Hunters are hitting the woods for bear season
By Julie Harris, Bangor Daily News Staff
Gateway Trading Post in Ashland started registering bears on youth day and the flow of hunters coming through hasn’t stopped since.
Youth hunter Johnny Dickey’s bear was the first registered at Gateway this season. It also was his first bear ever.
By Aug. 28, the trading post had registered 26 bears, with the biggest at 425 pounds, according to store owner Brenda White.
BEAR HUNT — Eli Maheu of Dover-Foxcroft shot this 183-pound sow with a compound bow on opening day of bear hunting.
Several hunters enlisted lodges and sporting camps and their associated guide services. White said most people weigh their animals at their outfitters’ places instead of at the store.
The Homestead Lodge in Oxbow, Lento Sporting Camps in Mars Hill, Dead North Adventures in Ashland, Rustic Retreat Lodge in Perham, and dozens of others throughout Maine have hunters booked for bear season.
Many of their hunting clients are from other parts of the United States, such as Texas and Pennsylvania.
Hunters are using several methods for killing bears too, including different types of guns and bows. One person built his own gun, just for the occasion, according to Dead North.
Blood-tracking dogs were in high demand. The dogs are specially trained to follow a blood trail when a hunter loses a wounded animal back into the woods. The state maintains a list of licensed trackers here at https://www.maine.gov/ifw/hunting-trapping/hunting/licensed-dog-trackers.html.
Trackers recommend hunters flag the visible blood trail well, especially where the bear was struck by the bullet or arrow and the point where the animal’s trail was lost; limit the disturbance of the area, including no grid searching; have details of what happened and share any photos you have with the tracker; and call a tracker as soon as possible.
This first part of the bear season, which opened with youth day, allows hunting over bait, ending on Sept. 21.
Hunters may trap bears from Sept. 1 until Oct. 31, and hunt with dogs from Sept. 9 until Nov. 1. Deer hunters may harvest bears during their hunt until Nov. 30. Hunters may take one by trapping and one by hunting for a total of two bears per season.