Bear hunting furor: Don't swallow that misleading bait

I've been "politically correct" in this column for too long and it's killing me, so I'll venture back into the minefield of Valley outdoor politics.

Let's talk bear hunting. If you attended the Alaska State Fair this August, you undoubtedly found the anti-bear baiting booth. The folks staffing that booth were collecting signatures to have an initiative outlawing bear baiting placed on the fall statewide ballot.

I did not talk with these folks, but if this initiative is being handled similarly to other statewide initiatives, these staffers were being paid to collect the signatures. It's also quite possible they were not Alaskan residents. I have encountered nonresidents working in other initiative drives.

You also should have found the Alaska Outdoor Council booth at the fair. The folks manning this booth were Alaskan resident volunteers and handed out flyers detailing the facts about bear baiting in Alaska. I know this because I was contacted to help staff the booth, but declined because of my "press credentials."

On the national scene, the state of New Jersey has approved a bear-hunting season for Dec. 8-13, the first such season in 33 years. The season was approved to help manage the rapidly growing black bear population in New Jersey, which has lead to a dramatic increase in human-bear encounters on the state's highways and in their neighborhoods.

Also, a federal law to ban hunting bears over bait on federal lands was recently defeated in the U.S. House of Representatives by a vote of 163 for versus 225 against. Hunting bears over bait was recognized as a legitimate hunting method and, under certain conditions, as the only practical means of controlling the harvest of bears in specific areas.

And, finally, if you haven't heard, a lawsuit has been filed in state court claiming that managing Alaska's wildlife populations by initiative is unconstitutional. Assuming this suit works its way through the system to a judicial opinion, the results could have major, long-term ramifications on the whole issue of wildlife management in Alaska.

Another topic that aggravates me is this whole mess of eliminating the Fish and Wildlife Protection Division within the Department of Public Safety. The former "brownshirts" now wear the same blue as the state troopers and, apparently, are being expected to perform state trooper duties in addition to or, at times, instead of their normal wildlife enforcement work.

I am told that wildlife enforcement troopers were pulled off routine sports fishery enforcement during the last weekend of this past king salmon season to handle traffic accident reports, burglary, and domestic violence calls along the Parks Highway.

I have information stating that the "brownshirts" were recently polled to find out how many were trained in the use of radar guns and breath-analysis equipment, hardly the sort of tools necessary to investigate a moose kill or to determine if a waterfowl shotgun is properly plugged.

The wildlife enforcement troopers have also been told they will now be included on the trooper stand-by list for after-hours callouts. Any overtime incurred on "blueshirt" work will come out of the "brownshirt" budgets. The money was allocated for wildlife enforcement work, not traffic accident investigations.

We were told the consolidation of the divisions within DPS would not affect wildlife enforcement. It doesn't look that way to me.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist living in Big Lake.