and a strong cup of coffee

Bear season officially ends this week for me (Nov 28 for those who wish to still hunt them) I went out a couple of times and while this happened , I did not fill my tag this year. Luckily, I have a decent amount of bear meat left from last season so I will be in good shape for a bear roast when its -10 and snowing. Again, I helped Steve with a couple of bait sites and I wanted to post what our sites looked like.  He knows I took these pictures, so while I won't tell you where they are or what sort of secret ingredients we used, I can show you the basic set up. Anatomy of a bait site (from left to right): 1. Deer hind quarter tied to a tree 2. Milk crate with sweets 3. 55 gallon drum filled with assorted donuts 4. Milk crate with disgusting beaver parts Over the course of the season, we had bears who preferred the sweets and those who preferred checking out the meats.  When you think about it, bears eat some pretty gross stuff but boy is bear meat delicious! Next...

With these trail camera photos becoming a common occurrence, I am excited and still a little nervous for bear season.  I have developed a very healthy respect for these animals and there is still some caution when I head into the woods to hunt one. Even if I do not get one, these photos are a clear indication that the bear population in Maine is healthy and thriving.  These are not small bears and by the time we head into the woods, they will have had a few more weeks to put on weight.

After Steve and I tweaked the bait sites and refilled the barrels and crates, we waited to see if and when the bears returned to the sites.  Three days after we were there, Steve went back to check: bam! bears at both sites and no food left. Other hunters have been seeing the same thing; lots of bears (many of them good sized bears) are already hitting the bait sites hard this season.  When Steve and I were up the first time, we noticed that the blackberries and raspberries were not looking good.  Without a lot of fun and rain, the berries were small and still very green.  The temperature has dropped a few times down to the 40s at night which could kill some of the bear's food source.  There are plenty of apples, which we know the bears are eating but those will only be around for so long before they are gone. This unstable natural food supply means that the bears will need to come to the bait to get those missing calories before they den up. I hope that I...

I shoveled bait from a 55 gallon drum into five gallon buckets and we loaded up the truck. Eight buckets of assorted types of bait, two buckets of disgusting beaver and some secret ingredients and we were off to check the bait sites for the 2015 bear hunting season! A truck full of bait ready to go Steve and Lorri had set up the two bait sites a few days before and we were eager to see if any bears had found the sites.  The monsters from last year were not killed so we knew that there would be some big bears around. We hiked into Site 2 first and carried buckets and tools in.  Steve led the way and we anxiously kept peaking around the corner to see if things has been moved.  They had!! We dropped the supplies and did what almost every hunter does - check the trail cameras! At least two different bears had come in to check the bait.  The 55 gallon drum that is hung up with cables is about three feet off the ground.  Any bear whose back is at leas...

Right? While I get the blog about my last hunting adventure edited and ready to go, I wanted to share with you some photos from those same sites that show a trap that Steve has put out.  According to Maine law, you must check your trap every day and as a result of Steve doing this, we are getting some huge bears coming in. An argument that those who are in favor of banning our effective hunting methods like to make is how easy it is to get a bear.  As you have seen, we have a lot of bears coming into the sites.  And they are big bears!  Bait is helping to bring them in but (spoiler alert) I have not shot a bear.  Neither have Steve or Lorri.  The bears are there, are coming in almost daily but unless you are there at the right place and right time, no bear for you! Here are some great photos that PROVE that just because you put a trap out, it does not guarantee you a bear.  The trap is clearly seen on the ground in that perfect circle. Bear jus...

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 since I knew where we would be, what the light was like and where I'd be sitting.  This time, I would be sitting with Lorri and Steve would go to site 2. It was a beautiful day with sun, a light breeze and 68 degrees.  Cool and ideal f...

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 for the day.  I was a pro at this point . It was hot - 86 degrees and no breeze but regardless of all of this, it was opening day of bear season!  We had lunch, put everything in the back of the truck and were off to bait sites in the wood...

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 happy.

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 with this great strawberry smelling stuff.  That, I don't mind being around. It was another day in the woods baiting with Steve.  We also had his girlfriend Lorri and their friend Lance with us. We headed yo a new-to-me spot where Steve ...

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 hunting. 

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 you ever want to cut sweets out of your diet help out with preparing bait barrels.  For more than an hour, I opened packaged sweets that had the overall smell of a cheap bar. The smell wasn't what got to me, it was the fact that they c...