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     Monday arrived and after getting everyone out into their tree stands or blinds, I ran a few baits then settled in to wait for something to happen.  No one shot any bear this day, but Matt heard a bear popping it s jaws, Mickey saw a very large bear  that shook him up pretty good, Dick saw his first bear ever, and Mike saw 4 bears at his site.  We returned to the lodge for some food, stories and rest for Tuesday.

     Tuesday arrived filled with anticipation.  We ate lunch and headed out to hunt once again.  Today passed fairly quiet with the only bear being seen today was by Harvey, right at dark.  Matt Miller who spent the entire 2006 season without seeing a bear still maintained his optimism about seeing a bear, after his second day in 2007 passing without a sighting.  We headed back out of the woods to the lodge for more of Nancy's good food, some stories, and once again a bit of rest for Wednesday's adventures.

     We gathered around the lunch table on Wednesday eating a hearty lunch, hopeful that we would need that energy to drag some bears out of the woods.  We headed back out to try our luck once again in Maine's bear woods.  Right around 7 o'clock, Mickey called to tell me he had shot at a very large bear.  After describing the event, I was certain he had missed the bear clean.  I checked the area around the bait site very carefully, and found where the bullet had impacted a tree, from the angle of the shot it was apparent that Mickey had undershot his target, and it ran off unscathed.  Harvey had also shot a bear this evening, I went in to the site and found his arrow, with no blood on it, I was certain he had gotten a bit excited and overshot his bear.  I elected to return the next day and look a little closer to be certain.  His friend Charlie also saw a bear this evening and watched it, choosing to observe the animal, rather than shoot it.  No one else saw any bears on this afternoons hunt.  We headed back to the lodge for some good food, good stories and much needed sleep.

     Thursday came with us once again enjoying a nice meal prepared by Nancy and the whole group heading out to the woods once again.  I got everyone out to their sites and then Harvey, Charlie and I looked for the bear Harvey had shot on Wednesday.  We spent more than an hour making certain that the bear was not hurt.  After that time and following what little sign there was, I was certain his arrow had just passed through the bear very high, missing all the vitals.   I then put Charlie in his stand, and Harvey in a new location.  I received no calls from anyone, but once everyone was back at the lodge I learned that after 9 days in stand over two seasons, Matt had finally seen a bear, in fact he saw 2 this afternoon, and although he drew his bow 3 times on one of the bears, he was unable to get the shot he needed and the bear ran off unscathed.  Charlie had also seen a bear, a VERY LARGE bear, on his site.  He too was unable to get the shot he needed with his bow.  Walter saw 3 bears on his site, and although we had not killed any bears thus far this week, everyone had seen a bear or bears on their sites.  We headed back to the lodge with high hopes for an exciting finish on Friday.

     We gathered around the lunch table with anticipation of a big finish today.  After lunch we headed out to the woods for the final afternoon of bear hunting for week three of the 2007 season.  I got everyone into their stands, and headed out to wait for someone to call.  Right around 6 p.m. my cell phone rang, and Matt indicated he had shot his first bear in Maine.  He had seen 7 bears that afternoon, and when I arrived we followed the string left by the String Tracker right to his perfectly shot Maine black bear.  We dressed the bear, took a few photos, and loaded it on the truck.  After shooting hours passed, I picked up the rest of the hunters.  Charlie had also shot at the large bear he had seen the night before.  However his arrow was off and hit the ground, below the bear, completely missing it.  Walter had also seen 3 bears that afternoon, but no shooters.  We headed back to the lodge for a steak dinner, and some good byes, Charlie, Harvey and Kim had an early flight and decided to drive to Bangor to be closer to the airport.

     Saturday morning found us taking more photos of Matt's bear.  We then skun and quartered the bear, packing the meat in a cooler for the journey back to Pennsylvania.  Over the week the hunters had seen 27 bears.  We only tagged one.  Matt Miller who spent the 2006 season bearless, saw 9 of those bears himself.  Hunting bears over bait, is not a cake walk, as these hunters had learned.  It is however a great way to spend some time in Maine's beautiful woodlands waiting patiently for an opportunity to possibly take the "black ghost" of Maine's woods.