Voters defeated the bear baiting referendum Tuesday, although the race, as predicted, went “down to the wire.”

For hours, early returns suggested a photo finish on Question 2. But by early Wednesday morning, opposition to the ban on three bear hunting practices characterized as “cruel and unnecessary” had pulled ahead by one, then four and eventually six percentage points.

The final tally Wednesday showed 53 percent no and 47 percent yes, with 99 percent of precincts reporting, based on unofficial results compiled by the Bangor Daily News.

The no vote was victorious in 13 counties, with Piscataquis giving the measure its soundest defeat at 69 to 31 percent, while the ban passed only in Cumberland, Knox and York counties.

The referendum clearly followed geography, with the 1st Congressional District backing the ban 53 to 47 percent, and the 2nd Congressional District voting against it in a 60-40 split.

The city of Portland gave the measure its biggest victory in a 68 to 32 percent yes vote, with Bar Harbor a close second at 66 to 34 percent. Bangor eked out a slim victory.

The northern Maine towns where most bear hunting occurs offered the strongest resistance to the ban, with the small town of Portage Lake defeating it 78 to 22 percent.

Edie Leary, spokeswoman for Maine’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Council, a coalition of hunting groups and guides formed to defeat the referendum, claimed victory at about 2:30 a.m.

Bob Fisk, whose Maine Citizens for Fair Bear Hunting closed up shop before the outcome was clear on election night, conceded the race in an e-mail to his supporters and the press early Wednesday afternoon, but said that the debate is far from over.

“We can be proud of knowing that we significantly raised the awareness of the cruelty of these practices and of how wildlife is managed in this state,” he said in a Wednesday interview. “I think that many Mainers voted their consciences.”

Although the Maine Citizens for Fair Bear Hunting political action committee will disband by year’s end, Maine Friends of Animals, an advocacy group run by Fisk, will continue to fight the issue.

The group will likely introduce bear hunting reform bills for consideration in the next legislative session, which begins in January, he said.

“If our opponents think we are now just going to go away, they are seriously mistaken,” he said.

Fisk had cited 70 percent support for his measure to ban hunting bear with bait traps and dogs in the early days of his effort to gather the signatures that placed the referendum on the ballot.

But over the past year, as local fish and game clubs, national hunting organizations, Gov. John Baldacci and the state’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife lined up to oppose the ban, that lead dissipated, then turned around by mid-summer.

Referendum opponents spoke of “cautious optimism” Tuesday and sat stone-faced as returns clung stubbornly close to even for hours. But by dawn, Leary and leaders of the hunting community were describing the victory as a mandate for current management practices and respect for “Maine’s hunting heritage.”

“It would have flipped the other way if people didn’t think that [state biologists] were doing a good job,” Leary said Wednesday afternoon. “I didn’t get much sleep, but I’m feeling pretty good.”

Many Mainers gained an understanding of the science behind wildlife management over the course of this campaign, Mark Latti, spokesman for the state Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, said Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s a victory for the department … an affirmation of our policies,” he said.

However, the slim margin – with Question 2 losing by less than 50,000 votes, with more than 700,000 votes cast – suggests a deep division on wildlife issues among Maine voters.

Both Leary and Latti acknowledged that the more than 330,000 Mainers who voted for the ban will demand a voice in wildlife management in coming years. Both referendum opponents said Wednesday that ongoing DIF&W efforts to educate and involve the public can address the rift.

“Now is the time to put this referendum behind us,” Leary said in a statement released Wednesday. “We need to stop the political rhetoric and move forward.”

Maine’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will disband, but its spirit will remain as its members continue to work together to boost the image of hunting and trapping in Maine, an idea developed by supporters during their Election Night rally, Leary said.

That image was tarnished, she said, by advertisements that pro-referendum groups aired all fall featuring a bear shot at close range while restrained by a trap.

“Now, when people [particularly in Southern Maine] think of hunting, that’s the image they’ve got in their minds,” she said. “People were left with a bad taste in their mouths for hunting.”

Meanwhile, George Smith, executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, called Wednesday for a constitutional amendment to prevent referendums on wildlife issues in the future.

And Cecil Gray, spokesman for Hunters for Fair Bear Hunting, said he may also create a new group based on his temporary political action committee, to bring together thoughtful hunters and non-hunters on wildlife issues.

With hundreds of thousands of voters favoring the referendum, a movement to reform DIF&W is starting, he said Wednesday afternoon.

“That’s a lot of people saying, ‘We’re angry with the way you’re running things.’ The system is broken,” Gray said. “We’re all burnt out … but the time is right.”

Alaska voters also defeated their referendum on a bear baiting ban Tuesday, by a comfortable margin even in the state’s largest cities, according to The Associated Press.