After we struck out on the first night, we planned to go out again and get us a bear. The photos that were were seeing showed incredible bears coming in all the time. It was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time. The day before I was going to drive up to meet with Steve and Lorri, I got a text from Steve: "GET MORE BULLETS." We had a behemoth bear coming in on a regular basis and when he compared it to his 420lb bear, he figured it was 500-600lbs. This bear is huge! 500-600lbs probably. Maybe an old Sow by the look of the back stomach area that could be worn out from nursing cubs? Big head, nice barrel like frame. This is an incredible, healthy Maine black bear. I was more comfortable now...
I was nervous. Ridiculously so. I was seeing the big bears that we had coming in on the cameras at each site and I knew that I had to make a damn good shot if a bear came in. I has shot three times to get my gun sighted in and knew that it was right where it needed to be - and I was comfortable making those shots. I packed all of my clothes, which were washed in anti-scent detergent and properly washed and stored with anti-scent dryer sheets. I showered with my anti-scent soap and put everything into the car. As I sat in the driver seat of the car going through my mental checklist, I realized that my gun was still inside. A quick run back inside and I was really ready to go this time. At Steve's, I prepped some bait...
BIG BEAR! No one is scaring him off of that bait That is a normal sized milk crate! 300-400lb bear looking at you! My preferred bear: one that comes out during the daylight My shooter. He came out at 6pm. I would gladly shoot him and be...
Lance and Lorri putting some bait into an empty bucket The good smelling bait... mmm strawberry I was sure that beaver was the grossest smell ever, but I was so wrong. It is easily rotten lobster bodies - the kind that are put into black trash bags and left out in the sun and forgotten about. I dont think any of us didn't gag, hold our breathe or pull our shirts up over our noses in an attempt to stop the smell from penetrating into our nostrils. We added it to one of the beaver carcases and for the first time, I really had to question a black bear's eating preferences. Of course, there is also the 'good' smelling bait that looks like it could be a bunch of $7 granola bars from Whole Foods dumped together and mixed...
Here they come! Site 1 and 2 now have bears coming in. Steve said that they are very good looking bears and healthy, too. These are from the trail camera memory chip that Steve puts into his camera. He then takes these photos, of the camera screen, with his phone. Don't worry - in a few weeks there will be a photo of the real thing 😉 ...
Steve went back out to the sites four days after we had and there were pictures at site 2. Not the best pictures but there are bears around and coming in! We have a couple more weeks until the hunting season starts and then it runs for 14 weeks. I'm trying to work my schedule to get out and help bait one more time before I head into the woods on the last week of August to try my hand at bear...
On left, unopened sweets. On right, the goodies ready to be put out. I was lucky that it was only 73 degrees out! I would have melted after we headed to the first bait site. I carried buckets filled with bait and some secret ingredients to keep the bears coming back again and again. While I was glad to not be carrying the bucket with the cut up dead beaver, I was reminded of my position down wind of it after every few steps. Making a bait barrel While I support bear hunting as it is now in Maine, I did not know a lot about it and felt that if I was going to support this fight, I should know what I was talking about. So, I told Steve that I would try everything, including preparing bait buckets. If...
Hello to all of my non-hunting friends! I am writing this letter to you because I want to encourage you to become educated on one very important topic that you will be seeing and hearing more about. It is the issue of bear hunting in Maine. In the upcoming months, there will be a lot of political spin on the bear issue in Maine. I want you to feel as though you are getting a real picture of what the issue is before you cast that ballot next November. Am I biased? Yes. I do not bear hunt but I know enough about it to have a very strong opinion about this issue. I am hoping that as my friend, you will grant me a few minutes to hear me out on the issue. First, when you are hunting, there is no...
Once again, Maine finds itself facing a battle over our bear hunt. The Humane Society of America tried to get a motion to outlaw bear baiting through the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee at the State House and it fell flat. As a result (and as they threatened to do), they are trying to collect enough signatures to take the issue to the voters. The last time they did this, Mainers won out with 53% of the vote. We appreciate our biologists, bear hunters and those that make a living off of the hunting industry. Below is a blog that I wrote for the Bangor Daily News. I have included the link here so you can read the comments that people left and see how uneducated people are when it comes to...
