Oregon ballot measure targeting hunting raises questions for Maine

By Al Raychard

Certain things in life scare me. Some of the things are rather silly and personal, like running out of coffee or what would happen if the brew gets so expensive I can no longer afford a cup. I don’t know about the rest of the human race, but I think I’d go a bit crazy. If there’s any guarantee in life other than taxes and dying, it’s that I need my caffeine.

Other things are far more serious and scarier on a deeper level.

A few months back I did a write-up on Maine’s rich outdoor traditions, in particular hunting and fishing and how blessed we are to have them, what it would be like if both somehow disappeared and that hunting and fishing in this state should never be taken for granted. I like to think hunting and fishing will be around forever, especially since our first-in-the-nation Right to Food amendment was enshrined in the Maine Constitution. It included the right to harvest food, often interpreted to include hunting.

But not entirely I guess. 

In 2024 the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled Maine’s Sunday hunting ban does not conflict with the Right to Food amendment. And as is well known, our traditional methods of hunting and trapping bears have been challenged not once but twice, in 2004 and again in 2014.

So as much as I like to think otherwise, there is no guarantee hunting and fishing as we currently know them will be around forever.

What got me thinking about this recently is what’s going on out in Oregon. Years ago I fly-fished the Deschutes River below Bend for steelhead. It’s a magnificent stretch of water with impressive numbers of wild trout and runs of summer steelhead. But fishing the Deschutes — or anywhere in Oregon for that matter — along with hunting could be dramatically altered if Initiative Petition 28 comes to pass.

Initiative Petition 28, or the PEACE Act, short for People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty Exemptions, is a current proposal in Oregon. The gist is this: It would remove exemptions in Oregon animal cruelty statutes and, as opponents argue, could criminalize practices involved in hunting, fishing, livestock slaughter, animal husbandry and animal testing.

Reports out of Oregon say organizers are working to qualify it for the November 2026 ballot. The signature requirement to qualify is 117,173 and the filing deadline is July 2. As of mid-February, reports had the effort nearing the mark.

Call me an extremist, a conspiracy theorist or whatever, but is what is happening in Oregon happening here in Maine?

For what it’s worth, I think I’m justified in believing Maine’s hunting and fishing are under constant threat. Perhaps subtly, in quiet behind-closed-doors ways and sometimes right in your face where the whole world can see. 

We beat the bear referendums twice and I have little doubt something similar will roll around again, perhaps worded differently but the same monkey in a different suit. Those rich, largely out-of-state individuals and organizations who would like to see hunting, trapping and perhaps fishing disappear are just biding their time, waiting for the right timing and for the demographics to change.

And they are changing.

The older generations who lived to hunt and fish are disappearing. The younger generations don’t seem interested in filling the void, or at least not enough of them do.

Maine’s population has climbed to a record high of about 1.4 million and is up about 3.8% since April 2020, according to recent Census estimates. A lot of that growth has been driven by people moving here from other states.

And they all can vote. Don’t laugh. It’s not a question of whether what’s happening in the Beaver State could happen here in Maine, but when.

That’s why it would be a good idea to get wildlife management issues out of the referendum process. Let’s face it: Most of the people who vote on these things don’t know diddly about how to manage wildlife or understand that hunting, trapping and fishing are proven and viable management tools.

They believe what they see in 60-second sound bites on TV and it’s typically biased and false. Let the professionals in the wildlife department do what they are trained to do.

And here’s another thing: Perhaps it is time to enshrine the right to hunt and fish in the Maine Constitution as proposed in LD 820, introduced by state Rep. Elizabeth Caruso early in 2025.

Twenty-four states have done so.

In May 2025 the measure passed the Maine House but fell short of the two-thirds threshold needed to move it forward as a constitutional amendment. That should tell us something. I encourage Rep. Caruso, who I understand is running for state Senate, to keep at it and try again and again until the powers in Augusta deem fit to let the people decide, which is where this truly belongs.

Maine is changing, folks. It has changed. And unless steps are taken to forever protect some of our valued and long-standing traditions, they will change too.