2010 Maine Bear Hunt

[Bill Carlsen]

I think that this post is going to follow along the lines of a Charlie Lamb/Guru type since the story of this hunt actually started last year. I doubt that I can tell the whole story in one sitting.

Laura and I have just returned from out annual Fall bear hunt with Hunter's Point Guide Service in Portage, Maine. When we left for the hunt I was on a mission. I had hunted what we call the "Gravel Pit Bait" last year. I had a nice bear come in and lay at the bait barrel early on the first day. The bear came in a wee bit cautiously, as they are apt to do, and when it finally committed to the bait what I was presented with was a nice bear with its head in the barrel with its closest leg reaching into the barrel. If I took the shot I would have to miss the edge of the barrel by an inch or so but insofar as it was only 4:30 PM I still had plenty of daylight and a bear that was apparently going to hang around a while. I was wrong. The bear ate a bit and got up, walked off and never came back. Nor did I see any other bear that afternoon or for that matter for the rest of the week. Every time we checked the bait it was always clean so I stuck it out for the whole week only to have the bear reappear the last evening. It walked in, gave the bait a glance and walked out of my life.

When I got home I called my friend Todd Gregory (Birdbow here) and told him that he needed to hunt that bait the next week as he was going up to hunt moose and had about 3 days to play with the bears before the moose hunt. He and his wife, Debbie, sat the bait, Todd got a "gimme" shot but the bear pulled out of the barrel just as he released and his arrow landed harmlessly under the bear's chest. When Todd told me his story I vowed I would return. I was on a mission and it was going to be this bear or, perhaps, no bear at all.

Dinner's ready so I will continue when I can get back.

[Margly]

This sounds interesting      

[Guru]

Nothing wrong with a "Charlie Lamb/Guru type" story    

[elknutz]

Good hook... I'm waiting, don't leave for elk hunting for a week so you should have it done.

[Huntrdfk]

Loking forward to this one Bill, I already like the beginning.


David

[Bill Carlsen]

Well, after dinner last nite it was cool enough to cut some grass so that's what I had to do since we were expecting rain this morning.

As some of you know my wife is doing Eldon's Jandreau's website so I was able to keep in touch with him almost the entire year. In Maine, you are allowed to start baiting bear on August 1 which gives the bears a chance to find the baits and get comfortable with them well before opening day. Eldon is one of the few guides who actually starts his baits on day one. Many wait until a few days before their hunters arrive. One of his new guides this year, Phil Allen, who is also a trapper and Master guide himself for 10 years asked Eldon if he could guide for him for no pay...he simply holds Eldon in that kind of high regard.  In exchange Eldon is letting him use his bait sites for trapping purposes after the hunt ends. I asked Phil about it and he said that Eldon in one of the few guides he knows that works so hard during the month of August to make sure his hunters have a good hunt.

So, as August wore on and I got inquiries about bear hunts and moose hunts (Eldon's emails come to me,,,he's great with bears, not so much with computers) I got weekly reports about the bear activity. Natural food for the bears was depleting quickly and the baits were being hit quickly, many the  same night as the baits were set.

As our departure date neared I asked Eldon about the Gravel Pit Bait. He told me that he had seen a big bear on the trail leading into it and it was being hit almost every night. I asked if I could put my name on that stand and he said "fine...no problem".  So, perhaps I would get a chance to revisit the bear that snubbed me last year. Only two things concerned me. One was the fact that I had recently put new Border HEX 5 limbs on my bow. I was not completely comfortable with them and it showed at the Muzzy shoot...too many close misses. The other concern was that the long range weather forecast indicated a very warm first week with temps predicted to be in the 90's all week long.

I need to upload pics to the Photobucket site so I can add some color to this thread. I'll do that and continue a bit later on.

[Huntrdfk]

Keep it coming Bill......


David

[VTer]

tick tock tick tock    Bill, you out there!

[Shawn Leonard]

WELL???? Shawn

[daveycrockett]

Well???? again....  

[Over&Under]

Really like the direction this is going....      

[Bill Carlsen]

Well. the rain we got yesterday was over by the time we got up so I had things that had to get done in the afternoon.

Anyhow, at the Muzzy i was frustrated with the newness of the limbs on my DAS. The HEX 5's just weren't  there and I was worried as our bear hunt was only weeks away. I got in touch with a few guys on another site that shoot the set up I had and I readjusted the tiller of my limbs to zero and bumped the weight of my broadheads up to 250 grains. Everything in the shooting department had fallen into place. I was ready, Laura always is.

The drive up to Maine was uneventful.We stopped at the new Cabela's in Scarborough, Me. to get out licenses and ran into John Sheheey from Vermont who was also on his way to Eldon's with his dad and a dad's friend Dave who was on his first ever bear hunt. Both John and his dad, Mike, both were shooting longbows and Dave was sporting a compound.

As we drove up it was clear that the weather in Maine had been as dry and hot as it had been for us on the coast of NH. Swampy areas along the Maine Turnpike that were typically lush were dry and brown and did not have their usual green, refreshing colors. Everything looked dried up and crispy....and the outlook was for more of the same...hot and dry followed  by more of the same. We wondered how it would affect the hunt. As it turned out, the areas we hunted were so dry that I never once had to use my Thernacell for mosquitoes...the bugs, anyway, were not part of the picture.

We arrived at Eldon's just before dinner Sunday afternoon, got our cabin, hung out our hunting clothes to air out and in the adjoining cabin was our friend, Tom Gyger, who flies over each year from Switzerland to hunt. Tom shoots a 55# Dalaa and in the previous three seasons has not take a bear, although he has had several shots. Tom is an excellent shot, but because he cannot bowhunt in his own country his encounters with wild animals is minimal and shooting at a black bear is somewhat unnerving. We in the US are fortunate that we can hunt and interact with the wildlife we do as much as we do. When you meet and get to talk to hunters from Europe all the frustrations we face here and complain about seem trivial to those men who cannot hunt at all. But....on with the story.

Monday after breakfast Laura and I met out Guide,  Phil Allen. Phil has been a Master Guide in Maine for 10 years and has a camp in town. His main business is tree work and he lives in Gray, Maine, about four hours to the South. He knew Eldon and asked to help out in exchange for trapping in the areas of Eldon's baits after the bear hunt. Phil, Laura and I went out to set up out safety ropes and bow hooks. Laura was placed in Bait #2  on the Irving  road. In previous years Laura has been treed for sveeral hours after dark. Once by a rampaging bull moose and another time by a trio of year and a half year old cubs whose mom had left them on their own and insisted on fighting over Laura's bait well after dark. Laura loved that stand and was anxious to get into it. Once I got it set up for her she took a few practice shots and she was ready.

Then we went to my Gravel Pit bait and went thru the same routine. I left feeling very confident and satisfied with my set up. I have a left knee that "Pops" very loudly when I am sitting and have to stand for a shot. If an animal comes  in while I am sitting, which is more often the case as I get older, and I attempt to stand 9 times out of then I can spook a deer or bear as I attempt to stand when my knew goes off like a firecracker. I had asked Eldon and Phil to set my stand so that if I had to shoot from a sitting position I could do it. They had gotten it set perfectly for me and except for the heat I felt comfortable and ready.

It is now time for breakfast and the next installment will be my first evening on the stand. It was quite unusual.

[Kip]

Damm you Charlie Lamb you have created another monster.Just kidding of course really enjoying this Bill.Kip

[Bill Carlsen]

Because of the location of my bait site I am able to drive my own truck to the gravel pit and park there. From there it is about 1/3 to a 1/2 mile walk into my stand on an old logging road. Because the temps were in the 90's I really thought about what to wear for the evening hunt. I am one of those guys who sweats easily. That is one reason I like to use chlorophyll....I think it really helps me, in particular. I decided to wear a light pair of cotton camo pants and a plain white tee shirt down to the entrance to my bait trail. At that point I would remove my sweaty tee shirt and put it into a plastic bag and slip on a light weight X-static long sleeve tee shirt. These are the undergarments made with silver in the fabric which is supposed to counteract bacterial action and reduce odor. I have found over the past 5 or 6 years that these garments have worked for me and my sweaty body. Then I put on my safety harness and then over that a mesh leafy suit and a pair of light weight camo gloves with leather palms.

It was 4:00 PM when I  heard Phil's truck coming down to the bait site. I had been there since 3:30 and everything was calm, the breeze, what little there was of it would swirl at times and the bait barrel had been hit and was empty. Phil arrived with the bait, replenished the can and moved it into a position so an incoming bear would come in broadside unless, as they sometimes do, the bear decided to turn the barrel and watch the incoming trail that I walked in on.

Here is Phil positioning the barrel.

 

I sat in eager anticipation as I listened to Phil's truck wind its way up the old logging road. I was very surprised, pleasantly so, that there didn't seem to be any mosquitoes. Things were pretty quiet except for the activity of a few chipmunks, red squirrels and a few grouse that kept me alert as they scampered beneath the canopy of second growth directly under my stand. I checked my watch. It was 4:15. Last year the bear I had come back to shoot showed up early at 4:30. At 4:30 I was still alone with the small critters. That all changed at 4:45 PM.

[Mudd]

aaaarrrrggghhhh!!!

This brings back memories of "Dallas", my wife loved that show and every episode was a cliff hanger...lol

Good story Bill, keep it coming please!!!!

God bless,Mudd

[bornagainbowhunter]

tap tap tap....      

[Bill Carlsen]

As the sound of Phil's truck dimmed as he made his way back up to the gravel pit I was also considering that I had gotten a new camera from Laura for Father's Day. It seemed to be very quiet in its operating modes when we played with it around the house and when the kids showed up. I wondered if it would live up to its potential in the bear woods. The small  game activity told me that all was well and in all likelihood no bears were evident at the moment. The small critters are pretty good at disappearing when the bears get close. So I decided that I would try out the camera. I took it out and started to focus it and take pictures of the bait barrel. I was surprised when the flash had gone off. Laura told me that it had a Dusk/Dawn setting for low light conditions and it was pretty dark where I was despite the time of day. One chipmunk apparently noticed me and sounded the alarm. His hole was under a root at the base of my tree stand. I threw a few grapes at him hoping to quiet him but despite a couple of almost direct hits he kept it up. I decided to sit and do nothing. Anything could happen at any time. About 20 minutes passed and I realized all the small critters had quieted down and disappeared. The quietness was, in a work, deafening. Time to put the camera away and my bow was still in my lap. The camera went back into its belt pouch and as I gripped my bow a year and a half year old cub walked up the little hill in back of the barrel and without hesitation went to the bait in the barrel. If you look at the picture of Phil at the barrell there are two trees right over his back and a small knoll/hill in the shadows behind his butt. The small bear would take a piece of pastry and lay down on that knoll and eat. The last thing I wanted was to see a cub. Usually that means a sow is nearby and usually that raises my anxiety level to unacceptable heights. After about 15 minutes the cub was still alone. I presumed it had been weaned and mom was not going to show up. My heart rate and blood pressure went way down once I felt certain of that. I decided that it was time to take a few pictures. The bear was cute and would pose just right in its travels to and from the bait. I got the camera out and was ready to take a picture when the bear actually went almost all the way into the barrel and came out with what I assume was a huge cinnamon bun. He took the pastry back to his eating spot and suddenly bolted up the tree that is seen right behind Phil's back. He stayed there for several minutes and didn't move. My first impression was a bigger bear was coming in. But several minutes seemed to go by with no other appearances. I was so surprised by the bear going up the tree I never thought to put the camera away. So much time had gone by and the bear was still on the tree I decided that some anomaly was happening and something other than another bear has spooked it. I could see the bear clearly and decided it would make a good picture. I raised the camera, got it focused and as I was about to push the shutter button I saw black legs just over the top of the camera walking in to the bait area. It was too late, The flash went off as I hastily tried to return the camera back to its pouch with the long range lens still protruding. Ever try to get a camera like that into a small space while a nice black bear is coming your way. I thought for sure the flash would alarm him/her and  my efforts to get the camera tucked away would end in getting busted.

What happened next was a big surprise. When the smaller bear went up the tree he dropped his cinnamon bun. When the larger bear showed up it walked over to the cinnamon bun and picked it up. The smaller bear then slid down the tree snarling and growling and all but pounced on the bigger bear who was taking his meal. The larger bear paid the smaller bear no attention at all, picked up the bun and walked off into the brush and out of sight.

Still upset, the smaller bear descended the tree and I could see it trying to gather its wits. It finally settled down, went back to the bait, ate for a while and sauntered off. It was now about 5:15 or so. I thought that that evening's hunt was over. Neither bear seemed to indicate that they were suspicious that I was there and since the reports were that the bait barrel was being cleaned out every night I tried to be optimistic about what might lay ahead. The interaction of the two bears settled one thing in my mind. If the bigger bear came back I was going to shoot. If it was a sow I had some doubt that the smaller bear was its cub. I had never seen a sow take food from its own young before. Nor had I ever seen a sow with cubs stop and eat. They have always let the cubs eat their fill before they vacated the bait site. In addition, the cub was large enough to make it on its own. In fact, I was certain that being on its own was already part of its story.

The evening was still very young and it is always unpredictable with bears. If the larger bear was the bear I was after I doubted that I would see it again that evening. It was obvious to me from the previous year the bear was educated about baits and being hunted. It snubbed me twice last year and my friend Todd had shot at it and missed. Everything about the bear I had just seen seemed to indicate it was the one I was after. Same size, same approach, a hit and run, same color muzzle. The game was on.

[Bill Carlsen]

For about 20 minutes all was normal. The squirrels and chipmunks were active and were in and out of the bait barrel. Then off in the woods, about 40 yards out and too far to see I heard what sounded like a bear snarling. It wasn't a "woof" and it sounded for a few seconds as if two bears were going to get into it with one another. It could also mean I got winded but the direction of the breeze seemed to be in my favor. For another 10 minutes or so nothing happened and I do not remember any further activity from the small creatures. Something seemed to be up. What, I did not know. Nothing happened after the snarl.

Then it started all over again. The small bear (I assumed it was the same one) sauntered in from the same direction  as he did earlier. He took a piece of bait, took it to the other side of the barrel and laid down behind the barrel and ate. He did that on and off for about 10 minutes. Then those black legs were  walking towards me again. The larger bear stopped on the slope in back of the barrel quartering towards me. The shot angle was not good and the bear was clearly testing the wind. It seemed like it wanted to go to the barrel but was uncertain. The small bear held its ground as the bigger bear checked out the area.

The position the bear was in had the bear angled slightly down hill with its left front leg lower than its right leg. If the bear was to leave it would more than likely turn to its left and that would put it broadside. I got ready to shoot. While I put tension on the string I was also thinking that if the bear decided to go for the bait I could then slow down a bit and let it get into position for a broadside shot. While I was weighing the options the bear decided for me. it started to turn to its left and for whatever reason it had it just stood there offering a perfect broadside shot at about 20 yards. Having already decided to take that shot if it presented itself the Razorcaped Beman MFX was on its way. The sound of the arrow hitting solidly behind the shoulder and a bit low sounded good....like shooting at a pumpkin. The lumenok disappeared in what appeared to me to be the area of the heart. She took off quickly and the small bear went up the tree. I listened for a crash...nothing. Listened for a death moan...nothing. I could see my arrow sticking in the dirt directly behind where the bear had been standing the lumenok giving testimony to what I was sure was a heart shot.

Then the small bear came down the tree. It went to the bait barrel and ate some more. It was as if nothing had happened. After about 5 more minutes the little bear sauntered off and I looked at my watch. It was 6:00 PM.  Phil and I agreed that if I shot a bear I would go back to Eldon's shop and get him or if it was later towards dark I would wait for him and Eldon after they picked up their other hunters.

I snuck out of my stand at 6:15 and walked up to my truck. As I was coming down the hill towards town Eldon and Phil were on their way out to check on other hunters.  If a hunter shoots a bear early they are to walk to a predetermined spot to wait for assistance. As I was approaching their trucks I flagged them down and made a U turn and told them what had happened. We went back to where I shot and the arrow was still there and covered with blood. I hadn't gone to check it earlier as I did not want to disturb the area if for some reason the shot was not as good as it appeared to be. To my surprise, there was no blood on the ground! None after 20 yards, then 40...nothing. Eldon said I must have hit the bear higher and the lungs were still filling with blood. I said, "No, it was a heart shot".  I was bewildered and not very happy at that moment. Then we found where the bear had brushed up against a sapling...good blood. But nothing for another 10 yards or so. Then Eldon found a tiny spot. Then another ten yards and another spot but this time the bear had veered off the trail to the left going towards a hell hole of a thicket. Then we found where she had stopped and this is what we saw.

 

Feeling vindicated I let out a sigh of relief. After that the blood just got better and better looking more like this.

 

For the next 20 yards or so we were almost running along the trail as blood was everywhere.

 

Then it happened. I heard a moan/growl about 20 yards ahead of us in the thicket. Could the bear still be alive 45 minutes after such a hit? I told Eldon and Phil to stop and listen. Then we heard it again. Eldon was afraid if we kept on the trail we might push the bear from what apparently was its deathbed. I could only concur so we decided to back out and come back early the next morning.

We were  back at about 6:30 AM and the bear was right where we last heard it. As is common with bear hunting the bear was a bit smaller than I had guessed but was an adult female in the 160# range. The entrance hole was right where I told Eldon it should have been but when Phil dressed it out we could see that the arrow had passed above the heart by less than the width of the broadhead and went thru the bottom of both lungs. Why it did not go down  quicker is a mystery to all of us. This is the first animal the I have taken with a Razorcap that did not go down in sight and typically most bears when shot where this one was don't make it much more than 30 or 40 yards. I wasn't at all disappointed with the bear...I truly expected it to exceed or be closer to the 200# mark but in my book getting this bear was a big deal. It was personal thing to kill this particular bear. I'll be 67 before this season ends and it seems that every hunt I do nowadays is more special and I seem to savor the moments a bit more than I did as a younger man. I don't take things for granted in the same way that I used to.

Posing at Eldon's:

 

Where the bear died in the woods.

 

[blktail]

Way to go Bill, Congrats! Thanks for that awesome story! I was really on the edge of my seat. Well done.
    God Bless.

[Big Ed]

Very nice bear, congrats!!