The new face for hounding, baiting, and trapping is more laughable than the supposed merits of these practices themselves. Ted Nugent is a one-time rock-nroller who traffics in hate mongering and depravity.

His constant spewing of hate speech and so-called values are repulsive — not to mention often illegal.

— He was caught illegally baiting deer in California.

— He illegally killed a bear in Alaska and knowingly possessed and transported it.

— He supports canned hunting and owns highfenced hunting facilities, one in Michigan and one in Texas.

— He hunts endangered animals in Texas, during the off-season, including Père David’s deer and Barrasingha.

This is the poster-child for cruel and unsporting — and just plain lazy — methods of killing our black bears.

Sportsmen don’t use dogs, jelly donuts, or leghold traps to hunt bears; they use fair chase still-hunting or stalk and shoot methods. Mainers don’t use these cruel methods any other game species in Maine. Why treat our iconic bears with so much less respect than our deer or moose?

I find Ted Nugent disgusting. And I find it disgusting that any Mainer would share a platform with him. But this isn’t just about me — every Mainer should be offended by his blatant disregard for sportsmanship and basic human decency.

Mainers deserve better than practices Ted Nugent would align himself with.

Stuart Cushman
Bath