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     The fourth week of bear season was going to be fairly quiet.  We had Chad Benge here from Indiana to try his hand at hunting black bear.  Chad has taken some pretty nice whitetail deer in Indiana, but had always wanted to hunt black bear.  We were pleased that he decided on hunting with us.  Along with Chad was his better half, Christina Weber.  Christina came to enjoy some vacation time in Maine.  Chad is guiding Christina into becoming an outdoors woman.  I am certain in the next couple of years, Christina may be here hunting a bear of her own.  We welcomed our guests with lobster, orientation and some time at the rifle range.  Chad was shooting a handi-rifle in .500 Smith & Wesson.  I was anxious to see how this monster handgun cartridge would perform out of a rifle barrel.

     Monday arrived and after lunch, Chad and I headed out to the bait sites.  I wanted to hunt a site that a large bear was seen on, and Chad was definitely game for that.  He settled in to the ladder stand, and proceeded to wait. The afternoon passed with no appearance from a bear.  We headed back to the lodge, seeing a moose or two along the way home.

     Tuesday found us heading back out to hunt once again.  On this day I decided to try a different stand that had a great deal of bear activity on it.  Chad settled in to the comfortable ground blind to wait.  Right a round 6:30 pm, my phone rang, so I new Chad had shot at a bear.  Once I got there it was an easy tracking job as the bear had fallen at the impact from that .500.  We dressed the bear, and headed first to the tagging station and then home to the lodge.

     The rest of the week Chad and Christina were definitely on vacation.  They spent time relaxing and checking out some of the areas scenic wonders.  I spent time gathering up tree stands, and scouting for moose.  Bear season was ending and moose season was about to begin.  Overall more than 106 bears had been sighted by 20 hunters during the 2007 season.  I can hardly wait to see what happens during 2008.