fit their own convenience and comfort.” Like the sportsmen whom LaPage praises, bear hunters definitely do “have the mental and physical self-discipline to be comfortable in the wild,” and “cherish their hard-won understanding of weather, habitat, and wildlife behavior.” Without these characteristics, they wouldn’t get a bear. That’s why only 25 percent of them succeed. These hunters are the “true Maine sportsmen” whom LaPage praises.

The exception to this natural wariness is young bears, which sometimes come in to bait fearlessly. And herein lies a great advantage of bait. It allows hunters an opportunity to examine the bears closely, and hold their fire if it’s a cub, or sow with cubs. Also, when a hunter does decide to shoot, he can carefully place the shot for a fast, humane kill. Stories of bears frequently being wounded over bait are complete rubbish; exactly the opposite is true.

I was astonished at LaPage’s statement that “nearly 3 million pounds of garbage” is spread in the Maine woods. He was badly misinformed, and hurts his credibility by repeating such a patently absurd figure. The average amount of bait used at a site is one 5-gallon pail full, and it is replaced only when it is gone. Bait is not “garbage.” It is costly, and often compounded with care and skill, so hunters use it economically.

Many nonhunters don’t understand that bear baiting is strictly regulated. The location must be approved by the landowner, and must be at least 50 yards from any path or trail used by all-terrain vehicles. Bait is not scattered widely, it is piled in one small spot. The location must be marked with a large, visible tag with the baiter’s name and address, and when bear season is over all bait must be removed. And hunters keep each site a distance from others. LaPage would be hard put to find many, or any, bait sites.

Maine’s bear population is healthy and increasing, and needs to be controlled. In Maine’s thick forest we simply cannot do it without using bait.

We’re not using scare tactics when we say we’re concerned about this. For 10 years I’ve been the editor of Wildlife Control Technology (WCT) Magazine, a national publication whose readers are the professional wildlife managers who deal with human/wildlife conflicts, and I’m very familiar with bear problems. They have increased dramatically nationwide, especially in states that have banned bear baiting and hounds. Judging from the experiences of New Jersey, New York, Vermont and Massachusetts, to name just a few, if we lose bear baiting our bear population will increase dramatically, and our bear troubles with it. It’s not scare tactics to say that bears can be dangerous. I’ve personally interviewed several people who have been attacked in Maine, and had the scars to prove it.

Finally, I was saddened by LaPage’s use of words like “pimp” and “vicious cycle of lies.” They cheapen the discussion of an issue that is important to Maine citizens. They also lower his credibility by demonstrating he does not have facts to back his statements. Maine voters need solid facts, not inflammatory rhetoric, to make this decision wisely.

Bob Noonan of Canaan is a lifelong hunter who has been a full-time outdoor writer for 19 years, and an active member of the Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) since 1987. He has interviewed many bear hunters, biologists, and more than a few bear-attack victims.