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     Monday arrived and as I always do I headed out to run some bear baits, and returned in time to join the guys for lunch.  I then headed out to get all seven of the guys out to their stands for their first afternoon of the bear hunt.  Around 5:30 p.m. my cell phone rang and I headed out to meet Steve who had shot a bear with a cross bow.  We picked up the trail of the bear, and even with years of bear tracking under my belt as well as years of guiding experience in the west that Steve possessed, the bear eluded us and escaped.  Steve and I picked up the rest of the guys and headed back to the lodge.  We learned that he was not the only one to see bears at his site that day.  Larry had watched 2 bears, Zach had seen 3 bears, Chris had seen 2 bears and Todd had watched 4 different bears that afternoon.

     Tuesday we headed out after lunch for another great afternoon of bear hunting.  After getting the guys out to the stands, Steve and I headed back to where he had shot his bear to spend more time trying to sort out the bears trail.  Around 4 p.m. my cell phone rang and Steve's son Zach indicated he had shot a bear.  Upon arriving at the scene, I quickly located the arrow and determined that the shot did not hurt the bear and Zach should get back in his stand and finish out the afternoon in case another bear came along.  Right at dark Todd called to say he had shot a bear, and watched it slowly walk off into the woods.  When Steve and I got there Todd informed us that he had heard the bear's death moan about 60 yards away.  We immediately picked up the blood trail, only to loose it in about 12 feet, as the bear completely stopped bleeding.  The arrow shaft indicated the bear was hit through the lungs, and the death moan said it was down, but with darkness approaching, and no blood to go on, I opted to return in the morning to find this bear.  When we got in the truck to go pick up the rest of the guys we learned from Todd that he had seen a total of 5 bears that afternoon.

     We arrived at Chris's stand and I headed in with him to see if I could find a blood trail at his bait, as he had shot at a bear right at the end of shooting time.  There was no blood immediately visible, so again I opted to return in the morning.  Chris had seen 5 bears at his site as well on this day.  Mike saw 3 bears, and Larry saw 4.  Tom still was waiting to see his first bear, as he again had no visitors at his bait.  We headed back to the lodge with Chris and Todd in for a long night of restless sleep.

     On Wednesday morning Chris, Todd and I headed out to look for bears.  We first topped at Chris's stand and spend 2 hours there, searching and searching.  We found no indication that he had hit a bear, and I believe he completely missed the bear with his .45 caliber muzzle loader.  We then headed to odd's stand.  After circling and circling with no one cutting a blood trail, I started a grid search pattern with the guys to cover every square inch of ground.  After about an hour of this, Todd walked up on a nice large boar bear he had shot the night before.  We dressed off the bear and headed out to get it tagged, and get back for lunch. 

     After lunch I headed out with the guys to get them out to their stands.  Everyone was excited as we had a nice bear in the cooler and over the first two days of hunting a total of 30 bears had been seen by the 7 hunters in camp.  Everyone settled into their stands and waited anxiously.  My phone did not ring on this day, so I picked up the guys and learned that Mike had seen 1 bear that he passed on, and Larry had seen 1 bear as well.  Everyone else had uneventful afternoons.  We headed back to the lodge for some food, fellowship and sleep.

     Thursday arrived with me getting up to run some baits in the morning.  After lunch we headed out to the stands.  Several of the guys were moving to different stands, but Larry was going to hunt his stand, as he had confidence in it.  After getting everyone out to their stands, I met Todd on the road,, as he had hopes of getting some bear video.  He and I headed in to a ground blind, and he watched the bait, and apparently I slept.  Around 6 p.m. my cell phone vibrated waking me up.  Todd and I then headed out to meet Tom, who had shot a bear.  When we got there, it did not take long to find the bear, that had only run 20 yards or so, before dropping.  We dressed it off and loaded it in the truck.  As shooting time ended, we picked up the rest of the guys and  learned that Chris had seen a bear, Mike saw 4 bears and had an up close kind of experience, that I'll let him tell you about, if you get the chance to meet him, and once again Larry saw 3 bears.  We tagged Tom's bear, and headed home for more food, stories and sleep.

     Friday arrived and it was going to be a hot day.  After running some baits in the morning I met the guys for lunch, and we headed out for the final afternoon of bear hunting.  Once again Todd met me to try a get some bear footage, but we never got the chance to go into a stand, as Chris called to say he had killed a nice boar.  Todd and I headed out to help him with it, but Chris already had the bear out to the road when we arrived.  I dressed it off and loaded it in the truck.  We headed out to tag it and get it in the cooler as it was very hot.  We then drove back out and road around waiting for the phone to ring.  I picked up Mike who had seen the same 4 bears, and Zach who had again not seen any bears.  As we were heading home we finally connected with Steve who had hunted a different area near Larry, and we learned Larry had filled his tag.  We met at Larry's stand and headed in through some thick brush to retrieve his nice mature bear.  We then headed off to the tagging station once again, and finally home for some steak, fellowship and pie.

     The second week of bear season ended with us skinning bears on Saturday morning prior to everyone heading home.  We ended the week with 4 dead bears and over 47 bears sited by the 7 guys in camp.  That is a lot of bears.  Prior to leaving, Tom and Julie booked a hunt for the following fall, and one of their sons will be joining them on that trip.  The Craig brothers stopped at a local archery shop and purchased new Bowtec bows, as they liked Todd and Mike's Bowtecs.  They are planning on using those Bowtecs on bears in Maine in 2008.  Later that afternoon, Mike and I headed out to try a hunt.  I watched and videoed 4 bears, and Mike saw 7 bears at his site.  If you add those bears to the numbers seen during the second week of 2007, that is over 58 bear sightings.