During my lifetime, Maine’s bears have evolved from big pest to big game species. In the 1950s, when I was a child in rural Maine, bears were hunted year-round. One of my earliest childhood memories is that of a bear breaking into my grandparents’ barn to kill a calf.

The 450-pound bruin was shot several days later breaking into a neighbor’s pigpen. The state paid a bounty on that bear and many others from 1837 until 1957.

Forgive me for chuckling at Mainers for Bear Hunting’s designation of bears as “beloved, majestic species” – a description that my grandparents and many rural Mainers would scoff at.

Tugging on our heartstrings is the only way they can win on Question 1 because science is not on their side.

With a population of 30,000 strong, bears are not endangered, threatened, or declining. Our biologists are doing a fine job. I’m voting “no.”

Ron Joseph

Waterville