Author Topic: guide offered me another deal (Read 878 times)

joshua 35 whelen · « **on:** October 16, 2004, 05:08:45 PM »

The guide I mentioned offered me a dog hunt for 800.00 we will see how this one goes. Should be good said they treed 13 last year. He remembered what happened last year and has no girlfriend this year.

Graybeard · « **Reply #1 on:** October 16, 2004, 05:23:24 PM »

Don't assume because of one fly by night outfit all are bad. Just not so. How much effort did you put into checking him out in advance of the hunt? How many of the references he gave did you call and talk with?

If you want a good hunt at a fair price why not talk with Kathy or Jim at Fish River Lodge the sponsor of this Bear Hunting Forum. By all means check them out first. Get a list of references. Call them and talk with them. Check out their ratings online. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the difference.

Cabin4 · « **Reply #2 on:** October 17, 2004, 02:16:49 AM »

There are a lot of very reputable outfitters/guides in Maine. I would not let this one bad experience impact your decision to try Maine again. If you want to bag a black bear, no state can offer you more choices and a better chance at such an affordable price.

Picking a guide/outfitter requires some research. Things like calling former hunters on their reference list, talking to the local game warden, talking to the bear biologist for the state about the area your considering to hunt, looking at harvest stats published by the state for the area your considering, how long has the outfitter been in business, how many bait sites do they run, ect, ect. I could go on for a long time on these questions.

Yankee Yelper · « **Reply #3 on:** October 18, 2004, 07:00:08 AM »

I hunted with Jim Carey of Carey Outfitters in Rangely Me. this past September and was extremely pleased. I didn't see a bear but that is why they call it hunting and not killing. Four of nine in camp harvested bear with the largest being 374 lbs. The accomodations were super as was the food. I'll be back next year.

Cabin4 · « **Reply #4 on:** October 18, 2004, 10:12:08 AM »

I have hunted with PB Guide Service. The owner, Paul, home is in Skowhegan but the camp is much further north is in the middle of no-mans land. The camp is 90 miles from the nearest point of civilization in some of the best black bear habitat in Maine. Paul has over 350 sq miles of exclusive hunting rights on private paper co land. Its an experience you will never forget.

Many bear and likely the biggest you will find in Maine are in this area (Baker Lake). The week I was there (3rd week) we had numerous bear over 300lbs and If my memory serves me correct, 410lb was the biggest. I helped track and find this big boy then pull him out of the woods at 2am for a distance that I will not soon forget.

I left camp 2 days yearly so I don't know the final kill%. But I would guess it in the 90% range with 32 hunters in camp. Great guides, great food !!! and a very functional camp with all the hunters needs taken into account. They have one guy who is a retired butcher who does all the skinning and butchering of the bear. He will even cut it all up and package it for and then deep freeze it for your ride home. They run a 4 hunters per guide ratio usually sometime less. Which for bear over bait is fine.

It is required that you have a vehicle with good ground clearance to get to his camp. preferably a truck with 4x4 and good off road tires of 6ply or better. Bring a extra spare and some of those fix-a-flat cans, 12volt air compressor and a tire plug kit. You can't take a car there. Its not possible to take a car on the last 90 mile run. But this secluded and hard to get to area is whats makes it so good.