I am getting ready for my first black bear hunt. Below is the report on prepreation for the hunt.

Outfitter: Paul and Tracy Reed of Driftwood Lodge and Camps

Area to be hunted: United States, Maine in the area of Upper and Lower Shin pond.

Season: Maine Fall Black Bear
August 26 – September 1, 2012

Cost: $1,600

SuperPack license $200 This includes most all hunting and fishing permits for Maine Residents

This is my first Black Bear hunt and only my 3rd guided hunt.

Paul requires a $500.00 deposit to hold a date with the remainder paid 30 days prior to the hunt. I paid the $500.00 on a reference from a friend who knew the Reeds because my friend and the Reed’s children went to high school together. Before making the last payment I decided I would like to at least shake hands with Paul and Tracy. I gave Tracy a call and we were quickly able to come up with a meeting time for Wednesday evening. So, last Wednesday evening I drove over to the Reeds house in Durham, Maine to visit and learn a little about the hunt.

I was met by Tracy’s big smile at their front door. She invited me into their home and offered me a seat at the island in their kitchen. We talked about the hunt and about my food likes and dislikes, since she will be cooking for the hunt. Paul was still out in the wood yard when I arrived. The Reeds other business is Reeds Firewood in Durham, Maine.

When Paul came in he was friendly and it only took him a minute to figure out I was serious about bear hunting. Paul began by telling me the story of how he was hooked on bear hunting 15 years ago by his father in law. We talked about how he started bear baiting around his family’s camp then expanding to several leased sites and eleven years ago purchasing “Drift Wood lodge and Camps” from a neighbor to provide lodging for his hunters.

While we looked at photos and videos of bears at the bait sites, he talked about how to judge the size of bears and the quality of the hide. Paul stressed that I should always be ready for the shot. He told stories about bears which were shot on the first day while walking to the stand and he told stories at the other extreme, bears shot in the last minute of legal shooting time on the last day. Paul said that the hunter must be prepared to shoot on the walk to the stand and they must be dedicated enough to stay on stand until the last minute of legal shooting time.

At this point Tracy looked me right in the eye and with a very serious face said, “If you are afraid of the dark, let us know and we will walk in and get you off the stand and walk you out to the road”. I wasn’t quite sure to make of her statement. She went on to say that they want me to have a real chance to shoot a bear but that if I leave the stand ½ hour or an hour before the end of legal shooting time I would be significantly decreasing my chance at a bear.

Then Paul began to tell stories about driving down the road checking on hunters. He would come up on a hunter that was out in the road an hour before sundown. As he drove up to the hunter he might ask eagerly, “Did you shoot one?” When the client is afraid of the dark their typical response is, “Its dark in those woods.” Then Tracy said again, “If you are afraid of the dark, let us know and we will walk in and get you off the stand and walk you out to the road”. That’s when I realized she was serious. They would rather the client have a chance at a bear then have the client sitting by the road an hour before sundown. I let her know that I did not think that would be a problem for me as long as my tail bone did not go to sleep.

I am getting very excited about this hunt. Currently I am working up a Nosler 150gr partition hand load for my Winchester model 70 classic stainless in 270 Winchester. I also purchased a leupold VX-R 2-7x illuminated scope for that last minute of the last day hunt.
I will provide more information after the hunt.

Tim

Have a great hunt. It is very easy to over estimate the size of a bear.

I talked to a lot of hunters whos huge bear turn into a 150lb or smaller when they walk up to it.

Hopefully they have some kind of gageing stake or log next to the bait. A five foot long is nice and a 2 foot high stake next to it.

So one can say hes over 5 foot long and about so tall. If his body looks bigger then a 55 gal barrel it is most likely a good bear.

Have a good hunt fill us in when you shoot one.

Thank you for the advice. The size of the bear is a big issue for me expecially since this is a first bear hunt. They do feed out of 55 gal plastic drums so I hope the drum will give me something to use as a measuring device.

Tim

quote:

Originally posted by slimtim:
Thank you for the advice. The size of the bear is a big issue for me expecially since this is a first bear hunt. They do feed out of 55 gal plastic drums so I hope the drum will give me something to use as a measuring device.

Tim

If they chain them to a tree, make a mark on the tree as well so when the first bear comes in and knocks down the drum you still have a reference point. Good luck on your hunt.

Brian,

Thank you for the tips.

Tim

Can't wait to read the post hunt report! I'm another who loves the preplanning almost as much as the actual hunt itself!

Good luck and be patient. Often time the first bear you see is not the biggest dude in the woods. You'll find when a bear finally settles in at the bait you can observe him for a good long while before needing to make a shot. You might feel you need to pass on him and wait...

I hunt out of the Driftwood Camps back when Hal Schmitt owned it, I hunted spring Bear back in the day. Have a blast. As I recall plenty of brook trout in the lake too.

Thank you for the comments and suggestions. I am eager to have something big and black to take photos of during this hunt. I will keep you up dated. The Leupold VX-R 2-7 landed on my front steps Friday evening. I am trying to get it sighted in this weekend. Any excuse to pull the trigger.

Dirftwood Lodge and Camps
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Mt. Chase, Maine
Cost of Hunt $1,600
Animals hunted Black Bear
Things I learned: No guarantees, you must sit still, you must be quiet, and you might be hunted.

Wow!
That’s what I have to say about hunting with Paul and Tracy Reed at Driftwood Lodge and Camps in Mt Chase, Maine. http://www.driftwoodlodgeandcamps.com/
I placed some serious restrictions on Paul. Because I am a Seventh-day Adventist I don’t hunt on Sabbath. Because bear hunting is mostly an afternoon and evening prospect, I also chose not to hunt Friday evening since this would bring me to close to the edges of Sabbath. Also in Maine there is no Sunday hunting. These restrictions put quite a crimp on the hunting time available. In spite of these limiting factors Paul was willing to take me on for the week.

Driftwood is small group bear hunting experience. We had 2 bow hunters, 2 cross bow hunters and 4 rifle hunters in camp the first week of Main’s bear baiting season. Paul and Tracy offer a family atmosphere for the lodge. Paul, Tracy, hunters, and guides all sit down to meals together for breakfast and lunch. The supper meal is on the table when the hunters return after dark. The family atmosphere was added to by Paul’s father being in camp as one of the helpers and Tracy’s uncle, Jack, was in the camp as a hunter. Jack is 77 and his grade school friend Mike who was also hunting is 80. Remember hunt till you can’t!

I arrived in camp at 10pm Sunday night. The camp was easy to find using the directions provided in the package I received after making my deposit on the hunt. Paul met me on arrival, oriented me to the lodge, and helped me move into my room. In the room were a comfortable full size bed, small full bathroom, and Fan. There may also have been a small dresser in the room I don’t remember. Tracy had already gone to bed by the time I arrived but made sure there was something to eat in case I came in hungry.

Monday was morning was time to get to know the guides and the other hunters and sight in the weapons. Every other hunter in the group except me had hunted at Driftwood previously. Even though they all knew each other and already had their inside jokes, they made me feel part of the group. Some of these hunters have been hunting with Paul since prior to 2006. There were many bear stories to listen to along with some good natured ribbing regarding prior years hunts.

Monday afternoon at 1:30pm 4 hunters were loaded into each of two trucks along with their guides. The breakdown was 2 rifle hunters in each truck. For our truck the drive to the first site was a little more than a ½ hour. I would guess the other 3 sites to be more than 2 miles apart. I was the last hunter placed in our truck.

The last part of the truck drive was up a dead end logging type road for ¼ mile. Paul and I both exited the truck. He made sure I had everything I needed for my time in the blind. He let me know that he would be happy to come to the blind and walk me out or I could walk out and down the road to meet him, it would be my choice. I let Paul know that I thought the walk would be good for me after sitting for such a long time.

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Paul then walked me into site on what I would describe as an ATV trail. At the end of the ATV trail we were standing beside a one person tent blind in a well forested area. Paul made sure that I was set, then zipped the blind door closed and walked quietly back to the truck. The blind was comfortable with a three legged chair inside. Through the one open window I could see the bait directly in front of the blind. The bait site was in the apex of two slopes which were in a 90 degree relationship to each other. Based on images from a game camera at this site Paul felt this would provide a great hunt for me because the site was being visited daily by three bears in the 150lbs to 200lbs range.

In the blind only the window facing the bait site was open. To the right of the blind was the ATV trail. Between the blind and the bait was a small dry rocky creek bed. To the left of the blind was a 30 degree incline hillside covered with 40 year mixed growth Maine forest. The door had been knocked off the 55 gallon drum and there were bear tracks in the ATV trail so we knew that the bait site had been hit the previous night The squirrels and tweety birds were getting their fill of sweets! I can say that in-spite of nodding off a couple of times the Red Squirrels keep me entertained for most of the afternoon.

Shooting time ended at 7:48 Monday evening. At 7:35 it was getting dark enough that the opening in the bait barrel was beginning to be difficult to distinguish clearly. I decided that I needed to look through the scope to make sure I could still see since there is no reason to stay in the blind if I cannot see the bears. I slowly picked up my rifle from my lap and pointed the scope to the floor of the blind. Then I turned on the illuminated reticle and made sure that it was not too bright. Next I moved the stock back under my right arm so that I could place the rifle barrel in the window. After getting the barrel to the edge of the window I began slowly pushing the barrel out of the window. When about 10 inches of the barrel was visible out of the window, to my left on the side of the hill, at just about the level of my ear, I hear a very menacing WOOF!, then some scratching and snuffeling sounds.

Up to this point I had heard nothing so I had no idea that the bear had blindsided me and was standing just to the left outside of my blind! The scratching and snuffeling sounds went on long enough for me to change the direction of the rifle, now pointing it to the left side of the blind in the hopes that if the bear decided to come through the thin nylon which was separating us I might be able to get off at least one shot before he sat on my lap. In five seconds it was all over. The bear turned and ran back up the hill. My heart was beating so fast I did not even think to stick my head out the window and try to get a shot as the bear exited.

Tuesday and Wednesday evening were identical lots of Red Squirrels, tweety birds, and a visit from a pine martin to provide variety. The bait was still active but only at night. Paul felt that it would be better to move me to another site but, before making that decision he asked me what I wanted. I told Paul that he is the guide and that whatever he said is what I wanted to do. We decided that I would change sites. If changing sites did not produce a bear Thursday evening, Paul said that he would get me out Friday morning if I wanted.

The site they moved me to was a site where two 125lbs bears were regularly showing up between 2pm to 4pm. I was in the tent blind at 1:58pm.

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This blind was about twice the size of the previous blind. The chair was a solid plastic lawn type chair and very comfortable. The bait was in a wet spongy low area filled with pine trees. The blind was about 30 yards from the bait area on a slope about 10 to 15 feet above the bait site. There were 2 red squirrels and 2 Blue Jays that kept the bait hot until about 4:50pm.

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Blind from bait site

4:50pm is when I first saw the bear. He was exactly opposite the bait site from the blind and walking through thick young pines. I could tell as he was walking through the pines that he was a young bear and not over 100lbs. It was still a rush to see my first ever bear coming to the bait. By the time he sat down at the bait site, I had gotten control of my heart rate and breathing and was ready to shoot. He was sitting on his haunches, hind legs wide open, front legs hanging loosely while he slowly rocked his head from one side to the other. I had to put the rifle down and watch. While I put down the rifle I was trying to decide if this was the bear to shoot.

The guide had estimated the two bears coming to this site in the 125lb class and this one would clearly not make 100lbs. After watching for another minute I decided not to shoot. As soon as I made the decision not to shoot the bear got up and left. That’s when I started second guessing my decision. Should I have or shouldn’t I have shoot. Five minutes later he came back. You can tell from the photos the decision I made. The bear ended up weighing 90lbs.

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Paul Read and Tim with the bear.

I am happy with my bear as a first. I will go back and hunt with Paul and Tracy Reed at Driftwood Lodge and camps. There is a big black pumpkin headed bear somewhere in the Maine woods right now that is searching for my bait site.

Other hunters experience
Monday night when we picked up the other three hunters we found out that Jack, Tracy’s uncle, shot a 190lbs male with a nice white V. Other bears were seen but only one other bear was shot at by Mike Jacks friend. Mike said it was a big bear that just appeared and then turned and faced him. When the bear faced him, Mike said that he placed the cross hairs on the chest of the bear and pulled the trigger. Unfortunately no one has been able to find any blood hair or bear.

Tuesday Night Jim, a hunter riding in the same truck with me, had he’s bear in the truck when they picked me up. Jim took his bear with a crossbow. The bear weighed 290lbs. Also Mike from NJ shot a bear. This bear could not be found. It appeared that the bear was hit low in the offside arm. No bones were found and very little blood. They were able to track the bear for about 200 yards before determining that the bear would not be found.

Wednesday night Doug connected with a 125lbs boar.

Please forgive the image goof up

[URL= ]Lodge at DriftWood[/URL]

[URL= ]First Bait Site[/URL]

[URL= ]Blind at Second Bait Site[/URL]

[URL= ]Blind from second bait site[/URL]

[URL= ]Paul Reed and I with the bear[/URL]

Congrats on getting your bear. Looks like you had a great time.

Congrats on your first bear.

A friend of mine and his friend went to Eagle Lake, ME last week for their first bear hunt. The hunt and camp sounded identical to the place you went to. The bears were scarce for the entire camp the first two days, then on day 3 they showed. Three of the hunters took their first bears and all were happy. One was 100, my friend got one 150 and his friend got one that went 525!! As happy as my friend was it's still hard not to laugh when you see the pic of his next to the monster.

Good luck next year.