Catch & Release Bear Hunting
Why is a black bear different from a brook trout?
Too many hours of casting with a fly rod had my right arm feeling dead by the end of the summer. My doctor tells me my rotator cuff is torn. The aching makes it hard to sleep. Being awake gives me time to wonder about this and that – like the differences between a bear and a fish.
Late in the fishing season and early in the political season an animated debate was brewing between those proposing a ban on bear hunting with traps, dogs, or bait and those who think the bears of the state are being hunted and managed just fine, thank you very much.
The warden service claims we are safe because of their current scheme. As a warning of what could happen they show us a photo of a scuffed up Florida woman who tangled with a bear. But, I drive the back roads a lot and don't often see a bear. I don't feel threatened. I guess I'm not really buying the safety issue. I think I have more of a chance of being mauled by a dog than a bear. I think there is money being made in Maine by offering bear hunts. That's what's being protected.
Opposed to the current practices of bear hunting, “Out-Of-State” money and interests have produced films to illustrate the cruelty and heartlessness of it. One of those film clips shows a panicked bear struggling to free itself from a trap. The implication is that it just isn't sporting. That only 3% of money driving this campaign is from Maine bothers me. Why aren't outraged Mainers rushing to send in their dollars?
Isn't trapping a beaver similarly cruel? Or coon hunting with a dog? Or shooting a deer under an apple tree? Are we ready to ban these? I can understand the argument that this could be a first step toward banning more hunting and trapping.
Can I vote for none of the above? If I can't rely on the arguments made by the two sides of the referendum issue how do I decide for myself? What more do I need to examine?
I love to fish. I must think fishing is morally okay or it wouldn't be so much fun, would it? Or is morality independent of fun? In fact, I go to a brook where an unsuspecting fish lives and I dangle a little chunk of his favorite grub in front of him - with a sharp hook hidden in it. If I'm lucky and he's not, he ends up in a panicked battle to escape me and my net, just like the bear. Tricking the fish is the interesting part and the fish's panicked battle to escape is the exciting part. The heart of the sport itself.
In the end I usually let the fish go. “Catch and Release it's called.” It's the modern fishing practice. Is it ethical or is it just a way to maintain the fish population so they'll be there when I want to catch another one?
Back to the fish and the bear. Where's the difference? Are they just two points on an ethical continuum? Let's consider the moral question. Zarathustra, often considered the father of morality, characterized the world as a battle between good and evil. There were good animals that shouldn't be treated cruelly or killed. Bears were among that group – along with dogs and cows and roosters. And there are evil animals. If you're a Zoroastrian, step on an ant any chance you get. Kick a cat. Whack a snake. But wait a minute, I have two very nice cats and there are other cultures that prize cats and are happy to kill and eat a bear. So that way of sorting things out is just cultural.
How does our culture regard bears? I think that's the question. Should bears get some special dispensation? Are they better than beavers, fish, or a racoon? Is it because of a bear's similarity to us that they should get a pass? Because they like donuts? Or can stand on their hind legs? They're mammals? Because they can be cute? And because they don't eat their young like a brook trout will?
I don't hunt bears. But I do fish. I don't think it's up to me to judge the morality of bear hunting. So I vote no. But this issue was important to Maine and it turned out the voters.
Maine voter turn out in 2014 was the highest in the country, just a fraction under 60%. So, on a practical level, the debate generated citizen involvement. That's good. As a public service we should do it again. Let's have a bear referendum every election. But, next time the proponents for change ought to use fishing as an acceptable model for bear hunting.
How many signatures would it take to get “Catch and Release Bear Hunting”, on the next ballot? Here's how I see it working. You just sit up in a tree and dangle a donut on a hook in front of a bear. The next thing you know you've got a bear, probably an unhappy bear, on the other end of a string that you are holding on to. He's struggling and jumping around while trying to drag you out of the tree and you're hanging on, trying to stay in the tree. That's only the “catch” part. The best part is the “release”. It was “catch AND release”, remember? Getting the hook out of the bear's mouth, then convincing it that it's okay, and it should hurry on along to the next blueberry patch will take real skills. Only a modern Davy Crockett would be any good at it. Keep your GoPro turned on, it'll be very popular on youtube.
Let's stick to useful and fun, morality can be awfully tricky.