Using EKM’s outline suggestions I’m going to tell our story.
Preparation? My best friend and I had decided to take our kids on a bear hunt to Maine. We had decided on a dog hunt considering the attention span of young hunters. My nephew had lost his father to lung cancer a couple of years earlier, so I invited him also. I even talked my 65-year-old mom into going along as camp cook. (She never cooked anything; Mike and I did all the cooking.) There would be the three kids and five adults on the trip. My son was shooting a .243, Torin, my buddy’s son was using a 7mm.08, and Kenny, my nephew was using the old reliable 06. We spent a lot of the summer practicing, and I felt we were in good shape.
Trip up? I can’t remember everything, but it was about 14 hours to Jackman Maine. We drove it straight through New York City, what a mistake that was. The trip was rather uneventful.
Accommodations? We stayed in a very nice handcrafted cabin next to a lake, but not actually on the lake. They provided us with the use of their outboards for the lake. These people really open up their home to their clients. One day they strapped my son up and he raced dirt bikes with their son.
Distance hunted elevation, terrain, and cover? We hunted the immediate area surrounding Jackman. He has a number of baited stands he rents from the logging company. This is where we would attempt to strike a warm trail. Cover? Most of it was pretty dense, consisting of a mix of hardwoods and pine trees.
Weather, temperature? I guess I already said it was hot! It was probably close ninety a couple of days. We were hunting September 10-14, 2001.
Strategy vs. reality? As a guide he will tailor your hunt to your capabilities. He knew he had three kids, and did a great job of accommodating their needs. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I know I wasn’t disappointed.
Misadventures? About mid-day Monday, we were coming out of the woods in Randy’s truck. One of the dog handlers wanted Randy to put another one of the other dog handler’s dogs on his truck. (We had to different packs.) Randy did it reluctantly. Somehow the dog got some slack in his lead, and jumped of the side while still attached. Unfortunately, Randy ran over the dog. We get out and Randy gets bit as he tries to help untangle the dog. The dog’s hurt real bad, and we know there’s nothing that can be done, but to leave him there to die. The dog owner understood the situation, and the only thing he wanted was his tracking collar back. That guy went out and got his collar and left the dog there. After Randy came back from the hospital from getting a shot he went out and brought the dog home and buried it. I was impressed.
The hunt? Monday we treed two bears, one of which my nephew shot. It was a boar with a nice white triangle on his chest. I think it weighed about 175 pounds.
Tuesday, my son was to be the shooter. We started out by treeing a really big boar, about 285 pounds. The guide, and I are tying the dogs back so he doesn’t drop on one of them when my son shoot him, and down comes the bear. My son’s 11, and not quite up to the task of taking him at this point. Randy understands, and tells my son not to shoot. We finally run the bear down again, and the dogs have him bayed up in a rock formation. We start to get close and here comes the bear again, running probably 20 yards from us. Randy says to be patient, we’re going to kill this thing. Finally this fat things starting to get worn down. The dogs have him again in another rock formation. Randy tells my son he’s gonna have to go up there if he wants that bear. My son has to get within 10 yards of that bear so he can get a shot. Randy has him by the back of his collar ready to pull him out of there in case something goes wrong. Trust me, this is intense. He pulls the trigger, and it’s over, hit him at the base of the skull. We spent most of the day cutting a path in and back out for Randy’s 4wheeler. When we returned to base we found out that the two twin towers had been hit. We later found out that the plane that went down in PA was about half an hours drive from home. It got even stranger when CBS reported that they thought some of the terrorist had entered the US through Jackman Maine. Those were some tough feelings to try and deal with. My son had just killed his first big game animal, but that second compared to everything else that was going on.
On Wednesday my buddy’s son killed another nice boar, about 175 pounds. That hunt was about as uneventful as Monday’s. The only thing about that hunt that worried me was when the guide told him to shoot it in the head. Randy wasn’t at the shooting range on Sunday when we shot in our guns. Torin was shooting a group of about 6 inches at probably fifty yards. Randy had cut him a “y” stick for a prop. I was standing behind them filming the entire thing. You can see on the video the way the gun keeps passing back and forth. Torin squeezes off the shot, and the bear drops like a rock. God must have been with us that day.
Processing? Randy had a gurney, which we used to carry the smaller bears out of the woods. I was impressed with how well this worked. I did the caping myself since I knew how we wanted them. The rest was quartered and put in the freezer until we left for home.
Wrap up? I would recommend this guy to anyone. On Wednesday he ask me if my mom would want to kill a bear? I told him it was a little more than she could afford being retired and all. He told me to take her and get her license, and if we could connect, she was in. I don’t know how many people would do such a thing? We tried the next two days but just couldn’t make it happen. In my book these people are the best. One other funny thing that happened during the hunt was the day we ran into some other bear hunters. We pulled up beside a truck with a dead bear in the back. Randy ask them what was up? He knew the guide that these people were with. Randy claims that some people are too cheap to pay for stands, and they try and run off of other people’s stands. The guide wasn’t there, so Randy told his buddies that if he ever caught them in his area again, he wasn’t calling the wardens, he was personally going to kick his *ss. Trust me, you had to be there.


Nephew Kenny and bear.
Dogs in persuit!
The gang and my son's bear.
Torin with his bear.
My mom checking out a bear bait.
View from above Jackman maine.

Bear Hunting, eh?

Never done it. Looks like it would be fun as things always get interesting when the game has the option of biting back. Out hunting on 9/11 --- that would be better; I was too close to a TV.

Good Luck and Good Hunting,
EKM

I forgot to add this picture. It's of a moose that popped out in front of the truck as we were driving down an old logging road.