Well 2009 can officially be put in the books, and what a season it was! Just as usual, all of our hunting sites went active within the first 48 hours of the pre-baiting season. We had quite a few new sites to build this year to replace losses from winter logging operations, but even those new sites didn’t take any longer than 4 days before they had regular bear activity on them, and I mean heavy activity this year. We didn’t seem to be able to keep enough food out in the woods no matter how much hauling and carrying we did. Seeing all that food disappearing was about the only fun we were having during the early pre-baiting this year because there was just no escape from the nasty rain storms that doused us most of the summer. Finally though, about half way through August the skies parted and the weather turned beautiful and was to stay that way throughout the majority of the hunting season.
A couple new additions were made to our team here at Ross Lake Camps this year. Registered Maine Guide Doug Durfee from Connecticut and a Guide apprentice in training with us, Dan Roeder from Pennsylvania came aboard. Both of these outstanding workers have been past bear hunting customers of ours. In Dan’s case, he has made the return trip to our place 4 times over and has decided his love for the Maine woods, which we helped to introduce him to, is strong enough to make him desire to make a long term commitment to what he has been called to. They joined right in with the rest of us in our great yearly anticipation of opening night….And finally it arrived.
A perfect sunny day allowed the hunters and guides to leisurely frequent the shooting range in morning hours in preparation for the later hunt. Everyone watched the clock anxiously, wishing for lunch hour to arrive bringing hunt time closer. We all survived the wait, and an hour after lunch, hunters clad in camo clothing met with guides in the parking areas to ask the last minute questions and head out to the hunting stands. Ben Bosowski from New Hampshire had the shortest ride, only a mile and a half from camp to his hunting site where I took him up to his tree stand, helped him settle in, and then baited his site for him before giving him the first thumbs up and good luck wave of the year on my way out of his hunting area. What a story Ben had to tell when he was picked up later that evening! He had shot a massive 371 pound bruin that had marched right into his bait barrel and did a spectacular job as his single shot flipped the bear over on its back where it died about 4 yards away from the bait barrel. As Ben was sitting in his stand waiting for the adrenaline to break so he could go lay hands on his trophy, he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Lo and behold it was another bear coming in to feed, and Ben is sure this one was bigger because as he so eloquently put it, “this ones butt jiggled a lot more”. Well, bear number 2 must have certainly been bigger because he marched right over to that bait barrel, picked it up between its paws, and threw it on top of Bens dead bears stomach that he used as a plate until he ate every crumb of food in that barrel.
The next hunter out after Ben was another man in his group by the name of Ken, and this is a great success story. You see, Ken has been an exceptional hunter in his lifetime. His travels and trophies are many. He has taken many record book animals across North America and on safari in Africa. Ken is now fighting a battle against Parkinson’s disease and for him just to be able to make the trip to a remote setting such as ours is a testament to his courage and determination. On the very first day of his hunt Ken was able to make a great shot from the blind we built for him on a beautiful 2 and a half year old bear. Congratulations to you Ken, and please know that your presence here at our camps touched all of our hearts.
Believe it or not we have another similar story. A family, father Harry, son Andy, and Andy’s wife Patty made the trip out to our camps for the opening week of bear season. Their trip was touch and go for a while as Patty had been battling cancer the previous year and in the months preceding their hunt was still beating her opponent down with treatments. Patty was determined though, as this was to be her first bear hunt and something she did not want to miss out on under any circumstances. What a special trip it turned out to be for them and for us when all 3 of them were tagged out. Their threesome of black bears included a 262 lb boar, a 120 lb sow, and a 98 lb boar.
Other highlights from week one include a pair of 198 pound boars shot by Ernie Murdock and Josh Martin, a 170 pound sow shot by Tom Terlecki, and a 152 lb sow shot by Justin Tucker, a disabled Gulf War Veteran. We sincerely thank you for your service to your country. We did have a lot of first time bear hunters in camp this week that haven’t quite worked out all the kinks yet, but we have confidence that all will come out triumphant in the future. Our final numbers from opening week were 16 hunters tagging 10 bears, 5 wounded and lost, and 2 clean misses. There was not a single person in camp without an opportunity to pull the trigger.
Well, we knew going into the second week of season that we were going to have to work hard to repeat the remarkable success that we saw during opening week, but our crew…we’re always up to the challenge. The first order of business was going after the “jiggling butt” bear that Ben Bosowski watched during week 1. I had kept that site active, and was feeding it double all week long. When the new hunters arrived I had 3 in my group with proper weapons that would match up with that stand set up. I explained the situation that had happened the previous week, and asked if any of them would like to hunt that stand for a couple nights even though it had already had a bear taken off it. All 3 hands enthusiastically went up in the air so we drew straws. Mr. Mike Post from southeastern Ohio was the lucky winner and on Monday evening he shot a bear, but it wasn’t old jiggly butt. It was a gorgeous 212 pound sow with a blazing white “V” marking on her chest. Time to shut this site down now after taking the sow, but I wasn’t done with the search for jiggles yet…stay tuned.
Week 2 saw our first group of archery hunters for the season, and they did want to keep things interesting. They were a group of 3 from Iowa, very experienced whitetail hunters and advanced archers. One, Logan, used a modern compound bow with sights and release and he didn’t waste any time taking a very nice 200 pound boar on Monday night. The same night his uncle, who uses a compound but shoots instinctive and with fingers, released an arrow that drew blood, but after a long track through the woods the blood ran out, and hopefully that bear is still running around today. Logan’s father uses the most challenging gear of the group, a traditional recurve bow. On Tuesday night we unfortunately had the same result as with Logan’s Uncle on Monday. Black bears are very wary animals with an anatomy set up a lot different than any North American hoofed animal. They are incredibly challenging to take with modern day archery equipment much less more traditional methods.
Another bright spot from week 2 involves a junior hunter by the name of Tyler Moats. Last year he took his first black bear with us that busted the scales up at over 200 pounds, and this year he took another great one that weighed in at 180. His father Travis and Grandfather Gene also scored on bears again this year, but nobody has beaten boy wonder yet. Hate to tell you Tyler, but sooner or later that lucks gonna’ run out!! This year’s week 2 was somewhat of an experiment for us. It just so happened that we had an extra guide on hand and so we accepted a few more hunters than what we normally take during a week. We had a total of 20 in camp with us. During that week there were 16 bears tagged, 3 wounded and lost, and 1 clean miss. All but a single hunter saw bears and had an opportunity to release an arrow or pull the trigger.
It’s week 3 now, and here we go again! We started off Monday night with some good action as 5 bears were brought into camp that night. The biggest bear that night happened to be both the heaviest one that week, and also the heaviest killed by a bow hunter this season. Congratulations to Steve Gagnon who brought in this 222 pound sow. Not only did he manage to get his bear, he also managed to get the whole thing on video. Other highlights that week were first time bear hunters Mike Corbett and Ed Ponce from Florida who took a 157 pounder and a 173 pounder respectively. The leader of their hunting group is a great guy, and repeat customer of ours by the name of Paul Lauria. He’s managed to take home very nice bears with him the other times he has hunted with us, but this year I guided him myself and he reported not seeing a bear all week. What’s up with that Paul, are you trying to make me look bad or what?! Another group of very special hunters from Pennsylvania including the group leaders who are great repeat customers of ours, a buddy of theirs, and another buddy who brought his son on the trip as well. The group of 5 came, and the group of 5 all left with bears in the coolers. Congratulations Sam, Tim, Greg, Matt, and Scott. Finishing numbers for week 3 were 11 bears tagged for 12 hunters with 3 others wounded and lost.
Into the home stretch, week 4, and we’ve got a mixed bag this time around. 5 hunters in camp with us, 2 trappers from Wisconsin, and later in the week another trapper to join us who was a lucky winner of a September moose hunting permit and he made arrangements to come up 4 days early to try to snare a bear in combo with his Moose. Our weather on Monday was absolutely perfect for bear hunting, mild daytime temperatures that were to take somewhat of a dip into the evening, and just a hint of a breeze as we set the hunters out. I was certain we were going to be doing some dragging and field dressing that night, so imagine my disappointment when no one reported even seeing a bear. The 2 trappers at least were doing something as both of their snares had been tripped that morning. Tuesday morning and again, both of our trappers’ snares had been tripped, but nobody was home in the set. I should mention that we require our trappers to set a minimum of a 10” loop for the snare to tighten down to. This ensures that we only catch the biggest bears, which normally are animals that reek havoc on us anyway, as they are generally giant dominant bears that are only night feeders, and they need to be removed from the hunting areas. Tuesday evening at the hunting stands was a different story. 10 year old Colton Ross, accompanied by his father Rex, was the first to shoot, and a textbook shot he made with his 7mm-08 on his first ever black bear that weighed in at 150 pounds and had a beautiful white “V” marking on her chest. A couple hours later Colton’s mom, Tracy was shooting herself. We only had a few sparse spots of blood, but that didn’t matter a bit when about 30 yards later I walked right up on her 156 pound sow with some of the thickest fur we saw during the season. This was a long time dream of Tracy’s to take a black bear in Maine, and it was made that much more special when her son was able to tag out on the same night. We still had Tracy’s father Don to go, and now Rex would be hunting also.
Morning number 3 and our traps were sprung again with no bears to take out of them. This was a father and son trip, and the son’s first attempt at a black bear and his frustration was apparent. He didn’t realize that the trip was only for the monster bears, and so when he made his afternoon set we allowed him to reduce the size of his snare loop a little. There was one bear sighted on stand that evening by our other hunter in camp, Tom Kent, on Wednesday night, and a monster bear it was. The bear came in towards last light and even though it was still legal the bear never presented a good shot and so Tom made the decision not to shoot. This bear is one I know well. He’s been hanging around the particular area Tom was hunting for about 5 years. I have pictures of him from 2004 that I took while camera hunting after I had already tagged out myself, and I conservatively estimate him then at 300 – 325 pounds. Two other hunters have had opportunities at him in years since, but couldn’t pull it off, and I’ve seen him lumbering across the road on his way in and out of the bait site on numerous occasions over the years. Tom never had another eyeful of him, but one day we’ll get this big boy. Thursday morning young Bernie hit pay dirt when he saw his bear caught in his trap when he got to the sight. It was a 144 lb boar and another one with that beautiful white “V” marking on it. On an additional bright spot, we are certain that this is a clean up of one of our wounded bears from week 1 as we discovered a flesh wound obviously made by a gunshot on the bears neck that was still weeping, and the bear was caught on the same site that the gun hunter had shot him on. This was to be the last night on stand for Rex and Don as the group had to depart camp on Friday. Unfortunately Rex did not see a bear, but with only 10 minutes of legal shooting left a bear came into Don’s sights, and he let a round fly. He finished our bait season off for us in style with the 296 pounder that we happily drug back into camp with us that night. There is still a coup des gras for the week. I hope that no one forgot about old jiggly butt because he’s about to reappear. We did have to shut down the site we had been hunting him on, but in turn I started overfeeding the next 2 closest bait sites in that area to try to draw him into one of those. We still had big Bernie trapping and his set on Thursday night was made on one of those bait sites. On Friday morning Bernie brought in a 388 pound jiggly butted bear to close out our 4th week of the bait season. I just love it when a plan comes together!
We can’t forget about our other trapper, Mark Connor from Illinois, who was our mid week comer. He didn’t get a bear during that week, just a bunch of sprung traps, but he did continue trapping during his moose hunt, and what a spectacular day it was when he caught his 170 pound sow and a few hours later shot an incredible 45 inch spread Maine Moose.
The words Amazing, Phenomenal, and outstanding only begin to scratch the surface of the hunting season that we saw here in 2009. We had a total of 57 hunters and trappers that had sightings of 147 different bears over 4 1/2 weeks. 42 of those bears were tagged and taken home by our customers; 11 others were sadly wounded and lost, and 3 clean misses. Only 2 out of the 57 did not have an opportunity, that’s a 97% success rate on the season for our hunters and something that will be very hard to top…..But I can promise you that we’ll be trying in 2010!
