Throughout the election season, opponents of Question 2 have tried to stress the fact that bears – no matter how “cute” or “cuddly” they may look in photos and on TV – are dangerous wild animals.

Proponents of Question 2, which would outlaw the hunting of bears with bait, hounds, or by trapping, have countered with this: “No one has ever been killed or seriously injured in a bear attack in Maine.”

Ask Roger Pinet which side he believes.

Pinet, a 56-year-old from Dayton, had a terrifying encounter with a black bear while bird hunting in early October.

Pinet walked away from the encounter. The bear did not.

And Pinet knows that if he’d made a single mistake during the 30 seconds or so his life was on the line, that equation could easily have been reversed.

“People think bears cannot hurt a soul,” Pinet said on Thursday, recounting his tale. “I’m here to tell you, they can.”

Pinet’s encounter began as he neared his family’s camp in Coplin Plantation near Stratton after hiking about five miles, looking for birds.

Pinet heard a grunt, saw a flash of black in a swamp, and thought he’d jumped a moose. A little while later, he found out he’d been mistaken.

“I looked behind and here comes this bear at full charge at me,” Pinet said. “I waited a second to see if it was going to bear off.”

The bear, a large sow that had begun its charge about 50 to 75 yards away from Pinet, didn’t veer away. Instead, it continued to run directly at him.

Pinet, armed with only a 20-gauge Ruger Red Label over-under shotgun, quickly ran through his options.

He had nowhere to run. He had to stay and fight. And he knew the effective range of his birdshot on angry bear was very limited.

“I wasn’t going to pull the trigger until [she] was right on me,” Pinet said. “[She] was making her last launch at me, and was four to six feet from the end of my barrel [when I shot].”

Pinet fired both barrels at the bear, hitting it in the head and shoulder. Luckily, he had figured that two shots might not be enough, and quickly reloaded the gun.

“The second I shot those two shots, I was reloading again,” Pinet said. “[She] went 25 yards or so, spun around again, and it was the same scenario.”

The bear charged again.

Again, Pinet shot it … twice. And again, the bear continued. This time, obviously injured, it ran into the woods.

Pinet said he was torn between heading back to camp and making sure the bear wasn’t wounded and lurking in the brush.

He opted to track the bear, found it lying, still alive, nearby, and watched it for 10 minutes before deciding it was safe to approach it and dispatch the bruin, which weighed 183 pounds, field-dressed.

Pinet contacted a game warden, who listened to his story and told him he’d done the right things.

“He agreed [with my actions] 100 percent,” Pinet said. “He said it could have been my life.”

Pinet said he has been hunting for years, and has only seen six or eight bears in the wild.

“Normally, they’re running away from you,” he said. “This bear was just totally off the wall, crazy.”

Pinet said the warden, along with Pinet’s butcher, wondered if the bear acted the way it did because it was protecting cubs.

They found the sow had no milk in it, and ruled out that scenario.

“It was just an old bear, an ornery bear,” he said.

Another reason some animals become aggressive – rabies – wasn’t an issue because state game officials have a policy that dictates when animals will be tested for the disease.

“Our policy is only to test if there’s wildlife-human contact,” Warden Col. Tom Santaguida said.

“People say bears are shy and secretive, but they can be aggressive, too,” Santaguida said. “If you surprise a bear and it has nowhere to go, it can be aggressive.”

By statute, Mainers can kill wild animals that threaten their property, pets or livestock, Santaguida said. Implied, but not stated in the statute, he said, is that people can also kill wild animals that are threatening them.

Since that day, Pinet has returned to bird hunting … though he also carries a .45 automatic handgun nowadays.

“I don’t want to be put in that position again,” he said.

And his wife is still a bit antsy when she heads to their remote camp.

“She’s a little frightened to go out to the outhouse now,” Pinet said. “She’s got the generator running and all the lights on. She’s a little leery.”

Pinet said that many people have told him they might not have thought to wait until the bear got close enough that the birdshot would be effective.

He said he quickly realized that he had very few options.

“I just could not believe it, and it happened so quick, I didn’t have a chance to be scared,” he said. “I said to myself, ‘It’s either you or me. And it’s not gonna be me.'”

The trees have largely given up their colorful plumage, morning frost is becoming common, and the aisles at stores that specialize in hunting supplies have been crowded.

Those are all harbingers of a special time for many Maine families.

It’s deer season again. It’s time to go hunting.

My hunting buddies and I spent a few hours this week getting ready for the month ahead, and I think we’re prepared.

We know where we’re going, and where we’ll sit. We know where we’ll walk, and where we’ll rest, what we’ll eat, and where we’ll meet up to regroup.

We’ve got our buck lure and our calls, and have dug out our blaze orange coats, gloves and our warmest boots.

Although I’ll probably remember something especially crucial late this evening, it seems (for now) that we’re ready.

Whether the weather … and the deer … choose to cooperate with us or not is another question altogether.

And only time will tell.

The response to last week’s request for interesting deer camps for a potential visit (and subsequent column) was less than overwhelming, but since everyone was thinking “Sox” last weekend, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt and repeat it here.

Wanted: A deer camp (or two, or three) full of interesting or insightful or simply fun-loving hunters.

The idea: I’ll visit, sit around, talk, and find out as much as I can. Maybe (hopefully) I’ll eat a bit … or more than a bit. Perhaps I’ll hunt for a day. Then, I’ll return to Bangor and share some of your tamer stories with readers.

If you’re interested, let me know.

Finally, today’s magic numbers: It’s not legal to hunt until 6:41 a.m., nor any later than 5:56 p.m.

Wear your orange. Have fun. Be safe.

I’ll see you out there.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.