When Monday arrived, I got the guys out to their bear stands after lunch with high hopes of filling some bear tags.  I then ran a few bear baits, and walked in to watch a bear bait site, where I observed a large black bear for about 10 minutes, before it winded me.  When I picked up the guys I learned that John, Kevin, Mike and Ray had seen a total 10 black bears this evening.  We had no shots fired, but I had my first "lost" hunter with Paul "Wrong Way" Butler.  We returned to camp to a hot meal and anticipation for the next day.

     On Tuesday I took Kevin and John with me to run a few bear baits.  At one site, a bear was on the bait when we got there.  So we put John in the tree while Kevin and I finished running baits.  When we returned we learned that it was a small bear that played hide and seek with John for a bit.  After lunch that afternoon we headed back out to hunt once again.  After putting the guys out, I ran a few baits, then went to the end of the road where John was hunting.  I had a feeling he would take a bear this day.  Just before the end of shooting time he cam e walking up the road and told me of his close encounter with a large bull moose that had sent him scurrying and screaming for cover.  He then mentioned that he had shot at a bear as well.  We went in to look for his bear, and soon found a large black bear that had been taken with a well placed shot through the heart.  We would need help getting it out, so we went to get the rest of the guys.  We found out that Mike had seen a sow with three cubs, Kevin had seen 3 bears, Jim had shot at a bear and Ray did not see any.  It was on this night that Paul earned the name of "Wrong Way"  as he got lost for the second night in a row on the same bait site.  We retrieved John's bear and decided to look for Jim's in the morning.

     Jim and I headed out in the morning and after 3 hours of careful tracking determined that the bear was slightly injured, but would not be found.  Kevin had decided to hunt the morning as well.  We went back for lunch and I showed Paul to his new site where he would not get lost.  I then went back out with the rest of the guys to put them out for the afternnoon.  John rode around with me this day as we put out some bait.  We then waited at the end of the road wher Kevin was hunting.  Soon we heard a shot, and soon received a cell phone call from Kevin that he had shot a bear.  We went in to help him retrieve his bear that had only gone a short distance.  When we check on the rest of the guys, we learned that Mike had again seen a sow with 3 cubs and Paul had shot at a bear.  We returned to camp, and Paul and I headed into the woods to look for his bear.

     Thursday arrived with two tags filled and 4 left to fill.  Paul and I spent the day looking for the bear he had shot, but ended with us having to give up the trail.  This day Mike was the only hunter to see bears.  We headed back to camp had dinner and the guys decided to visit a local watering hole to observe some dancers.  Here the guys learned that Paul has multiple talents including exotic dancing.  If you ever are in the operating room where Paul is a dedicated professional, you may want to ask him to show you some of his moves.

     Friday arrived with four hunters that went out for an afternoon hunt.  Today Jim saw the only bear, but had no shot opportunity.  We ended the week with 100 % of the hunters seeing bears and 2 hunters killing bears.  We had a lot of laughter, lots of great food, lots of time spent in the Maine woods, and many memories.