Although voters rejected the proposed ban on bear baiting, hounding and trapping, the supporters of the proposal say that they’re not giving up. They still aim to change the way bear hunting is done in Maine.

On Tuesday, Maine voters rejected the referendum with 54 percent of voters opposing the ban.

In the wake of a months-long battle over bears, leaders from both sides of the debate have come to a consensus on one thing: “The fight’s not over.”

“The fact that the vote was so close suggests that the defeat of Question 1 is not a mandate to continue these unsporting and cruel hunting methods,” Yes on 1 campaign director Katie Hansberry said Wednesday morning. “We hope state officials will come to the right conclusion down the line that these hunting methods have no place in bear management and sportsmanlike hunting.”

The Yes on 1 campaign group, Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting, and their chief backer, Humane Society of the United States, plan to continue their efforts to ban the Maine bear hunting practices that they’ve deemed to be cruel, unsporting and unnecessary.

Leaders of the No on 1 campaign coalition, Save Maine’s Bear Hunt and Management Programs, are prepared to continue defending the hunting practices of bear baiting, hounding and trapping.

“I feel like that folks that represent No on 1 need to learn from our mistakes, analyze the Yes on 1 side’s strengths and make sure we improve,” said David Trahan, executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and a leader in the No on 1 campaign. “This was way too close a vote for me to be comfortable.”

“Before any group or legislature begins to contemplate what’s next, I think everyone should take a deep breath and think about what just happened,” No on 1 campaign manager James Cote said Wednesday morning. “The people of Maine told us they want to keep all three methods. I think there needs to be respect for the wishes of the voters.”

This winter, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is scheduled to formally review the state’s big game management program, including bear, deer, moose and other furbearers.

“It will include a strong public component, including public hearings,” Mark Latti, DIF&W spokesman, said Wednesday morning.

Historically, the department conducts these species assessments every 15 years. The last assessment was completed in 1999.

Cote said the assessment will be an opportunity for people to propose any changes to the state’s bear hunting regulations and management tools.

Leading up to that assessment and management plan, which occurs every 15 years for various wildlife species in Maine, Cote said that Save Maine’s Bear Hunt and Management Programs will be working to educate the public about hunting practices.

“We need to take extra steps to show people what actually occurs in the woods,” Cote said. “It’s incumbent upon us to show the public what these practices really entail.”

Several voters interviewed by the Bangor Daily News on election night voiced that they wished they could vote on the three hunting methods — baiting, hounding and trapping — separately because they feel differently about each method.

“There really does seem to be a consensus building concerning the trapping and hounding of bears — people feeling those practices to be unacceptable, even many opponents of Question 1,” Hansberry said. “Lawmakers in the hunting lobby need to be addressing this or they’ll be inviting another initiative in short order. The fight is not over.”

Cote said the No on 1 campaign received a tremendous amount of support from the trapping and hunting dog community. And Cote himself hunts birds with a German shorthaired pointer.

“When you begin to infringe on the rights of people to be out in the woods with their pets, which is a longstanding tradition, I think there’s more passion there and a greater relevance to the everyday member of the public than Katie [Hansberry] realizes,” said Cote, who advised lawmakers to step with caution when considering any changes to Maine’s bear hounding regulations.

“From my perspective, that we would even consider negotiating away someone’s business in this state at this point, is ludicrous,” said Don Kleiner, executive director of the Maine Guide’s Association, referring to the bear guides that use hounds and traps.

At this point, state biologists say that all three methods are necessary to control Maine’s growing black bear population, which has risen 30 percent in the past 10 years, following a nationwide trend. Using all three methods, hunters are still struggling to meet the state’s bear harvest goals.

“From the beginning, it’s been our message to trust our Maine wildlife biologists,” Trahan said.

One of Hansberry’s biggest concerns about the race was the involvement of the DIF&W in the campaign to oppose the referendum. State biologists and game wardens appeared in multiple anti-ban television and online advertisements and represented the No on 1 campaign in public debates. The DIF&W also designed a special website page in opposition to the referendum, including a slideshow that spelled out the reasons for the department’s stance.

“It was an unprecedented use of state resources to try to influence the outcome of an election,” said Hansberry. “We’re definitely going to continue to seek for the legislature to address the issue of state agencies funnelling resources into campaigns. It’s a really important issue for transparency.”

In late September, Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting filed a lawsuit alleging that the DIF&W acted illegally in its campaign opposing the referendum. The lawsuit asked the judge to order the department to remove all political content from its website, repay any funds to the state that were used in campaign activities and remove television ads featuring DIF&W staff.

To speed up the process, Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting requested an emergency injunction, which was denied by Superior Court Justice Joyce Wheeler.

“Restricting speech on contested public issues is directly contrary to the public interest, which favors a robust and dynamic public discourse,” Wheeler said in her 15-page decision. “It is [for] the voters, not the plaintiffs or the courts, to assess the relative merits of conflicting speech.”

Wheeler said that DIF&W is “mandated to ‘encourage the wise use of [wildlife] resources.’”

Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting’s appeal to the Supreme Court also was denied. The group then took their case to the Maine Ethics Commission, which rejected the arguments in a 3-1 vote.

“We just want to thank the people of Maine for supporting our bear management program,” said Latti on behalf of the DIF&W.