Fish River Lodge Journal

Journal entries from Fish River Lodge, Eagle Lake, Maine. Adventures in hunting, fishing, trapping and running a sporting camp in northern Maine.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Bear Season

There was a theme to the first week of bear season but we didn't realize it until mid week...Bob Watkins (Millbury, MA), Stephen Mudgett (Lancaster, MA), and Scott LeBlanc (Baldwinville, MA) joined Rod Lebrecque and Mary for the first week of bear season; all were in camp for introductions and orientation on Sunday. We enjoyed a lobster dinner on the lodge deck as the sun set - yup sun! The sun returned and we took full advantage! Bill and Laura Carlson were also here for a long weekend - normally they hunt the first week of bear with Eldon Jandruea; this year they will return the 3rd week to hunt with Eldon. They made the trip from Epping, NH, to visit with the hunters they'd gotten to know over the years at Eldon's in Portage. We were glad to have the opportunity to meet them!

A full moon, warm temperatures and a bumper raspberry crop combined to make bear hunting over bait a challenge this year. As much as we welcomed summer-like weather we'd rather cooler temperatures, it is hunting season after all. August 25th, opening day jitters...Wayne and I gathered together our gear after some tense moments looking for a few misplaced items. Wayne got a boiled dinner ready in crock pots in anticipation of a late night. I baked cookies and peach cobbler. We had every one in their stands by 3:00 and all the baits had been licked clean! We began the long wait...darkeness fell and no bears. Wayne did see a juvenile cross the road as he hid in the bushes. As legal shooting ended the score was Bears 4, Hunters 0.

Day two was much like day one...I ran baits in the morning to the sites we weren't hunting, did more baking, and Wayne got dinner prepped before heading out to hunt. Bears 4, Hunters 0.

Day three lunch was interupted when Alli paraded through the dining room reeking of skunk! All morning she'd been trying to root "something" out from under the shed, now we know it was a skunk! She was quickly herded back out doors. On the way in to hunt we met Warden Jeff Spencer coming out of the woods. He was releasing a nuisance skunk - what is it with skunks today?! We dropped off our hunters and waited, and waited, and as darkenss fell I realized we'd truly been SKUNKED! Three nights in a row and no bear! Tomorrow we'll try Plan B. To add insult to injury, when we got back to the lodge for dinner the yard reeked of skunk - yeah, we got the joke - we're getting skunked, bad!

Day four we tried something different. If the bears were feeding after dark then MAYBE we could catch them on the baits later in the morning. I took Scott and Stephen out to their sites across the lake, but nothing, although the baits had been hit hard. Tonight we'll change stands and move to Pennington...First I had to get Bob to his new site early to set up his "clamp-on" stand so he could get in range for his long bow. His hunt began at 3:30. I watched a cow moose graze in and out of the edge of the road while I waited. Wayne radioed me at 7:15, Scott had shot at a bear! He was hunting with a bow but had shot with the .357? I can hardly wait to hear THAT story! Wayne was going in to look for the bear...at dark I drove in to wait for Bob but he didn't come out. I walked in to get him. At orientation he'd made it clear he would not get out of his tree stand if there was a bear at the site. As I approached all was eerily quiet. I entered the site and spoke "Bob." No answer. Bob's hard of hearing, but then again, maaybe he'd fallen out of his tree stand! I didn't bring a flash light fully expecting to meet Bob walking out. Now I was faced with looking for a dead guy in the dark who'd fallen out of his stand or walking back to the truck for a flash light. My heart quickened..."Bob?" I saw his headlamp come on. Relief..Fortunately it was only that a bear had come in right at dark and he'd waited in the tree so as not to spook it. We picked up Stephen and hurried back to the lodge to wait for Wayne to return with the others, hopeful Scott had shot a bear. On the way out Wayne radioed that Rod had a bear down and they'd loaded it in the truck and were coming out. Mary had been in the stand with Rod and got to experience it all. Next year SHE wants to hunt - we welcome another hunter to the fold. I inquired about Scott's bear - we were told we had to wait for Scott to tell the story at dinner... Apparently a large boar approached the bait site via a little used trail next to the ground blind. Scott saw the bear coming but had no idea it was approaching the bait and would be arriving first next to his blind. Scott panicked and grabbed the .357. He drew down on the bear as it "charged" him and in the excitement fired a round at about 6 feet that completely missed the bear. Scott is proficient with a bow, not so with a handgun. We'll call it a warning shot and not a miss. Tonight bears 1, Hunters 1 for 3. Stephen had been eluded again buth the others had all had encounters with bear, some had close encounters with bear!

Thursday night Stephen got a bear. I met him at the pick-up point and as he approached the truck he asked us to help load his bear. We thought he was joking. "No, really, I got a bear." Stephen replied as he walked to the edge of the road and pulled a bear in to view! He said "the bear came to the site, I shot, it ran off, I got out of my stand and grabbed it by the foot and pulled it out." I asked, "How far did it run?" Since we instruct our hunters not to go off tracking bears alone - we don't want them to become lost. Stephen replied, "You didn't listen to my story. I got down from my stand, grabbed it by the foot and pulled it out." "But how far did it go?" I asked again. "I got down from my stand, grabbed it by the foot..." "Oh!" I exclaimed, "Now I get it! You got down from your stand! It had run right at the stand where it went down!"

Friday night Scott was back in his ground blind - he LOVES that ground blind! More drama...the bear came back but didn't use the same route past the ground blind. Hmmm, I wonder why! This time it came to the site then walked DIRECTLY toward the ground blind but this time Scott was ready and reached for his bow. When he looked up the bear was very close so he put the bow down and picked up the .357 again and began firing. We figure the first shot went over the bear's head, along with the next four shots! Scott came home and changed his underwear. We suggested he spend some time at the shooting range.

Week one was a success. Everyone had seen a bear, two went home with bears. Bob Watkins is not only an accomplished bow hunter but also a well-known taxidermist. He did all the skinning and took both bears back to Massachusetts to be mounted. Stephen is especially excited to have Bob mount his Maine black bear with his Sascatchewan blond bear shot this spring. That will be a beautiful and unusual mount for sure!

On the 31st We said so-long to Rod, Mary, Bob, Scott, and Stephen. We look forward to their return next season. Then we got busy cleaning cabins, headed to Allagash for more bait and stopped in Fort Kent for groceries. Our week two hunters had arrived before we got home. Julie Mogenis (Huntin' with the Judge/Tird Eye Guides and Outfitters of Hunt, Texas) had arranged for 9 hunters and two camera guys to film this hunt. The "cast of characters" included:

Kevin Bernard, president and Ryan Pyle,VP both of of A&B Valve and Piping, Houston, TX. They sponsor Huntin' with the Judge and also Armed Forces Federation hunts - they provided much comic relief. Kevin is a bow hunter. Bill Beecher, Allied Fitting, Houston TX; bow hunter and all 'round great guy who loves to hunt. Hershel Rhodes, Southeast Texas Industries, Buna, TX; bow hunter and typical laid back Texan. Jace Baddock, project manager for off-shore drilling rigs and bad-ass little Texan. Tim Bennett, Army infantry, blown up in Iraq a year ago. He was badly burned and lost his left arm. He is a big guy and has an awesome attitude. He is pumped to hunt bears and is a champion varmint and predator caller. Tim is originally from Utah but now lives in Houston, TX. He lives to hunt. Terry Hanson, also a great varmint caller and originally from Idaho assisted with trophy care (T's Taxidermy, Kerrville, TX) and running second camera. The Commander of the Hoover Post of the American Legion in Washington, DC, stood in for Julie; Bron Mogenis is Julie's dad. Clint Freeman, will be the lead camera and is also a competitive varmit caller and former marine. Joining the boys from Taxas were California Dan Spangler and Gary Pollock.

Where to begin? I guess, suffice it to say that right from the start we knew we'd have a good week. Sunday night orientation and lobster dinner was followed by a raucus social gathering in the lodge. Bron and Gary started their nightly tradition of a "night cap" after dinner and quiet political discussions while the rest of the crew cut loose. Although there were many late nights, all were ready to hunt each afternoon.

Also joining us was Scott Cyr, registered Maine guide from Fort Fairfield, ME. We are very lucky to have found Scott to assist with this large hunting group. Scott was a huge assett in the lodge pitching in with serving, dish washing, running baits, and keeping our hunters happy. While we take the hunt very seriously, we had an opportunity to cut loose ourselves and had an outraguously awesome week with our freinds from Texas.

Always a challenge is to get our hunters to their stands with only their bow and arrows or gun and ammo with nothing else more but a pee-bottle, flash light, and thermacell. First night out the guys loaded their packs in the truck but when we went to the stands we had to negotiate over what could go to the stands with them. See the "short list"...

Highlights of the week include Ryan's first bear. After picking up Bill and driving on to pick up Ryan we found Ryan laying in ambush on the side of the road in the darkness. We thought he was just being funny since Ryan and Kevin are always being funny. Actually, we woke Ryan up. He was napping after he shot a bear at 4:30. He said "I shot and waited for 10 minutes. I knew Tenley would be right along. She said at orientation she'd come in after I shot. I waited another 10 minutes expecting Tenley. After an hour and no Tenley I walked out to the road and fired another shot and waited..." I asked Ryan if he knew where the bear went, to which he responded "I heard a death moan, but I don't know where the bear is, Tenley told me not to go look for it." I love my hunters who do what they're told! We collected up Kevin and all three of us went in to look for the bear. We found it not 10 yards in. It was a young boar, Ryan offered to carry it out in his pocket. Bill and I carried it out. Ryan had a close encounter with a bull moose. It walked in right under his tree stand, stood there and "went poo." Ryan says he could have reached down and touched its antlers!

I had the good fortune of spending Wednesday afternoon with Ryan as the others hunted. Ryan imparted much wisdom as we traveled the bumpy, dusty back roads. We tried calling coyotes a couple times and think we called a bear. We became good friends as we shared the afternoon and evening telling our life stories. Unfortunately Ryan had to leave on Wednesday - we wish he could have spent the week with the rest of us.

Hershel got a bear on Wednesday so I got to spend Wednesday's hunting hours with him. More stories and good times. Remember, Hershel is the laid-back Texan. An afternoon with Ryan was like drinking too much coffee, Hershel was like taking a Valium (I guess, I've never taken one) but we had a completely relaxing afternoon.

Thursday nigth we all sat around the fire swapping hunting stories and listening to Clint and Tim vent off Iraq experiences. At one point Tim tossed his hand to Kevin and chipped his tooth and gave him a fat lip - careful when you ask someone to "give you a hand"!

By now Gary, Jace, Ryan, Hershel, Kevin, and Bill had all seen bears. Terry was with Bron to catch his hunt on film. Clint was hunting with Tim. We were running out of time and no bears had been filmed. We moved guys around to different stands trying to make something happen...Lucky me, I had Kevin AND Hershel to entertain Friday night. Actually, you don't entertain Kevin, you keep him on a short leash and he entertains you if he doesn't get everyone in trouble first! Kevin had too much fun talking on the radio - enough said!

Finally, Tim got a bear! He was SO excited and the best part, Clint filmed the WHOLE thing! Congrats to Tim - we want everyone to go home with a bear but this week, our hearts were with Tim. He had served our country, fought for freedom, and damned if no one deserved a bear more this week than Tim. His patience and persistence paid off with a nice Maine black bear to take home to Texas. We were blessed again to have a taxidermist "in the house". Every morning we had bear Terry was out skinning, cutting meat, and packaging everything for the freezer so we could freeze if for the trip back to Texas.

California Dan got turned around one night on his way out in the dark. Wayne and Terry heard him yelling "Help!" off in the distance when they went to pick him up. Back at the lodge flagging tape ran from his cabin to the lodge so he could find his way to the dining room for dinner. We presented him with a compass so he could find his way back to Maine again.

Scott, Wayne and I had a fantastic week with our friends from Texas. We are looking forward to next year's hunt and hope some, or all, can come back to Fish River Lodge before next fall! Thank you Julie for sending us this zany group - we hope you can join us next year too! If you get "Huntin' with the Judge" on the Sportsman's Channel, look for the bear hunt to aire some time in October.

We no more than got cleaned up from week two when our week tree hunters arrived...Kenny Williamson (Staten Island, NY), John Finn (Andes, NY), and Vinny Maggi (South Amboy, NJ). We pulled out all the stops, changed stands, tried calling, but to no avail. Vinny had a chance to shoot Monday but other than that, no bears all week. It was an extremely frustrating hunt for us. We try so hard to set up good sites and bait bears early so they are coming regularly. It seems this year we were up against amny nocturnal bears and nothing would lure them to our sites during legal shooting hours. Vinny, John and Kenny were good sports and hunted hard all week. When all else fails we fish! Kenny was excited to have caught his first land-locked salmon, so all was not lost. They enjoyed a relaxing week, saw some wildlife and caught a few fish. As always seems to happen at Fish River Lodge, we made more good friends.

Wayne and I are "regrouping" and recharging our batteries until the 20th when our moose hunters arrive. Another bear season is behind us and although we would have liked to see more bears on the game pole, by all other accounts our bear season was a huge success! Check back for our adventures moose hunting...

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Fall arrives early at Fish River Lodge

Last time I wrote it was raining. It rained all day or we woke to rain or went to bed with rain right through the 20th of August. The gray days are indivcative of the troubling news we received from mom on dad's birthday (August 2nd). She has been diagnosed with breast cancer. This is when living so far from family is difficult. I wish I could be with her to lend support. All I can do from here is pray and keep a positive outlook because I know that half the battle is remaining positive. We ask those who read this do the same. I've learned the only way to confront adversity or fear is to look it in the eye and forge ahead. As I say, adversity is a "speed bump" that may slow you down for a bit but always look forward and never back...I know mom will kick her cancer in the ass - I didn't inherit the will to fight and win by accident! UPDATE: mom she started her chemotherapy on September 12th, radiation will follow. Say your prayers and count your blessings...

So heeding my own advice we made the best of an otherwise damp summer. We continued to fish, set up bait sites, and enjoy the warm weather even on wet days. I took lots of interesting photos of mushrooms, some varieties I'd never seen before, but then I'd never experienced such a prolonged stretch of wet weather either! We had to relocate some of our bear sites as they stood ankle-deep in water. Many of the roads we drive on in the woods and trails to our sites were nothing more than stream beds. But looking ahead we are hopeful for an exciting bear season.



When you run a hunting and fishing lodge summer comes to a fast end but we saw the same positive outlook from our guests who made the most of their summer vacations while dealing with adverse weather. On nights it didn't rain we had some camp fires at the beach, although the beach was quite a bit narrower than normal with the lake being so high from run-off. While families continued vacationing in August we were baiting bears and hosting moose hunters who were up scouting for the September hunt. John Murphy and Darren Page were up for a weekend to look for moose. John is a long-time North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association (NAVHDA) friend and Darren is an experienced hunter so there were many stories to share during their brief visit. Gloria Lebrecque and her parents Lou and Germaine Levesque vactioned right through the 14th. Germaine ended up in the hospital with stomach troubles and had shorten their vacation when she was diagnosed with a tumor and required emergency surgery. Again, we saw Gloria find the silver lining in her dark cloud when she reflected on the timing of her vacation with her parents and the "quality time" they were able to share during the past month. Last report Germaine's surgery was a sucess and she was recovering nicely...more prayers and positive thoughts...



We had a visitor on the 12th, not exactly an invited lodge guest, but a weasle! We've had a weasle in the lodge in the past but normally it comes in from the cold in the dead of winter. This time I think the wet weather drove it in, so like the ark, animals were arrving at he lodge but fortunately not two-by-two! I first noticed dirt and fir needles on the counter, like you would find after someone set down a cooler that had been picked up off the ground. After further inspection I found little muddly foot prints. They were left by that pesky weasle! It must have slipped in through the screen door in the night.



Wayne went fishing with Les Titcomb (Bowdoinham, ME) on the 12th and while the fishing was slow (as it often is this time of year) they had a very enjoyable visit, and boat ride.



On the 15th we adopted a new cat. He is gray and white and goes by the name "Trouble". He belonged to Laurie Jandreau who lives up the road. She had to find a home for him when she learned he was the cause of her allergies. At the same time we were looking for a lodge-cat to put to work keeping the mice population down, only because the weasle is not yet ready to become a permanent resident. "Trouble" is an excellent mouse hunter and is earning his keep. He is very freindly and likes to "help" me at in the office, I blame my "typos" on him.



Walter and Martha Leland returned for their month-long vacation, and Kathy Bednarz (Hopatchong, NJ) and Melissa Smey (Brooklyn, NY) brought family and friends to share the Fish River Lodge experience. The Bednarz family enjoyed the region's ATV trails and the Smey party enjoyed taking day-trips to explore the St. John Valley and look for wildlife. Suddenly it was 23rd of the month and summer for us was truly over! Our first-week bear hunters began arriving! Rod Lebrecque and Mary arrived first on Saturday. We took advantage of a gorgeous evening and sat by the fire with Rod and Mary and friends Dave Kelso and Linda Engelhardt. We had a cook out and watched the constant parade of boats until senset. We realized it was the first good weekend we'd had in over a month! While sitting around the fire, out of the darkness we heard a series of moose calls, we called back, and it called back, and we called back, and the calling continued...for a good 10-15 minutes! We couldn't imagine who was out on the lake at that hour making moose calls. A boat emerged at the edge of our fire light...it was Ron and Margaret Soucie, Mike and Geneva Michaud, Rocky, Peggy, and Jessica Bard! They'd been out on the lake, saw our fire, and decided to have some fun with us!

As the fire burned down and we all drifted off to bed Wayne and I couldn't help but reflect on the summer that had slipped by so quickly. It seemed like just last week we were celebrating the 4th of July and yet tomorrow our bear hunters will all be in camp and we will begin our fall season.



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