Maine’s Bear Hunting Season Approaching. Biologists Have Yet to Post Last Year’s Harvest Data

According to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) website, bear hunting season begins in just about a month and hunters can begin setting out their baits on August 1. I would imagine excitement is building and plans are being made. HOWEVER….

I wonder if hunters actually care about the effort that is supposed to go into compiling data and crafting a report for bear hunting, as well as deer and moose? Does anyone else bitch, moan and complain that it’s been nearly ONE YEAR and the Department has failed to make available last year’s bear hunting harvest data?

Getting any data from MDIFW is like looking for hens’ teeth, so essentially when there is nothing to review and compare except one annual harvest report, it is important to have that information. Some of us want to know the effects of the bear, deer and moose harvest. We just are not getting this information in any kind of timely manner.

We live in an age of instant information and yet, as we progress through this age, it certainly appears that MDIFW is headed in the other direction. I would like to know why. Are biologists so busy counting bats, bees and piping plovers they are not allotting time to compile harvest data? Maybe MDIFW believes they deserve a pass on this one because they worked so hard last year fighting the environmentalist freaks who want to end bear hunting?

Many things happen when there are failures like this. One thing is that sportsmen become suspicious. When sportsmen become suspicious they think terrible things and soon begin talking terrible things. Of course this does not bode well for the Department and in particular the head biologists from each game department. And let’s not forget the commissioner.

Another issue is that while the negative talk is going on, writers, like myself and serious hunters and “watch dogs” do not have the data to make comparisons in order to form opinions as to direction the managers are going in taking care of bears, deer and moose to protect our investments.

The reality of it is, the only explanation there is for the failure to do the job is that they have failed to do their job. I don’t want to hear about lack of funds. That’s BS. The department is scurrying around writing reports so they can be held hostage to the Federals at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and obtain grant monies to keep biologists counting bees and bats, as well as pay salaries and retirement benefits. If they have time to pimp for prostituted money, certainly they should be making time to compile a report and get it out to Maine citizens.

MDIFW can look so great at times, like they did during the bear referendum, and then appear as incompetent slobs when it takes a year to post a harvest report.

I think MDIFW and the leadership there, need to take a deep breath for a minute and once again try to realize where their money comes from. It makes little sense to me that the majority of their means of making a living comes from license buyers and yet their actions appear to be focused on taking care of the environmentalists, some of whom are offering extortion money in order to play on their playing field. Perhaps the paying sportsmen are being taken advantage of?

This is a recipe for failure and a looming disaster that all sportsmen should not be supportive of.