We need bear baiting: Province
George Pollard has lost count of the bears he’s had a hand in killing over the decades — with a personal record of 13 bruins in one day, it’s safe to say his gun could easily boast hundreds of notches.
Now 86-years-old, the retired Alaskan hunting guide is still lamenting the one that got away: Not an animal, but a style of killing that Pollard fought to have banned in his home state.
“It’s lazy and unethical — it’s not hunting at all,” Pollard told the Sun on Wednesday.
He’s talking about bear baiting, and in 2004, Pollard spearheaded a losing battle that resulted in a state-wide vote on the controversial hunting technique.
With nearly 90% of the population in Alaska considered pro-hunting, the practice of luring bears with pungent food and then shooting them as they eat is well known, if not always well liked — even by hunters.
In Alberta, it was almost unknown.
Though legal here, bear baiting is barely heard of outside of hunting circles — or it was, until Vancouver Canucks forward David Booth started bragging this month about killing an Alberta bruin.
“In Alberta trying to kill a few bruins. #unleashthefury” and “Just killed a Chara sized bruin! 7ft black bear - 21in skull” were the tweets that triggered raised eyebrows and a war of words in this province.
Booth’s fame spread the boasting far beyond the hunting community, and when Booth thumbed his nose at disgusted critics by posting a full video of the unsportsmanlike kill, the debate exploded.
It wasn’t the hunting, but the method that most objected to.
People called out the $4.5-million NHL star for taking part in a killing condemned by many as a cowardly, and lazy style of hunting — if sitting in a tree really counts as hunting.
Outlawed in B.C. and banned in 18 of the 26 American states where bear hunting is allowed, bear baiting upsets many because the bear is distracted by an unnatural food supply and then ambushed.
Opponents aren’t just left-wing animal rights activists, as some in the hunting community like to pretend.
Like Pollard, many hunters loathe the practice, too.
“I would hope it’s a matter of time until it’s stopped everywhere,” said Pollard, who scoffs at the notion bear baiting is the only way to ensure a clean kill.
“Wait until the berries are ripe — that’s a pretty good way to hunt them.”
Those who support the practice, which in Booth’s case meant waiting near a bait of oats, molassess and meat, say it ensures sows and cubs aren’t killed because the shooter gets a good look first.
Those who call it unsporting say good hunters do that anyway — and it teaches bears to depend on humans for food while robbing real sportsmen of animals that no longer roam and forage.
The biggest issue though, among hunters and non-hunters, is the fish-in-a-barrel outcome.
“To me shooting any animal over a bait is unethical, at least in a sporting context,” wrote one hunter on an Alberta outdoor forum, where many have debated the issue.
“It gives an unfair advantage to the hunter and assuming the hunter has some minimum level of skill the outcome is somewhat certain.”
In Alberta at least, there’s little the new awareness will do to change the current rules, despite calls from angry citizens outraged over Booth’s smug bragging.
Dave Ealy, spokesman for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, says with 40,000 black bears in Alberta, all styles of hunting are needed to keep the bear population under control.
“Our main concern is that the kill is made as humanely as possible,” said Ealy. “As to what’s fair, we have hunters out there with greater ability than others.”
Meanwhile, in Michigan, Booth’s family is questioning how fair the attacks on David have been, given that his hunt was perfectly legal.
“No one is able to decide whether it’s right or not, and provinces and states have been debating this for years,” said Michael Booth, David’s father.
David himself is laying low, not falling for the bait of defending his actions in public.
Booth’s dad says his NHL star son shouldn’t have to. “What he was doing was legal — what’s happened since seems not quite fair. It shouldn’t be a story.”
It wouldn’t be, if Booth wasn’t so proud of his questionable kill.
We need bear baiting: Province
George Pollard has lost count of the bears he’s had a hand in killing over the decades — with a personal record of 13 bruins in one day, it’s safe to say his gun could easily boast hundreds of notches.
Now 86-years-old, the retired Alaskan hunting guide is still lamenting the one that got away: Not an animal, but a style of killing that Pollard fought to have banned in his home state.
“It’s lazy and unethical — it’s not hunting at all,” Pollard told the Sun on Wednesday.
He’s talking about bear baiting, and in 2004, Pollard spearheaded a losing battle that resulted in a state-wide vote on the controversial hunting technique.
With nearly 90% of the population in Alaska considered pro-hunting, the practice of luring bears with pungent food and then shooting them as they eat is well known, if not always well liked — even by hunters.
In Alberta, it was almost unknown.
Though legal here, bear baiting is barely heard of outside of hunting circles — or it was, until Vancouver Canucks forward David Booth started bragging this month about killing an Alberta bruin.
“In Alberta trying to kill a few bruins. #unleashthefury” and “Just killed a Chara sized bruin! 7ft black bear - 21in skull” were the tweets that triggered raised eyebrows and a war of words in this province.
Booth’s fame spread the boasting far beyond the hunting community, and when Booth thumbed his nose at disgusted critics by posting a full video of the unsportsmanlike kill, the debate exploded.
It wasn’t the hunting, but the method that most objected to.
People called out the $4.5-million NHL star for taking part in a killing condemned by many as a cowardly, and lazy style of hunting — if sitting in a tree really counts as hunting.
Outlawed in B.C. and banned in 18 of the 26 American states where bear hunting is allowed, bear baiting upsets many because the bear is distracted by an unnatural food supply and then ambushed.
Opponents aren’t just left-wing animal rights activists, as some in the hunting community like to pretend.
Like Pollard, many hunters loathe the practice, too.
“I would hope it’s a matter of time until it’s stopped everywhere,” said Pollard, who scoffs at the notion bear baiting is the only way to ensure a clean kill.
“Wait until the berries are ripe — that’s a pretty good way to hunt them.”
Those who support the practice, which in Booth’s case meant waiting near a bait of oats, molassess and meat, say it ensures sows and cubs aren’t killed because the shooter gets a good look first.
Those who call it unsporting say good hunters do that anyway — and it teaches bears to depend on humans for food while robbing real sportsmen of animals that no longer roam and forage.
The biggest issue though, among hunters and non-hunters, is the fish-in-a-barrel outcome.
“To me shooting any animal over a bait is unethical, at least in a sporting context,” wrote one hunter on an Alberta outdoor forum, where many have debated the issue.
“It gives an unfair advantage to the hunter and assuming the hunter has some minimum level of skill the outcome is somewhat certain.”
In Alberta at least, there’s little the new awareness will do to change the current rules, despite calls from angry citizens outraged over Booth’s smug bragging.
Dave Ealy, spokesman for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, says with 40,000 black bears in Alberta, all styles of hunting are needed to keep the bear population under control.
“Our main concern is that the kill is made as humanely as possible,” said Ealy. “As to what’s fair, we have hunters out there with greater ability than others.”
Meanwhile, in Michigan, Booth’s family is questioning how fair the attacks on David have been, given that his hunt was perfectly legal.
“No one is able to decide whether it’s right or not, and provinces and states have been debating this for years,” said Michael Booth, David’s father.
David himself is laying low, not falling for the bait of defending his actions in public.
Booth’s dad says his NHL star son shouldn’t have to. “What he was doing was legal — what’s happened since seems not quite fair. It shouldn’t be a story.”
It wouldn’t be, if Booth wasn’t so proud of his questionable kill.
We need bear baiting: Province
