Link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/24/trump-administration-alaska-bear-hunting-bait

A new Trump administration rule allows hunters to bait bears on federal lands in Alaska with bacon, doughnuts, meat scraps or other human foods typically used to help kill the trophy animals at close range.

Opponents say the practice will cause bears to be more aggressive around humans, and allege that the rule change is a political gift to largely rightwing trophy hunters. The rule replaces a 2024 Biden administration rule that banned the practice, and environmental groups criticized the move as “indefensible and inexcusable”.

“We are discouraged to see this rule come back, specifically the bear baiting piece which is cruel and dangerous, not only to wildlife but the public as well,” said Drew Robertson, senior regulatory specialist for Humane World for Animals.

The US interior department on Friday published the rule on the federal register, and it will take effect in mid-November. It marks the latest in a series of rule changes at the state and federal levels since 2023 that allow trophy hunters to use what critics say are barbaric and unethical practices to kill animals.

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Yeah bait them with human food thats a great idea you fucken dolts. "Augh! Why are these bears trashing my town!?"

Trophy hunters must be dicks. Hunting has always been about the skill and the bush craft while these rich mates of Demented are hooked on murder and blood. Should go to a farm and shoot a cow or something.

I know why this isn't usually done but a part of me thinks that bears do deserve being baited by bacon, even more so if it's their last meal. Animals have taste buds too.

Big hunter guys need to bait bears into their camp site because walking around in the woods is scary and hard. They probably hire someone to collect and process the carcass for them; I'll bet they're in and out of bear habitat in a couple of hours. They probably don't even have to carry the rifle themselves.

All to make gun-brained dentists and chiropractors feel like they hunted a bear.

The full pork cop diet, I see.

You know I have ate bear a few times and for the life of me apart form population control I see no need to kill them.

Ya but will any be left after Trump eats it all?

:whew: I came in here to see if anyone else was gonna make a cop joke, and have to do one if nobody had, but you saved me. :)

Now they can blame citizens and not data centers for the bears leaving the (now deforested) forest.

r/NotTheOnion

I think every hunt should be conducted with a musket. If you miss and it runs, be a better shot. If you hit/miss and it attacks you, don't be an asshole that shoots animals for sport.

Honestly, I don't really get it as a whole. It seems very weird to go out of your way to kill things. I don't like fishing either. Idk, to each their own but it seems hardcore a bit and not really in a good way. It feels very mean spirited for a sport.

Obviously that doesn't include subsistence hunting and the fill your freezer once a year for cheap crowd.

There's already a muzzle loader season in a lot of places. Some places designate a season for things like muzzle loaders and crossbows, some will group them all together with auctioned bow permits. Typically you put bow season first because once guns start firing, animals get wary of human sign very quick. The ones that don't are already harvested and in someones freezer.

They do! High fence hunts in Texas. You can buy any farm raised exotic animal you want and shoot it from behind a fence and have it butchered on site in a box truck where they'll package and get it chilled so you can ship it back home.

Those people still take pictures of the animal, still take a trophy, and still call it "hunting". It is the equivalent of spending 25,000 dollars to shoot a jersey cow.

Crossbows? Are you sure? I know there's bow season, but I've never heard of hunting with a crossbow.

I mean I'm sure it's been done, just not nearly as much as regular compound bows.

Trump can't stand the sight of blood. He can't even eat a steak cooked less than well done. I can't imagine him ever handling raw meat, let alone butchering an animal.

A hunt isn't always successful. The hunted often gets away, sometimes hurt badly. Either way, the animal connects the dots and expects bad things to happen when they again encounter human food and humans together. But this time it might be an unsuspecting person met with a highly aggressive bear that expects danger and attacks the person.

Yeah my dad hunted exclusively with a crossbow

A lot of things of course come down to individual state and sometimes local laws/regulations

But crossbows are definitely very popular for hunting in areas where they're allowed.

My state lumps them in with the regular archery season, wouldn't be at all surprised if other areas have a separate crossbow season.

We also have a muzzleloader season, and a season specifically for flintlock muzzleloaders (as opposed to muzzleloaders that use a percussion cap)

Ugh
Feel like a big man because you can line up a shot? Try hunting with spear at least maybe the beer belly will go away

The majority of hunters and fishermen I know, which may not be representative of them as a whole, are in it primarily to supplement their food budget

Not that they don't enjoy it, but the enjoyment comes mostly in the same kinds of ways they enjoy camping and hiking and such- being out in nature, sometimes with friends, seeing wildlife, etc.

A lot of them also come at it at least partially from a conservation standpoint. In my area deer are pretty overpopulated and they do need to be kept in check, and I don't think wolves and mountain lions are going to be reintroduced to my east coast, largely-suburban area anytime soon.

And from an ethics standpoint, if you're going to eat meat, I feel like there's something to be said for eating wild game that got to live a free natural life as opposed to factory farmed meat. As well as knowing where your food is coming from and being willing to do the dirty work yourself, a lot of people are really disconnected from where their food comes from and don't fully appreciate that meat comes from a living animal, and at least the hunters I know really try to respect that, regarding it as something almost sacred, and do their best to make sure that it's not going to waste.

Some places only allow crossbows if you have a disability that keeps you from using a bow.

Does anyone else remember that libertarian run town in I think Maine or something where it became a total disaster because bears were everywhere?

Except with boars, use a fucken landmine if you want seriously fuck them hogs. They're more durable than most cars and are viscous boar hunting is a community service in my book.

Grafton, New Hampshire

During this time, the town's population grew by about 200 people (about 20%); nearly all of the newcomers were men

My favorite quote from that article lol

I hunt for pest control but also food to reduce my footprint. It's enjoyable in some ways—out in nature, clean kills, etc.—but mostly it's stressful come actual kill time and I feel bad every time. I often apologise for some reason because it just feels like the right thing to do. And it is so easy to kill with a gun, so fucking up a clean kill is really distressing. I'll quickly finish the job, but end the day because I feel like the biggest piece of shit for fucking up something easy and causing suffering.

"Trophy" hunters aren't dicks, they're genuine psychos. They don't feel things like the rest of us do. Even in my situation where it's a numbers game on population control, so lots of killing, hunters don't go numb to it. Trophy hunters were already numb before they even got into the "sport".

Haha noooo. There'll be a lot of fucked up animals limping around. When hunting, you want everything to be as precise as possible. Could be the best marksmen in the world, you still want as high precision a firearm as you can afford.

They're not even putting the donuts and bacon down themselves. They pay some guide company for a hunt, and the company will place the bait and tell the hunter where/when to go. Then they fly back to wherever they come from and don't have to deal with the consequences of getting bears used to human food.

Personally I think it's pretty stupid to ban crossbows when gun season is right around the corner. iTs uNsPoRtInG bitch so is camouflage.

Real men would be chasing them down with spears.

If only that mattered. The best hunters are like the golfers who can sink putts with a shovel. I have known hunters, including the most loud and proud red blooded American 2A all the way high dollar rigged professional trophy collectors, who are in my opinion dogshit shooters. The best are only there because the other options are chicken or vegetarian. They can get more done with something their great grandpa bought from the sears catalog.

Nobody said it had to be a smoothbore musket.

I theory this could select for bears that are already attracted to human food.
This does remind me of the stories about the libertarian town of Grafton (that failed as they all do) where they were having serious problems with bears. Libertarians didn’t want to pay taxes or have odinances on trash collection so the bears showed up to eat the garbage, including the cat litter full of toxoplasma gondii, and some people were actively feeding them. Including one lady who was feeding them dozens of donuts in the middle of town. People were getting mauled.

Spear and knife. That's it.

Second place goes to

After a rash of lawsuits from Free Towners, an influx of sex offenders, an increase of crime, problems with bold local bears, and the first murders in the town's history, the Libertarian project ended in 2016.

We should be convincing trophy hunters that humans are the ultimate prey. Especially ones holding lofty titles, like CEO, Chairman orPresident.

Aren't rifled muskets called... rifles? Or is there another kind I don't know of?

"The move comes after Alaska and federal officials in recent years started allowing sport hunters to hunt big game with controversial practices, like shooting bears from helicopters, shooting swimming caribou from motor boats, killing wolf pups in their dens and using artificial lights to draw bears out of the dens to kill them."

Disgusting.

I don't understand why this administration is so ghoulish. I can count on one hand the amount of things they've done that weren't directed at hurting someone, or something in the world, and just generally making life more miserable for everyone.

Real men go bear hunting at the local dump. /s

There is a spear and unconventional hunting weapons season in some places. There are people hunting down deer with spears. There are ethics issues as to their ability to deliver a consistent, clean kill to the animal.

I know a place in Texas like that. Apparently George Bush Jr had a place there too. Remember the code to the gate too, probably change by now. Guy try sell me his lawn care business in there. But he fuck that up. He thought great idea to keep number of mows down was by not watering the grass. Hence killing these rich fucks grass. Looking back now good fuck those people.