I am writing in response to Chris Schadler’s opinion column about bear hunting (Monitor Forum, Oct. 6).
Schadler described a somewhat negative experience with houndsmen and has a right to her opinion. My intention is not to dispute that personal opinion but give readers a broader view of bear management in New Hampshire.
Prior to the 1960s, bears were treated as vermin. They had essentially been extirpated south of the White Mountains and were on thin ice in the North Country.
Today, we have a very healthy population across the state, numbering around 6,500 animals. The public should realize that every dime used to manage these animals back from the brink came from hunters, either directly through license fees or in the form of federal grants to the Fish and Game Department funded by excise taxes on hunting equipment.
These same sources, which are the foundation of what is known as “The North American Model of Conservation,” still cover all of our sportfish and game management costs today.
It is a model where the consumptive user pays for conservation and restoration of game species of fish and wildlife, to the tune of approximately $16.6 million a year in New Hampshire, over 50 percent of our entire budget.
Schadler is clearly not impressed by hounding or baiting. However, these practices have a long tradition in New Hampshire. They are highly regulated, as is most hunting in the state, and they are useful tools in bear management, helping us keep control over the bear population by assuring enough animals are harvested to maintain socially and biologically acceptable population levels established in the Department’s Game Management Plan.
Additionally, as anyone who has trained and managed a pack of dogs or tended a bait site can tell you, it is not exactly like catching fish in a barrel. There is both skill and hard work involved in being proficient in these hunting methods.
For further information on bears, hunting in New Hampshire, and N.H. Fish and Game, go to wildnh.com.
Thank you for your interest.
(Glenn Normandeau is executive director of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.)