Group Wants A Task Force To Examine Bear Hunting

Organizers of the failed ballot campaign to ban three controversial methods of hunting black bears in Idaho now want the state Fish and Game Commission to appoint a task force on the issue.

Dr. David Richmond of Clayton, representing Idaho Citizens United for Bears, also told the seven-member Fish and Game Commission their panel should be expanded if necessary to ensure it includes at least two non-hunters.

Most Idahoans do not hunt, and he said their interests should be represented on the Fish and Game Commission, which is appointed by the governor and only recently was expanded from six members.

The coalition sponsored Proposition 2 on the Nov. 5 ballot, which would have banned bear baiting, the spring bear hunt and using hounds to hunt bears. Idaho is the only state among the lower 48 that allows all three methods, but the effort to ban them failed by about 60 percent to 40 percent out of 485,000 votes.

Don Clower of Meridian, head of the anti-initiative Sportsmen’s Heritage Defense Fund, called that a mandate to keep things the way they are.

“These gentlemen say we ought to do what the majority of citizens of Idaho want us to do. Well, by God, I think we are,” Clower said.

He announced plans for a Feb. 22 statewide sportsmen’s rally that will focus on ethics, sportsmanship, hunting methods and hunters’ rights, “and we’re going to involve the non-hunting public.”

But Clower warned that Proposition 2 is only the vanguard of a continuing campaign aimed at the elimination of hunting in Idaho.

“I don’t believe you can compromise with the animal-rights folks,” he said. “If you think for a minute that you can compromise with the opposing side and throw them a bone, you’re sadly mistaken. They’ll take what you give them and keep coming back.”

Still, Commissioner Keith Carlson of Lewiston said a survey should be conducted to find out just what voters who supported Proposition 2 were telling wildlife managers, and how many of those who opposed the measure might favor eliminating one or more of the targeted hunting methods.