Author Ed Hale and his large boar taken with Crossbow

I began my second Maine bear hunt with Foggy Mountain and my friend Brandon Bishop, owner and Master Maine Guide. 

https://www.foggymountain.com/

I was hunting along the beautiful West Branch of the Penobscot River below. A truly wild place in which time forgot!

Monday, September 9th was a cool morning 52ºF with clear skies. I arrived at the bait site after a 20 mile dirt road drive. I asked my guide Ken to place me at the furthest secluded bait site and a ground blind. 

The location was thick with fir trees, some fallen with gnarled roots thrust in the air. The rusted steel barrel in the picture below. If the barrel could talk, it would tell of many bear hunting stories.  

Above, my 10 Point Crossbow positioned on a Death Grip Tripod at the ready with my Swhacker broadheads below! The Death Grip Tripod held the crossbow in its vice-like grip.

The forest sounds were of blue-jays, ravens and red squirrels chattering in the distance. 

I was hopeful, with a rusty bait barrel full of bear goodies just 29 yards away.

By sunset, at the 7PM hour, I had a hard time seeing clearly. I slipped quietly out of the stand hopeful for the next day.

The 20 mile drive back to camp was long and dodging rain filled potholes at every turn.

I was shown directions to the bait just once. On the way out I was making sure I made the right turns to get back safely. 

A truly grand adventure, stretching my hunter capabilities!  

At camp I arrived to six bears on the meat pole taken by bear hunters on day one. There were 20 hunters in camp and a bevy of guides. Below Brandon Bishop looks on. 

Most hunters used a rifle, but I successfully did that last year. My Ten Point Turbo Crossbow was easily up to the task shooting my swhacker 2.5 inch cut broadheads at 350 fps.

This property I hunted on is owned by many Timber Corporations and comprises 3.5 million acres of prime wild and diverse Maine habitat. 

These millions of acres is accessed is by hundreds of miles of dirt roads maintained by these timber companies. See my muddy, but very sturdy, silver Tacoma TRD 4×4 below. My trusty steed!

The next day, September 9th after a big lunch, I was ready for the hunt. Trekking to my bear stand, I decided to park further away, so as not to spook game.

It was 2 o’clock when I settled in. I had to adjust my tripod and seat for the long anticipated 5 hour sit, without moving much.

It was 3:10PM, when suddenly a black bear appeared out of thin air at the bait.

I have harvested two smaller bears in the recent past, thus I checked the bear out with my binoculars. “OMG, I thought, its a big bear.”

The bear stuffed his head in the bait barrel for just a second, then backed out, and turned and walked toward me. It all happened in an instant. 

My crosshairs were on him but a chest facing shot with a crossbow is not a killing shot.

At 20 yards, he peered into my brushy blind and decided it was empty and began to turn back. As the bear swung broadside, I launched my 350 fps arrow. I watched the arrow disappear into the bears chest behind the front left leg.  The bear ran to my left.   I was sure I made a good broadside shot. I packed up my gear and headed out to wait for my guide. I sent a satellite text message to my guide and headed to a rendezvous point. At 5 PM I hooked back up with Ken, my guide, who was already recovering another hunters bear and loaded it in the hunters truck. 

Below, Ken had another bear guide with him and Ken’s pet bear dog, a small black lab trained for bear retrieval. 

At my bait site we found the blood covered arrow.

I was all Smiles.

It took the dog just 10 minutes to locate the very dead bear just 60 yards from the bait. 

Below back at camp my bear was about my height, a 67 inch boar with huge claws.  

I stayed an extra day till my meat and hide froze in the camp freezer. 

Below, this stream produced some local brook trout. Great fun!

Bear meat is in my freezer and my bear skin is at the taxidermist for making a rug. I will be doing my own meat processing and vacuum sealing. Bear meat is delicious!

Happy Trails!

Good Hunting!