Lessons From Moose

September spilled in to October for the first week of Moose, September 27-October 3. We were fully booked and four of our trips were guided. Darren and Ted Davis (NY) were guided by Mike Michaud for a bull; a husband/wife team from Augusta with a bull tag were guided by Wayne; cow hunter Josie VanOtteren (GA) was guided by Kevin Pelletier; and I guided Ron Webber (ME) and “Team Grumpy Old Men” for a cow. John Cox (ME) was after his own bull.

Josie VanOtteren is a 10 year old who takes her hunting very seriously. Her father Ed has been hunting with Josie for as long as she can remember. Last year she killed a 9 pt buck, a10 pt buck, and a doe in Georgia. She killed 10 rabbits with bow and arrow, and more pigs than she could keep track of. Opening day she was guided by Kevin Pelletier to a cow and with a single shot from her 7 mm mag, she dumped a moose! She had been practicing with her firearm and knew what it was capable of and knew her limitations. Hers was a half-week hunt so the pressure was on. Both hunter and guide performed their jobs well so the Van Otterens can enjoy moose meat this winter.

John Cox and his dad killed a beautiful 48” bull opening day then quickly left camp to participate in another moose hunt in one of the southern zones.

Team Grumpy Old Men came up short opening day. We saw seven bulls and not a single cow. I had my dad (shooter) riding shotgun, with Ron Webber (permit holder) and son Duane riding in the back seat. We were followed by Jeff Morrell, Henry and Colby Barnes, and Ron’s grandson Tom in Jeff’s truck. Tuesday I changed areas and 15 minutes in to our hunt had a cow down! It was a sentimental hunt, likely being Ron’s last. He suffers from Alzheimers and is one of the best hunters, marksmen, and sportsmen I know. He was lethal with a rifle and shotgun; I watched him shoot a watch in midair with a rifle years ago! Our families have hunted and fished together for as along as I can remember: ducks, deer, rabbits on occasion, and moose. Mr. Webber’s reality is now different from ours but his mind still holds memories even when he can’t recall them. We love the man he was and the man he is. It was an honor to be his guide on this last hunt. Once the moose was down “the team” was ready to assist. Duane guts a moose with surgical precision, Henry and Jeff prepared the rigging to drag her out, and Tom and Colby dragged her and propped her up for pictures. Everyone had a role in the hunt and the pictures are priceless!

Darren Davis, guided by Mike Michaud ended up with a very nice 45” bull midweek. After, Mike took them out for the last day of fishing and landed some beautiful brook trout then they went grouse hunting for the rest of the week. They even assisted with Wayne’s hunt on Friday.

Wane had a challenging week. He tried calling trophy bulls the first two days, bulls we’d scouted in the weeks prior to the hunt. He had no luck calling so switched tactics. On Thursday his client missed a bull in a clear cut; firing once and missing, gun jammed, and he fired again and missed. Friday morning his client’s tentative reaction to a cow and a bull in the road ruined an early morning opportunity. Later Friday I held a bull at the edge of a clear cut while Wayne got his client in position. I called and raked saplings for several minutes while pointing out the bull. The bull was suspicious and on the move several times before I could stop him and point him out again. The client didn’t take the head-shot, all that was left, after trying to keep the bull position for a shot. Sadly, Wayne’s client went home empty handed. They’d seen eight or nine bulls and many cows. We both watched in frustration for the hunter when he just didn’t display a desire to kill a moose, his gun jammed, and he could make a clean kill in three different scenarios at 55-120 yards.

Ken Hopkins and Marie Crabtree were in for a few days of grouse hunting. Marie’s father and retired game warden John Crabtree paid us a visit and shared warden stories from the days he was a warden in this neck of the woods. Dennis Libby and friends were in for an end-of-the-week grouse hunt; Kevin Harris, Lon Ruddock and a friend were in all week hunting grouse. All found plenty of birds – it is a banner year for grouse! The Friday before our second week of moose both Wayne and I had an unanticipated day off together. After running errands in the morning we took advantage and went bird hunting with our German shorthair pointers Grace and Alli. By 4:30 p.m. we both had our limit of grouse, came home, breasted them and froze them to enjoy long after our hunters have left for the season.

Vicky Foster and Mike and Sue O’Donnell were up for a week of bird hunting the 10th-17th. We had five more parties of moose hunters in for the October moose hunt: Wilson Hess (UMFK President) guided by Mike Duni; Capt’n Bill Doughty and his grandson Jake guided by me; Dan McClure, accompanied by Dave and Anthony McClure was guided by Wayne; Dion and John Dietlen (ME) hunted a bull on their own; and Willard and Steve Cass (NY) were guided by Kevin Pelletier. Kevin broke his arm days before his guiding job but insisted on fulfilling his obligation so he recruited his dad, retired game warden Gary Pelletier, to assist. It was a wonderful pairing of client and guide. They all became fast friends and successfully harvested a cow the first day even after I mistakenly had Kevin scouting zone 3 when his client’s tag was in zone 2! It was my mistake and discovered before opening day – Kevin, the professional guide that he is, never missed a beat and gave his clients a great hunt.

I’ve never had clients kill a cow opening day and this week was no different. We saw a bull, bear, fox, barred owl, numerouse grouse, Harris hawk, red tailed hawk, and listened as a cow moose called Monday evening, but didn’t see a cow all day. We all agreed it had been a great day even if we didn’t get our cow. Tuesday we changed location and again, minutes in to the hunt Jake made three perfect shots with his .270. He hit the cow twice in the heart! Not bad shooting for this 16 year old and his first big game animal. Grandfather Bill had him practice all summer with the .270 so Jake was comfortable and confident firing it. We spent the remainder of the week grouse hunting and were accompanied one morning by Ron Webber’s wife Mim. She and daughter Dee were in town bringing Tom back to the university after a long weekend. We harvested close to a dozen grouse in three days.

Wilson and his guide killed a young moose Wednesday and John Dietlin killed a decent bull on Friday.

Wayne had more tough luck with the McClure party. Monday they wounded a large 58-60” (or better!) bull when Dan took a shot too high. They tracked the bull for about ½ mile before they all agreed it was a minor wound and the bull would be fine; although the hunters were disappointed they’d missed a real trophy. Tuesday they shot at and missed a smaller bull, Wednesday and Thursday they saw smaller bulls but wanted a larger animal. Finally, Friday they shot and killed a beautiful 51”, 822 lb. bull. All were elated. It had been a long, hard week of hunting but their persistence paid off with a nice trophy and lots of meat. Wayne developed a friendship with the family and we look forward to seeing them again in the future.

Today is the Sunday after the second week of moose. We still have several parties of grouse hunters to go – Tom Sternal and Dennis Mackley parties next week, and then Dewitt Davis the last week of October.

After six years of guiding moose hunters with 100% success on cows and 90% success on bulls among 80 or so clients (some guided and some not), we have learned some lessons from the moose:
1) Know your firearm; shoot, shoot, and shoot some more before your hunt so you know where your bullet will hit to make a clean kill and minimize wounding or missing.
2) Bulls can shake up the most seasoned hunters; therefore hunters must remain focused and calm.
3) Moose rarely stand still for hunters; therefore hunters must be ready to load, aim and shoot quickly and accurately.
4) Six days is not much time for that “once in a lifetime” opportunity so never quit; keep your head in the game and be alert at all times.
5) Never bring a malfunctioning firearm on a hunt.
6) Kids have displayed more self discipline and focus than many adults.
7) Trust your guide; they’ve spent many hours observing and learning from moose. They know their behaviors so shoot when they say shoot!
8) Be prepared to take 100 yard shots. Some shots will be less than that, some may be more, but 100 yards down a road or across a wide open clear cut is not a difficult shot to take if you practiced rule number 1.
9) All this applies to archers
10) Some of my best memories have been made while learning from moose, either on a hunt or while studying them in the wild.

We have another week of moose in November and a couple weeks of October grouse hunting to go. Whether you’re hunting out of Fish River Lodge or some place else, we wish you the best of luck and many memories during this, our favorite time of the year!

Record Bear!

Bear season traditionally begins the last Monday of August. Bob Watkins, Steve Mudgett, Mike Stafanik, Mike Farrell, and Al Anza arrived, our week-one hunters. Kayleen Bruce will cook for us. We “discovered” Kayleen during the wedding weekend when she was so helpful and at home in our kitchen. Wayne and I have always done all the cooking and housekeeping ourselves but with a fully-booked fall ahead of us we decided it was time to get help. Kayleen brought lobsters up from the coast and we served a traditional lobster dinner to welcome our hunters.

August 30, opening day of bear season, sunny with a high temperature of 88 degrees! Definitely not the weather we’d hoped for. In this business there are some things you can control such as food and lodging. We give 100% to preseason baiting and work as a team with our clients to make their hunt as memorable, enjoyable, and successful as we possibly can. We can’t control the weather. I ran baits in the morning and we immediately realized what a huge asset is is to have a cook. Wayne and I are able to enjoy a more relaxed pace and have more time to enjoy our hunters. Since it was so hot we didn’t have to hurry to get our hunters on their stands early; the bears wouldn’t be moving until the sun started to set. At 7:40, as I was picking up my hunters, I got a call on the MURS radio from Wayne. Mike Farrell had shot a nice boar, sporting a white bib on his chest, with his muzzle loader.

In the morning we took photos of Mike’s bear, skun it, cut the meat, and had it in the freezer before lunchtime. Another hot and sunny day, not good bear hunting weather but we’ll have to work with it. After we got the guys out on their stands Wayne and I met up with George Pooler (guide at Track Down). We visited a bit then got in position for our night sit. We put our guys out so that we can get to them easily when they shoot. All have radios and are instructed to call us when they shoot so we can determine of we should go right in to drag out dead bears or strat tracking when necessary. That night I watched a couple of moose foraging in a clearcut. At 7:40 Mike Stefanik called on the radio to tell me Wayne was tracking a bear he’d put an arrow in. I picked up my hunters and Al Anza then we met up with Wayne and Mike. The bear was wounded so we returned to the lodge, ate dinner and went back out to recover the bear. We chose our “search and recovery team” which included both Wayne and I, Mike (the archer who shot the bear), and the most able-bodied guy to help drag – Al Anza. We also brough “Alli the Wonder Dog” to help us work the track. We entered the woods at 10:30 p.m. and temps were still in the mid 80s. We knew if we left the bear overnight the meat would spoil if the coyotes or another bear didn’t eat it first! Alli worked with us to the last known sign of blood and within minutes completed the track to the 200+ lb. boar. While Wayne went back to the truck to gather his drag team, Alli and I waited with the bear. While we waited we had another bear circling us as we sat under a fir tree alongside the dead bear, illuminated by my headlamp. I was sure relieved when the bear departed and Wayne and Company arrived! We had the bear hung and gutted by 1:00 a.m. The bear weighed 225 lbs.

By reviewing trail camera photos we learned most of the bears were not feeding until temps dropped to 70 degrees or so, which meant they were frequenting the bait sites in the wee hours of the morning. Steve Mudgett wanted to try an early morning sit on the 1st. No bear but they watched a lynx on the way out of the woods. That afternoon I picked up Tom Webber at the University. He is a freshman enrolled in the criminal justice program. He wants to become a game warden. I figured he’d enjoy spending a day as an “apprentice” guide and hoped we’d bring in a bear that night. No bear at Fish River Lodge so I stopped at Track Down in Wallagrass where they might have a bear. Sure enough Rene St. Onge was skinning a small boar they’d gotten that night.
We were blessed with cloud cover on the 2nd although temps remained in the 80s. None of the three saw bear that night. Steve Mudgett did another morning sit on the 3rd and shot a 150 lb. boar at 7:30 a.m. Bob Watkins passed on a small bear knowing there is a large boar coming to his site. Al Anza still has not seen a bear through five days of sitting.

Saturday the 4th is the last day for our last two hunters. Hurricane Earl dumped a lot of rain overnight but it cleared off by afternoon. Wayne took our last two hunters out. I waited for our week two hunters to arrive. Arrive they did! Uncle David brought a load of lobsters up – enough for all of us to feast on Saturday night and still plenty for lobster rolls later! Ann and Cliff Baker, and Bob and Sue Ormsby who were camping at Old Mill Marina in their RVs joined us for dinner and a tour of the lodge. Mom and dad arrived along with Duane, his son Tom, and friend Jeff Morrill. We cleaned up from our lobster feed just in time to get dinner ready for a steak feed with our first week hunters. At 8:45 Wayne was overdue and we knew they had “something”. Finally, at 9:15 they pulled in and the guys piled out of the truck. In the bed, they had a HUGE black bear sow! Al, who had sat all week and seen nothing, shot the bear with only 10 minutes remaining before the end of legal shooting. Since he’d shot it with his crossbow we immediately checked state records and learned it could become the state crossbow record black bear sow! We celebrated late in to the evening as I called around looking for a certified scale to weigh it on. Sunday morning we weighed it at North Star Variety in New Sweden and it tipped the scales at 325 lbs. The state archery record was 328! We submitted Al’s bear in to the record books and on September 19, Harry Vanderweide confirmed Al’s record crossbow sow.

Our week two hunters (Dad, Uncle David, Duane, and Jeff) suffered through a week of rain and wind. Uncle David shot at a bear, Jeff passed on one, and neither Dad nor Duane saw a bear but we all enjoyed each others company and the opportunity to hunt together again. Mom and Aunt Teri kept us well-fed all week. Duane will be back later in the month when he participates in his father Ron Webber’s cow hunt. My dad is Ron’s sub-permitee and will shoot Ron’s cow.

Week three hunters: Bob O’Connor, Al Gardner, Dave Mrocek, and Pat Dolan in to camp on the 12th. Alec Watson and his wife from Georgia are in for some fall fishing. They had good success catching brook trout and a few salmon. By week’s end we had a couple bears on the game pole, Dave has bloodied his eye with the scope when he fired his .358 (he loves that rifle!), and Al had collected many specimens of moles, voles, and mice. Al is curator of North American wildlife for the National Museum and Smithsonian. They all were characters and we shared many laughs and interesting stories. As always, they arrived as strangers but left a part of the Fish River Lodge Family.

Wayne and I worked our “real jobs” the 20th-24th. Russ and Carole Dyer, Russ’s sister and her husband joined us for a half-week of late-season brook trout and salmon fishing, then we got ready for our September moose hunters.

A Fish River Lodge Wedding

It seems like just as we start to enjoy summer and all its beautiful weather then it is time to shift gears. We started baiting bears on the 1st – hunting season is right around the corner. Summers are brief in the north which makes us treasure those long, warm days all the more. I also moved in to my new office and I love it! I spent the evening relaxing and enjoying the view of my new space. It is like having a quiet haven when I close the door…

After work on the 3rd I drove over to Rocking S Ranch in Fort Fairfield to meet up with horse friend Mary Heald, Dan and Ian Pinette, and Deb. Mary let me ride her Quarter Horse mare, Quincy that night. I rode up along the ridge through the potato fields as the sun was setting, all alone, just me and the horse. For a moment it was heaven! After a barbecue dinner and visits I unrolled my sleeping bag and slept in the teepee made of ivy. I returned to work the next morning with a whole new outlook on life. Gloria Lebrecque has been at Fish River Lodge since early July, her vacation is winding to an end. She comes every year to get away from it all, recharge her batteries, and return to Connecticut with renewed energy and a new outlook on life too. It’s amazing how Aroostook County does that to people. The Ann Crosby family, Plourdes, and Vanakens were here the week of the 8th.

We moved in to our new bathroom on the 9th after running bear baits. All 20 of our baits cleaned right out! I also found my first colored leaf on the ground today, and orange maple. Every year I save the first colored leaf I find and press it in my journal.

Miranda and her fiancé Tyler arrived on the 11th. Wedding preparations began immediately as we wrote a very long grocery list, planned logistics, and unpacked boxes of lights and decorations that will go up in the coming days. We went on our shopping expedition in Presque Isle on the 12th as the guys tidied the grounds and started installing the hundreds of white lights around the property. Other guests and the wedding party began arriving on the 12th. We began celebrating on the beach that night.

The lodge was a hot-bed of activity on the 13th with food prep in the kitchen, decorating in the lodge dining room and deck, tiki torches installed, hay bales gathered. By nightfall we were ready for the wedding. Grant took the wedding party on a booze cruise – we lit all the lights and tiki torches so Miranda and Tyler could see them from the water. It was so festive! We prayed the long run of sun would continue in to Saturday, the 14th, their wedding day.

We woke to another lovely summer day on the 14th. I picked up the brides bouquet, attendant bouquets, and boutonnières at Corriveau’s Hilltop Blossoms in Wallagrass. They were gorgeous! In the mean time Miranda and her bridesmaids were doing hair and make up in cabin 6, Tyler and his groomsmen were dressing in cabin 7. The girls hung a bedspread across the deck of their cabin so no one could see them. As the hour approached I changed in to my fancy “Annie Oakley” dress and then Cindy (mother of the groom), and I gathered at the girl’s cabin for mimosas until it was time…

At 11:00 a.m. our church was the beach with hay bale pews covered in country calico, creating an aisle to the dock altar. Guests took their seats while “Big Blue” (Rich and family) provided music. It was a "country" theme and many wore cowboy boots and hats. The bridal party stared their procession from cabin 6, in front of the lodge, to the beach, followed by Acadia and the babies in a wagon, and then the bride, Miranda escorted by her proud father. Rich performed the ceremony and as Tyler and Miranda were pronounced husband and wife, Cindy and I fired two rounds each from our trusty over-and-under shotguns! The celebration began with champagne flowing. I presented Tyler and Miranda with my grandfather’s compass to symbolize their navigation through life together. Best Man Jason Carter made an inspirational toast with a fishing theme. Wayne, with help from Blaine Carter and Anne Paquete, fired off the lobster bake plate and started grilling for the luncheon – guests gathered on the lodge deck and in the lodge dining room as the festivities were just getting underway. There was much laughter and celebration throughout the day. The kids, young and old, replaced dresses and suits with swimming attire as the party continued in to the evening. Later that night Tony Dube served his famous roast pig for dinner and Big Blue played for us again. The wedding of Miranda and Tyler had been all we planned and hoped for, and more! Fish River Lodge was the perfect setting for a gathering of family and friends for Miranda and Tyler’s wedding.

Slowly our guests started to depart Sunday morning. The real work – clean up – began. We did a little on Sunday but mostly we enjoyed our guests who stayed. Mom and Dad, Ron and Mim Webber, and Acadia and I enjoyed a relaxing afternoon and later dined on left overs. Miranda and Tyler spent a romantic afternoon and night at Four Seasons Inn at Soldier Pond.

Back to work on the 16th through the 20th. We ran baits and eventually returned the lodge and grounds back to “normal”. Ron Lebrecque and his family arrived for their end-of-the-summer vacation on the 22nd.

Bear season began on the 30th, but that is another chapter all together…

Summer Fun

Summer is in full-swing. Our old bathroom/laundry room addition is gone and construction on the new addition is underway! On the 2nd Grant and Wayne had it decked over. That night Wayne and I “snuck away” for our last “night off” until November. We’ve got a very busy summer ahead of us and with bear and moose hunt bookings nearly filling our schedule already we know it will be non-stop action right through fall. We took the boat up to Three Brooks Cove for some brook trout fishing on the brooks. We watched a summer buck in full velvet graze along the shore. As we were pulling brookies from the stream we watched mother black duck and her ducklings dabbling all around us, uninterested in what we were doing. When the sun started to set we gather firewood, built a fire on the beach, and roasted hotdogs for dinner, relaxing long after darkness fell. It was so peaceful we wished we’d brought sleeping bags to stay the night. Around 11 p.m. we headed home.

On the 3rd Wayne went south to pick up Kaitlyn for her annual summer visit. She looks forward to vacationing with the girls and their families who spend 4th of July week at Fish River Lodge – the Calverts, Devoes, and Chasses. I bought flowers to hang from the cabins and lodge – they add a bright, cheerful touch and greeted our arriving guests. The Calverts were the first in to camp. Trash can turkey and Independence Day celebrating on the 4th and hot weather on the 5th. Our guests swam or sat in chairs IN the lake to keep cool! Eric Vogel, wife Heather and son Hazen arrived on the 6th. Eric was my neighbor when I lived down-state. We reminisced about the many good times we shared with our horses and caught up on what we’d been up to for the past five years. He is the new owner of TW Dicks steel fabrication company in Gardiner, Maine. Torrential rain on the 8th and 9th dumped 3” in a total of 1 ½ hours!

Larry Converse, his wife and granddaughter arrived on the 9th. Remember Larry? He caught the 5 ½ lb. salmon back in May. Work on the addition continued on the 10th. Paula and I helped Grant put plywood sheets up for the roof. It had been raining in my laundry room, filling my washing machine with rain water, try as we might to keep it dry! I was so happy to finally have it closed in!

The week of July 12th-15th we received lots of moose hunt bookings and construction continued on our addition. I went down-state on the 16th to attend my daughter Miranda’s bridal shower. She will be married at the lodge in August. Bridesmaid Becky Sweek organized a fun shower at Lion’s Pride brew pub in Brunswick – 32 taps and a great place to gather with friends! Visits with family and friends, toured “the Islands” and Cundy’s Harbor where I grew up – I’d forgotten how beautiful it is on the coast and realize now how I’d taken it for granted when I lived there.

Wayne and Grant insulated and installed tongue & groove paneling in my office on the 19th – I can’t wait to move in to my “real” office! My “temporary” office is located in the dining room. The Johnston family (Delaware) returned on the 20th for their two-week Maine vacation. They will hike, kayak and explore the region in the coming days.

Finally on the 24th I got to paint our cabins. I scraped and touched up areas that had started peeling. They look so much nicer once I finished. The Johnstons saw moose, deer, coyote, and even a bear on their excursion today. Melissa and Dave Smey and dog Sophie arrived. Ivan and Hope Johnston picked blueberries in front of their cabin on the 25th. By month’s end my office was finished! Jerry and Sandy stayed up until midnight assembling my new desk on the 31st.

We’d enjoyed lovely weather for the most part even through we had a few days of rain. The rain never slowed any of us whether we were working on the addition or our guests were enjoying the outdoors.