Do you want to make it a crime to hunt bears with bait, traps or dogs, except to protect property, public safety or for research?

The biggest failure of Question 2 is that it lumps two bear-hunting practices the majority of the public, and many hunters, find to be unacceptable with a method that wildlife biologists say is necessary to control the state’s bear population. If the question sought only to outlaw catching bears in traps or pursuing them with hounds, the measure would pass easily, as it should. On these two issues, it is clear that Maine is out of the hunting mainstream.

The issue of baiting is trickier. Is the practice, allowed in only 10 states, inhumane, as referendum supporters suggest? Does it matter to the bear if it is shot while eating a doughnut or beechnuts? Probably not. In fact, the argument that it is easier to make a clean shot at a bear at a bait site from a tree stand rather than while chasing one through thick brush is persuasive.

Is it ethical? Many people – hunters and nonhunters alike – are conflicted on this. According to George Smith, executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, his membership was “very divided” on the three hunting practices in question several years ago before he and others convinced them that groups like the Humane Society of the United States aimed to limit their hunting rights. The 2003 National Hunting Survey conducted by Field & Stream magazine found hunters closely divided.

When asked if using bait to lure bears when hunting them should be legal, 47 percent of respondents said No. A poll conducted in 1992 by The Maine Sportsman, a Yarmouth-based magazine, had similar results, with 51 percent of respondents approving of baiting. Seven out of 10 disapproved of trapping.

Given this division, the advice of the biologists at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife should be heeded. Because most bears are hunted and killed in Maine using bait, IF&W officials believe the bear population will increase if the referendum passes, resulting in more nuisance bear complaints. Biologists estimate there are about 23,000 bears in Maine. They believe this is the number that people can tolerate and they seek to maintain it. Baiting allows them to do so.

No matter what the outcome of the vote on Question 2, Maine should raise its standards as a tourism destination by broadening the appeal of its woods. The question of whether bears should be baited in Maine will eventually answer itself if the state pursues higher-end, more acceptable types of outdoor recreation.

This costly and divisive referendum could have been avoided if the Legislature had acted years ago to outlaw the most egregious forms of bear hunting. If this referendum fails, they must do so now or face further contentious fights at the ballot box.