Monday arrived with me running a few baits in the morning and hurrying home to have lunch with the hunters before we headed out for an afternoon of bear hunting.  The weather forecast was for scattered thunder showers, so everyone had there rain gear.  It wasn't long after I got all the guys in there stands when the first thunder shower hit.  I drove in to check on everyone and found Clint, who was hunting with a bow, waiting for me on the road.  He had seen a bear about 2 pm, but had not taken a shot, when the thunder shower hit he decided to call it a day.  He and I checked on everyone and finally arrived near Ron's stand to find him waiting by the road as well.  Apparently it wasn't long after I put had left him at his bait site when he saw his first Maine black bears.  He shot a young boar and saw two other bears as well.  We recovered his bear and waited for the end of shooting time to arrive to pick up the other hunters.

     It wasn't quite the end of shooting time when a tremendous thunder storm hit the area.  I was off picking up hunters and dispatched Nancy to take the other truck and do the same. I picked up Tom and Nancy picked up Dick and Shawn.  Shawn was very thankful to be alive as a bolt of lightning had struck near his stand forever marking him as "Sparky" Lundrigan.  He had seen a sow with a cub, but no shooters.  So after the first day, we had 1 bear in the cooler and 6 bears seen.

      Tuesday began as Monday had, but we had 1 less hunter to put out.  It wasn't too long that afternoon when I got a call that Shawn had shot a bear.  I headed out to find an excited Sparky.  After a short blood trail through some unbelievably thick growth we recovered his bear.  We then learned that Tom had shot a bear as well, so Sparky and I headed off to find Tom and his bear.  Literally we had to find Tom, as he had become disoriented just a short distance from the bait.  The Maine woods are thick.  After getting Tom back to the bait, we picked up the blood trail and soon Tagged Tom's 3rd Maine black bear in 4 years.  The only other sightings that day were from Clint who had watched two bears this day.  So at the end of the second day we had 3 bears in the cooler and 10 bears seen.

     Wednesday we were down to 3 hunters remaining.  Eddie, Clint and Dick headed out that afternoon and put some more time in the bear woods.  When it came time to pick up the guys I learned that Clint and Eddie saw no bears and Dick had seen only a sow with a cub, again no shooters.  So we now had seen 12 bears and still only 3 in the cooler.

     Thursday Eddie headed out to bait bears again, but on this day he also got to build the blind he would be hunting in that very afternoon.  We returned home to eat lunch with everyone and the three remaining hunters headed out with me to try some new baits.  I put Dick out, then Eddie and finally got Clint in his stand.  That afternoon was a very good one.  Dick shot a large sow and while we were putting it on the back of the truck, we heard Eddie shoot.  We went to Eddie's stand to find him quite excited.  After a short blood trail we found Eddie's first bear, a nice sow that he had taken from a stand and bait he had tended that very morning.  Now it was up to Clint.  Well, we picked him up and he had seen a nice bear, but it did not present a shot for his bow.  So we now had 16 bears seen and 5 in the cooler.

     On Friday Clint and I headed out after lunch to try one more time.  Today he opted for a firearm, but alas it did not matter.  Today he sat on the bait all afternoon and saw no bears.  But Clint has taken several bears here in Maine, in Canada and Virginia.  So taking a bear is not as important to a good hunt as the fellowship, food and time spent in the bear woods.  A great first week  , with 16 bears spotted and 5 nice bears taken and lots of fun had by everyone in camp.