Category Archives: bear baiting

Talking Hunting on Maine Outdoors

Maine Outdoors, deer hunting, bear hunting, turkey hunting, Robin Follette

I was a guest on Maine Outdoors on WVOM a couple of weekends ago. Thanks to Kevin Smith for inviting me to be on the show again. It was a blast! I love radio. I slapped my hand over my mouth a couple of times to quell what would seem like inappropriate laughter since listeners […]

Getting Reacquainted & Outdoors Fitness

Hi! Remember me? “How vain it is to sit down to write, when you have not stood up to live.” Henry David Thoreau I’ve been away from this blog for a while. I have been living so much I’ve barely written a word in months. We fished a lot this summer. I caught the biggest […]

Maine Bear Hunting Referendum: hunting with Bob Tigro

This is an incredible story. Refill your coffee and get comfortable. You’ll be drawn in quickly. This is Bob Tigro’s story of bear and coyote hunting at Oxbow Lodge in Oxbow. What do coyotes have to do with hunting bears with bait, snares and hounds? If it weren’t for bear hunting Bob wouldn’t have made […]

Maine Bear Hunting Referendum: Thoughts from an out-of-stater

Pat Rayta and his Maine black bear taken in 2005.

I met Pat Rayta online in a group devoted to saving Maine’s proven hunting methods. It’s a big group, more than 1,300 men and women who love the outdoors, understand or are learning about hunting as a means of conversation, and who are passionate about keeping Maine’s bear population healthy. It didn’t take long to […]

Maine Bear Hunting Referendum: Ballot box biology shouldn’t replace biologists

Tenley Bennett, Registered Maine Guide

I’ve asked people who are involved in Maine’s bear hunt to tell us their stories. We’re likely to be voting on a referendum in November that calls for the end of baiting, hounding and snaring/trapping. If this passes it will affect the bears, hunters, timber management companies, store owners, guides, lodge and camp owners and […]

Finally! A bear!

I’m getting comfortable in my own stand. I don’t like it much but I’m adjusting. Today was a big improvement. I didn’t check the bait barrel yesterday. Ava had three harsh seizures and it took her a while to come out of it. I went up this afternoon. I watch the road closely for scat […]

HSUS for Fair Bear Hunting?

HSUS for Fair…wait…did you think the name of this entity was Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting? mmm…so did a lot of folks. “Mainers” in this case is code word for Humane Society of the United States, based in Washington, DC. Their website is fairbearhunt.com, and the name of the website is typed into the software […]

My no-bear bear baiting experience

That’s right…no bear. There’s a bear or two around but they aren’t coming to the barrel. We set up the tree stand and barrel on July 27, the first day baiting was allowed. Taylor held the ladder in place while Steve climbed to the top to secure the seat to the tree. He trimmed a […]

A cow moose walks into a bear baiting station…

This cow moose strolled through the bait station at 5 pm Friday. She looked at the barrel for 20 seconds before moving on. She’s the only thing on the game cam; even the raccoon hasn’t been back. The moose has been walking up and down the road. She’s bigger than I guessed from her tracks. […]

Bear Baiting: a little discouraged

As of yesterday (Monday) afternoon there hasn’t been a bear at my bait barrel. I’ve changed bait from meat and sweet goat chow to doughnuts. The doughnuts did get the attention of one critter on the first night. I was excited for a split second when I saw the tipped barrel and a log on […]

Bear Baiting: tending the bait

Tending the barrel has been quick and easy. I park at the bottom of the hill at the washout and walk a quarter-mile to the barrel. I enjoy the daily trip. I make noise going in to help prevent meeting up with bears at the site. With If I have someone with me, we talk. […]

Bear Baiting: The barrel

I’m using an old plastic 50 gallon barrel the girls had for barrel racing as my bait barrel. Steve cut a hole in it with the chainsaw. The size of the hole isn’t particularly important to me. I’ve seen large holes bears can stick their heads into and small holes they have to reach into […]