guides in maine for bear hunting?

[billyp]

Hi all. First time post, long time reader.
Can anyone suggest some guides in Maine for Black Bear hunting? I would like a nice place to stay too.  I'm asking because a friend of mine from here in OH used Nelson Cole and warned me to stay clear of him.  From what I heard he has some serious ethical issues (really beating his dogs hard with his fist, saying a lot of rude things to women and about them and so on and did nothing but bad mouth other nice guides and hunters in the area).  And I'm not saying I'm a saint but I guess his mouth was just gross and non stop.  And, after all that, my friend never even saw a bear with Nelson (and his prices were high and included "not much" for food or anything).  So there is no way I use this Nelson Cole guy even if he did find me a bear. Are all guides like this? I certainly hope not.  Please let me know of any nice and good guides.  Thank you all so much.

[Graybeard]

If you are looking for a hunt over bait which is sorta what Maine is famous for I'd suggest you take a long look at our Sponsor of this Forum. Jim and Kathy Lynch of Fish River Lodge. I'm sure you'll not find the problems you mention with them.

But if you have your heart set on a dog hunt since you mention dogs you'll have ot look elsewhere as they do not use dogs.

GB

[Rmouleart]

One of the best guides in Maine is Rodney Sirois FtKent Maine, Northern Hideaway, he was a Navy seal and worked for the cia for a while, gives discounts to vets/Law Enforcement as well, takes his bear hunting very seriously, he has just obtained a grayed zone that has not been hunted in eight years, it was subjected to no hunting, last year he hunted the grey zone and had a very good season, most bears were mature and big, He was close to 100% but a few hunters opted to pass on some good bears to wait for a trophy bear to come to there bait site. I will be hunting with Rod this year Sept 19-25...I think he is booked bye now,but maybe not, well worth checking into it, this is on the boarder of canada along the black river on one side america and the other Canada, nice remote area, I drove eighty miles of remote logging roads to get there, just keep aware of those paper/log trucks they fly LOl,and drive fast on the washboard or you will loose some fillings Good luck on your adventure. Aim small hit small. RAMbo.

http://www.mainerec.com/hideaway/index.shtml

[Maine_Hound_Hunter]

I have hunted with some really good guides, but they told me they've been booked for a while, guess that's what you get when your in prime animal country like northern Maine.

[oso45-70]

Billyp
Welcome to GBO, I don't know any thing about the hunting in your neck of the wood, but im sure you will find what you are looking for here. If you was in the south west i could point you in the rite direction. Good luck on your hunt,and again welcome..........Joe.............................

[NYH1]

I live in New York. We can hunt bear, but you probably have a better chance of getting struck by lighting then getting a bear. Some hunters  are successful, but there few and far between.

I've been thinking about bear hunting in Maine myself. I'll definitely check out the guides you guys mentioned.

[snowshoehareguide]

ive hunted with nelson alot-  he   has one of the  highest success rates for bear with hounds-if your buddy  from ohio didnt  get a  bear with nelson hes in the minority-  - he doesnt provide  food-  he  provides a camp with cooking facilities-his prices may seem  high-he can charge the price because of the success rate he  has--    there are cheaper deals  but no place i know that year after year can beat nelson  for bear with hounds or bobcat with hounds in maine-not everybody  gets one- its not 100%  i know one year i hunted with nelson over a month and 20 out of 21 hunters got a bear and the one that  didnt missed several opportunities-thats about as good as  it  gets  anywhere-  anyways   just  thought id  give another  perspective here - there are lots of  good guides in maine-   this will probably  be  the  last   year  to  hunt  bear  with  hounds in maine- will be vote on the  ballot  this  fall to  outlaw baiting and hounding-this  affects  anybody  whoever thinks they might like to  bear hunt in  maine  and   hsus will  go to your state or province  next  - some of u may want to  check into  this   pete

[Dezertyote]

PB Outfitters has a success rate thats hard to beat.

Paul runs a lot of bear hunters through his camp, but thats to be expected with his success rate. Last year he had 110 hunters throughout the bear season with 103 I beleive take a bear.
107=103 now thats doing your homework and thinking like a bear :lol:

As far as food goes; just about all you can eat and then some.
I only deer hunt out of his camp and its the only week of the year I eat healthy :oops:

You cant find much better people than Paul & Steve Bouragard

[Rmouleart]

A high success rates are good, but are we shooting small bears, thats one thing I like about a remote area's to hunt, I want to shoot a big bear not 2 year olds weight 150Pd's and has ears like mickey mouse,and thats what I found out about many bear baiting orgs, they hunt the area's to death every year, large amount of hunters every year, not good, bears don't have enough time to get big;) Try to look for a outfitter that only hunts maybe ten-twenty guys a week in a remote area, make sure he has many other bait sites as well or alternative area to run the dogs, so if your bait site your site is not active the guide can move you to one that is, this is very important, being at a bait site for a week that has no activity can be very frustrating and costly, I have seen this happen, Now hunting with dogs you never know what the heck your chasing till you pickup track or see him, a large bear tends not to tree as easy as young ones,you can be chasing a bear for a long time, so be sure to be in shape, this is not a hunt for the light hearted, be prepared to bust brush. Also if you are hunting trophy bears ask if you can pass on small bears, most of the time what the dogs tree you have to shoot. Just a few things to keep in mind, good luck on your dog or baited hunt. Aim small hit small. RAMbo.

[Border]

The average adult bear in NH or Maine weighs about 150lbs.Those 150lber can easily be 225lbers if they are not weighed on scales !! Guesstimating can add a lot of pounds !! I had a good season last year and averaged well over 200lbs .I had 3 or 4 bears that were between 150 and 200 and they were all nice bears.

Unpaid advertising removed by Graybeard. GB

[Rmouleart]

Like I said before 150Pd's is average, a female that is mature is 150Pd's-200Pd's easy, males get much bigger, if they have the time too;) Rods crew shot some huge bears last year some weighting close to 400 Pd's, these are weighed and tagged bears;) I have his stat,s and pictures of some of his huge bears, Black bears can get very big if the feed is right, up on the Canada boarder has perfect environment and is very remote, some of the bears are very old and very large, there was a huge bear hit bye a car up that way, weight 800 Pd's, near a dump, black bears can get very big under the right circumstances.
If guides don't rotate hunting bait sights yearly and keep killing them out the same area's year after year, this is the reason for 150Pd's bears, they are young 1-3 years old if that, mature bears can live up into there twenty's and then some. If any body is interested in seeing large bears shot out of Maines Northern hideaway from last year I have a word doc with his stats and pictures of some nice bruins worth hunting, I will email them to you.
When you are paying between $1000-1500 bucks  or more.
I would like the chance at a trophy bear, not saying one might not show up, but the chances are good in a remote area that is filthy with bears and has not been hunted for years,
I have seen the bears in the berry fields fighting over domain, don't even care if I'm watching them, and let me tell you I seen some monsters that were much bigger than a 55 gallon barrel and those are big bears.,but of course knowbody can promise you a trophy, but I like to increase my chances with a guide that hunts only a few hunting party's a week in remote areas and feeds those blacky's tons of food every day for thirty days before the baiting season starts, filling 55 gallon barrels to the top, good amount of meat/donuts/mollassas/bacon fat etc, Bottom line it takes many things to promote good bait hunting, and allot depends on the guides prepraration before the hunt, and its very hard work baiting sites daily...Aim small hit small RAMbo.
P.S. Here is one of the bears shot last season weight 332 pds dressed.

[Border]

I look at over 100 bears a year in NH and Maine,up close too. The majority of these bears are under 200lbs.I spend 6 weeks guiding in a remote section of Maine.The state record for NH,alltime ,is 494.I believe the all time record for Maine is just over 600.The reason bears up here dont get the huge weights has very little to do with age.It is simply enviroment.Bears are denned from late Oct until April.Thats half the year they arent putting on weight.Bears down south spend very little if any times in dens.They are basically eating 11 months of the year.They is also not much in the way of corn and  other crops to feed on here like there are in other places where bears get much heavier.
 Anyone that says a mature female bear is 200pds easy,hasnt seen a lot of bears in New England.Biggest female I have ever heard of taken was 326.
  The first bear picture on my website under 2003 Photos  weighed 422.Thats as big as I have taken.There was 1 other bear at the same tag station that weighed over 400.Thats out of probably 40 or 50 bears tagged there.
 That 332 lber you took is a dandy.Thats a good bear anywhere.You will be hard pressed to beat that one this year.
 The Boone and Crockett bear we took in 2002 was an  old bear but he only weighed 215.Age is no where near the factor in bears weights as are enviroment.

[Rmouleart]

Boarder that bear hit bye a car was hit on the canadian side, it was in my american hunting mag, the bear was 800Pd's and had three more months of eating left till they den, they estimate the bear would breach 1000 Pd's bye the end of season, of course this bear was eating out of a dump, but it still a good example that black bear get big with the right environments, when I said remote I had to drive eighty miles of remote logging roads on the canadian boarder to get to the camp, also this zone has only been hunted once in eight years, so there is plenty of mature bears/moose/deer. Now if you want to see even bigger black bears you have to go to BC/Alaska they sport really big black bears due to there environment and great feed. I have seen black bears with there bellies dragging on the ground, you know when you see that you have seen a big black bear, Jim shockey use to run a spot and stalk in early spring Canada and I seen his guide service take out some huge black bears, sometimes hunters tend not to wait till the big bear comes, they shoot the first bear into the site, most of the time the Small bears will come in to the bait first then right before dark the big bear comes in and the rest run;) thats when you know the papa bear is coming in, he will crack a limb to warn all others to leave his site, when hunting a bait site i like to be at least seventy yards away up in a tree stand, to keep my scent away and so that the bigger bears will come in, most bait sites I have seen are twenty yards, I think thats way to close to attract big mature bears, and allot of patience will pay off. Aim small hit small. RAMbo.

P.S. here is another from Northern Hideaways camp 2003.

[Border]

The area you are hunting is probably the most remote section there is in Maine.I dont think you could find a better place in Maine to bear hunt.
  The heaviest black bears taken are from down south.I believe PA had 3 over 700lbs this past season.Those S Carolina bears get unreal huge.I have a couple video tapes here that just blow my mind.5 to 700 lbers.Thes ebears are shot with hounds,bayed up at a few feet.Thats about as wild as it gets for me.The 422 lber on my website was taken by a hunter from Kentucky last year.Dogs had it bayed up in a  thicket.I was right beside the guy when he shot it at less than 10 yards.It was some cool I tell ya.We had chased it on foot for about 45 minutes when we finally got close enough to shoot.
 I figured that big bear had to Canada.No more dumps in Maine.
   I have never met Rod Sirois or Paul Beauregard but I have heard many good things about them both.Sounds like you should have a great time.
What did you have for a mount with that 332lber?

[Maine_Hound_Hunter]

The area you are hunting is probably the most remote section there is in Maine.I dont think you could find a better place in Maine to bear hunt.
  The heaviest black bears taken are from down south.I believe PA had 3 over 700lbs this past season.Those S Carolina bears get unreal huge.I have a couple video tapes here that just blow my mind.5 to 700 lbers.Thes ebears are shot with hounds,bayed up at a few feet.Thats about as wild as it gets for me.The 422 lber on my website was taken by a hunter from Kentucky last year.Dogs had it bayed up in a  thicket.I was right beside the guy when he shot it at less than 10 yards.It was some cool I tell ya.We had chased it on foot for about 45 minutes when we finally got close enough to shoot.
 I figured that big bear had to Canada.No more dumps in Maine.
   I have never met Rod Sirois or Paul Beauregard but I have heard many good things about them both.Sounds like you should have a great time.
What did you have for a mount with that 332lber?

Disagreed with the biggest bears are down south Border, the guy I know that hunts with hounds has the state records for both boar and sow bear in Maine, his hounds were the ones that treed that big ass boar.

NH's record wouldn't be far from being broken, we had a HUGE 400 pound bear taken this year with his hounds, and the state record sow title his dogs hold was taken this past hunting season also...

Those marks won't be beat for a while, unless somebody traps a cub and fattens it and releases it to shoot.

[Border]

Its a fact the biggest bears are down south.There is no argument to it. Maybe you didnt see where I wrote about the 3 -700 lb plus bears taken in PA this season alone? 6 to 700 lb bears are taken every year in South Carolina,mostly Hyde County.I have never heard of one 700 lb bear being taken in Maine.There are 3 or 4 bears tied for the heaviest ever in NH, 494 lbs.All taken by hounds.The guys I run with every day have taken at least 2 of them.I believe the heaviest sow in NH was 328?
 No, beechnuts and blueberrys cant compete with peanuts,corn,and soy bean fields like they have down south.That and the warm weather make them the heaviest black bears there are in the lower 48 anyways.
 I know Snowshoe Hare Guide above took one well over 500 in Maine this year.That is a rarity in Maine.It is much more common down south.

[Rmouleart]

Boarder I had a three quarter cape done bye Robert W Souza out of Mass, this guy is a top notch Taxidermist, been doing it since 1958, Met him at a bear camp a few years ago, the cape came out really nice, one paw up and one down, with ears back growling, really makes people jump when they turn to see his room full of teeth  LOL. I also agree with Boarder the bears down south can get really big on the average, long growing seasons make plenty of food, less time in the dens. I also believe that Penn has the biggest black bear on record, they got some really big woods pigs there for sure, a friend of mine lives in Tenn, they use dogs allot and tree some good size bears since he lived down there, dogs about the only way to really hunt them down there, no baiting season. Aim small hit small. RAMbo.

[Maine_Hound_Hunter]

Its a fact the biggest bears are down south.There is no argument to it. Maybe you didnt see where I wrote about the 3 -700 lb plus bears taken in PA this season alone? 6 to 700 lb bears are taken every year in South Carolina,mostly Hyde County.I have never heard of one 700 lb bear being taken in Maine.There are 3 or 4 bears tied for the heaviest ever in NH, 494 lbs.All taken by hounds.The guys I run with every day have taken at least 2 of them.I believe the heaviest sow in NH was 328?
 No, beechnuts and blueberrys cant compete with peanuts,corn,and soy bean fields like they have down south.That and the warm weather make them the heaviest black bears there are in the lower 48 anyways.
 I know Snowshoe Hare Guide above took one well over 500 in Maine this year.That is a rarity in Maine.It is much more common down south.

Misunderstood what you said about "down south" Border, I thought you were talking southern Maine, first thing that came to my mind was :What the hell, all I ever see there is moose. :-D

Agreed though, there are huge black bears down south...I'm planning on hunting for some of those big bruins down in North Carolina in the next couple of years with hounds.

[Dezertyote]

I think your right about the Penn. bears being among the biggest blackies.

I read that they took a 864 lbs. and 2 others that tipped over 800 lbs. with several others that were in the 700 rankings. How many were taken that weighted over 600 lbs.
I've posted about any scores on the big Penn. bears but got no responce, must be they're big fat pin headed bears :shock:
 
As for Pauls outfit, you go around 95 miles on the Golden Highway (all dirt road) to his camp. This is the most remote section in the northern alagash. Camp is within 20 yards of the Can. boarder.

He has scales there (every animal is weighted, bear, deer, moose,) so this is not a guessing game of how much you add to its weight.
Last year was not a good year for bears to layer on the fat, with the lack of mast crops. This year will be the beechnut year which should help fatten them for the winter.

Rmouleart you were talking about bears being small from over hunting in an area, you are right to a certian extent. This area is remote, bears are by population #1, with moose being #2 and deer being last on the list for big game in that area.

PB averaged 207lbs per bear last year with a 420lber and I cant remember how many 300+lbers that were taken, pretty good # of 300 plus size. He's not a small bear camp ( lbs.) as some would think.

I'm sure that there are a lot of great camps including you guys here on the board to hunt out of in Maine, this happens to be the camp that I go to for a week of deer hunting.
Did I say "deer"    sometimes I hunt all week and never see a deer!
I always see those loooong legged ugly tree trimmers with head gear. :eek:  but we go up to have fun and enjoy ourselves, deer or no deer...

Now the question is; If the "no bait no dogs" law passes, which would be a very sad day for all sportsman, the bear population especially in the high density areas will be out of control.
Where we hunt its all paper company owned, I think around 5-6 million acres. Each outfitter has land that they lease from them, and bear hunting is they're main stay for income. No baiting no dogs = no more remote commercial hunting camps in Maine. :cry:  

The paper companys keep a very sharp eye on hunters going in and going out, you have to check-in at the gate and check out at the gate.

Just my way of thinking is, that the paper comp. rely on the outfitters to keep track of they're hunters. And doing so if there are not any outfitters leasing because of a new law be passed, will the paper companys close those millions of acres off to all sportsmans??? :cry:  just a thought...

If a guy is looking to hunt bear in Maine with a guide, you better do it this year, there may not be a next year... My guess is that most outfits have already got a full house for the upcoming season.

Good luck and hope you all get your bear

[Border]

Desertyote, PB averaging 207 last year is real good.We averaged about the same ,215, and I was real happy.No bears under 165.We weighed all our bears except for 2 that we skun in the woods.We were way back in with the dogs and no way we were dragging them out whole !!

[Kathy-Fish River Lodge]

My first comment is to Maine Hound Hunter = wow, that picture is enough to scare anyone.  

If Billyp wants to e-mail me I will send him a FAQ Sheet with references and he can contact my hunters.  This year is shaping up to be interesting in the least.  We have the referendum against hunting.  We have bear showing up in interesting places and now the anti people are saying we are trucking the bear in and releasing them.

Ok you guys, who is crazy enough to trap a bear, put it in the back of their truck - cage or otherwise - drive to metropolitan Portland and release the bear.  Any takers?  

Luck to all, safe hunting

[Maine_Hound_Hunter]

Look what showed up in the yard yesterday out back while the dogs were locked in the barn....



Here's another:


My hunting season's all set, I've got deer and bear in the backyard, and a lotta moose if I get drawn for this zone.

Damn, I could sit on my front step and watch the woods...I also know there's a bear here weighing AT LEAST 300, hence last years cub in the pictures and constant sightings of him by hunting buddies.

[Ihunt4u]

Hi all. First time post, long time reader.
Can anyone suggest some guides in Maine for Black Bear hunting? I would like a nice place to stay too.  I'm asking because a friend of mine from here in OH used Nelson Cole and warned me to stay clear of him.  From what I heard he has some serious ethical issues (really beating his dogs hard with his fist, saying a lot of rude things to women and about them and so on and did nothing but bad mouth other nice guides and hunters in the area).  And I'm not saying I'm a saint but I guess his mouth was just gross and non stop.  And, after all that, my friend never even saw a bear with Nelson (and his prices were high and included "not much" for food or anything).  So there is no way I use this Nelson Cole guy even if he did find me a bear. Are all guides like this? I certainly hope not.  Please let me know of any nice and good guides.  Thank you all so much.

 hi my name is nelson cole and i would like to know who had such a bad exprience with me. i've had 73 hunters from ohio and all but 3 had an oppitunity to get a bear.---last year 2 hunters from ohio that hunted wth me on a hound hunt did
not get a bear--- one mised a bear at 25 feet using a handgun and the other one is comming back this year
on a bait hunt.--i furnish house keeping cottages-- and you do your own cooking, so if anybody doesn't eat good, it's your own fault.  
i have 4 different family's that hunt with me --last year a 10 year old girl shot a 335 lb. bear over the hounds. --Unpaid advertising removed by Graybeard. GB---like you said--- you gussed--