Why is bear baiting prohibited in some areas?

During the early 1990's there was a statewide push to eliminate bear baiting, hound hunting, and spring bear hunting across Idaho.  It went to the ballot and was defeated, but the Department made some adjustments to the rules as a result of the effort.  Some areas we did not allow baiting because of mixed land ownership, lots of private land, and lower bear numbers.  We maintain bear baiting in areas where we have high populations of bears and especially in areas where we would like higher harvest of bears.  Unit 8A and 10A bear populations have historically been lower than adjacent units in 10 and 12 and bears were managed differently there to reflect the population size and management objectives.