I got on the road about 7 am Sunday morning to head up to Mapleton ME. I met up with David Kretschmar (Hunterdfk)in NH and had a great conversation and breakfast. I met him at the JLMBH in 2010. It was great to see him again. As usual, I was the last one to arrive in camp. It was good to meet some new hunters and get reacquainted with others that I've shared a camp with before. A majority of us in camp were Black Widow shooters, along with a compound guy, a shotguner (recovering from an arm injury, or he would have been touting a long bow), and a crossgun shooter.....I wont go any farther on that one.
Toby Essick and Roger Fulton along with Toby's daughter Kennedy were on hand with the rest of us Widow shooters. This was my third bear hunt with Roger and Toby, they don't get any better than the BW boys.
I was excited to sit the stand that I took my 365 lb bore a year ago. I was also itching to take out my new KB X that Roger and Toby gave me for taking last years bear. I sat the "Plane Crash" for 3 consecutive afternoon hunts with just one 125 lber that showed up around 7:30 on Tues hunt.
I sat two other stands and the bears were a no show. It really didn't matter to me, I just loved being in the woods of northern Maine. After a summer of working crazy and long shifts, that was just what I needed.
I had to cut my hunt a day short to get back home to work. but not before our Lobster feast on Friday night. Toby and I have been making it somewhat of a annual thing up there. I think in total, we bought around 70 lobsters. 9 were for me...I ate 3 and brought 6 home.
I said my good by's around the campfire Friday night. Its always tough for me to say good by after a great week sharing a hunting camp. Spending a week with guys, getting to know them and making friends. When I woke up early Saturday morning, Tony and I had coffee, then Roger and Toby came in to say good by. My 2013 Maine bear hunt was over.