Bear baiting request becomes a source of contention

A petition presented to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board, a body composed of hunters, anglers, hounders, and trappers, has sparked a public controversy. The petitioners are the Vermont Bowhunters' Association, and their request was for the Board to change Vermont rules to allow bears to be hunted by baiting and to extend the bear season by seven days. The Conservation Commission of Starksboro, VT brought this to the attention of the Association of Vermont Conservation Commissions and thus it arrived at the in-box of the Thetford Conservation Commission. Now they have to decide if they have a position on bear baiting and whether they will send a letter to the Fish and Wildlife Board.

But first, what does bear baiting consist of? According to Wikipedia, "The term "bear baiting" may be used for the hunting practice of luring a bear with bait to an arranged killing spot. The hunter places an amount of food, such as raw meat or sweets, every day at a given spot until the hunter notices the food is being taken each day, accompanied by bear tracks. He then chooses a day to await the bear, killing it when it arrives to feed."

An entry in Bear Hunting Magazine elaborates further: "Bears will work really hard to get small amounts of goodies out of a hole in a barrel. The longer it takes them to get their fill, the more time they spend at the bait. One of the ways you create an active bait site is by having interaction between bears at the baits. This causes them to stay nearby and the competition really improves the odds that a big one is going to be there during the day. The longer the bears are at the site, the more interaction you have. … By positioning the opening in the barrel at a 90-degree angle to the treestand (the elevated platform concealing the hunter)  you increase the odds of getting a broadside shot on a standing bear. Perfect. Even with 2-3 bears hitting the bait, 30 gallons will last two days if I really stuff it full of pastries and trail mix in alternating layers."

The reasons to go to this considerable amount of preparation may be found at sites like ArcheryTalk: "Bear baiting is the best and most accurate way of judging size, sex, presence of cubs and overall condition." For some hunters, shooting a large trophy bear may be a goal. And while it is legal in Vermont to shoot a female bear with cubs, many hunters prefer to avoid this. Getting a better look is key.

Baiting is easier than trying to hunt bear at large, since black bears are crepuscular animals, meaning their peak of activity is at dawn and dusk and not during daylight hours. As stated on Bear Hunting.com, "The most important thing to consider in baiting is being consistent in all you do which helps put the bear at ease and will cause him to lower his guard “… and come to the bait in broad daylight.

Other hunters contend that baiting isn't all it's cracked up to be. "It is not easy no matter what you're hunting, especially bears 'cause they are so nocturnal. I think it is silly how folks slam others for baiting, calling it easy and lazy, it is nothing like that, and very rarely pans out."

Even so, baiting offers another convenience — tempting bears to come closer to roads. It is less onerous to set up the heavy barrels of bait near the edge of the woods, and if the hunter meets with success, dragging out the dead bear is also less of a chore.

Predictably there has been a backlash against the petition, starting with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife's own bear biologist, Jaclyn Comeau, who raised several objections. Providing bears with quantities of high-calorie, non-native foods may contribute to abnormally large litters of cubs. Artificially elevated food consumption allows female bears (sows) to accumulate more than the necessary fat reserves to support pregnancy and lactation, with increases in the number of cubs from the normal 2-3 to as many as 5 or 6.

The mingling of bears at close quarters at a bait site increases disease transmission. Notably, sarcoptic mange, an emerging and often fatal parasitic infection, is appearing in Vermont's black bears. Cases in the Northeast have increased significantly since 2020.

Conservationists in Starksboro also voiced serious concerns in a letter to Fish and Wildlife Board and Commissioner Jason Batchelder. They noted that providing artificial food in the form of bait disrupts natural foraging patterns. A predictable food source causes normally widely dispersed bears to concentrate in one area, increasing risks of disease transmission and territorial fighting between these habitually solitary animals. Bear cubs quickly become accustomed to relying on bait rather than learning to forage for natural foods. This can teach them to seek out human food, resulting in human-bear conflicts that don't end well for the bear. Indeed there is broad consensus among bear biologists that baiting increases food-conditioning and conflict potential.

Baiting alters the behavior of bears in other ways. These animals make their mark on prominent trees by biting, rubbing, and stripping bark to advertise their presence to other bears who pass that way. When bears are concentrated at a bait site, this behavior is intensified, resulting in serious tree damage and death of trees beyond the bait site. Up to ten percent of trees within a research plot in a forested National Park in Canada were killed in this way. Other effects of bear behavior changes due to baiting are increased soil disturbance and reduced tree seedling regeneration, shifts in vegetation toward disturbance-tolerant and invasive plant species, and chronic alteration of the surrounding habitat as a result of repeated annual baiting.

Even a few hunters, on sites such as Archerytalk.com, are voicing concerns: "Is woodsmanship and outdoor skills slowly disappearing from hunting now days? It seems like the ‘hunt’ part of hunting is slowly disappearing. Most people today almost exclusively hunt directly over food plots, bait piles (depending on state), timed feeders ...

"It’s not only just about woodsmanship some really don't even take the time to learn all they can about the animals they pursue. We have become an instant society everybody is looking for that shortcut that magic in a bottle."

Members of the Vermont public have also chimed in. A letter to Vermont Digger put it thus: "Baiting bears undermines their instincts and survival skills. It turns a magnificent creature, struggling to find food and navigate a challenging environment, into a target … stripping away the dignity and respect that wildlife deserves. It’s a cruel exploitation of an animal’s instinct to forage, and it reflects a profound disconnect between humans and the natural world … our humanity is reflected in how we treat those who cannot speak for themselves … Let us choose empathy over exploitation …”

In a drier tone, the Starkboro Conservation Commission expressed it thus: "Management policies should rest on ecological science and public trust doctrines, not short-term hunting convenience … bear baiting undermines Vermont’s goals of maintaining ecological balance, reducing conflict, and supporting ethical wildlife practices.  … Intentional food provisioning alters bear behavior, inflates local populations, and perpetuates problems that Vermont has successfully managed to minimize through education and coexistence strategies."

Thetford — is it your turn?

Public Comments should be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday May 19, 2026, for the meeting on Wednesday May 20, 2026, when the Fish and Wildlife Board will decide on the bear-baiting petition. 

Unfortunately there is no email for the Board as a whole, you have to send to email addresses of individual board members through this link: Email or call Vermont Fish & Wildlife Board members.