BigGameHoundsmen.com

Just curious how you Maine hounders are doing this year with Bears . Anyboby putting up numbers or catching any big ones Heard talk of one going 530 live weight but haven't confirmed yet .

we did 3 lastweek and did one friday and another yesturday biggest one was 300 the smallest was 188
and we will hunt every friday and saturday till the end

got one more today 280 pound boar

there is not a lot of big bears in maine and now with the law change probably less heck hard this year to even get them to come to baits well another year with less hunters and lots of food in the woods heared of camps 40 bait hunters and 4 or 5 bear for the last few years seems like its been on a steady swing down i hope the bear are stackin up and there will be plenty to pick from
my freind has a bear from maine over 5 hundred pounds full mount insane lookin long and tall i think it measured over 8ft takin like 6 yrs ago i seen a 425 takin in 2007 my other freind got a 3 and change bear in 2001 been hard to find two hundred pounders now
but they goy a 280 last week

biggest i have heard of this year with hounds was 450 my buddy got a 345 the first week with hounds
none of the bears we have shot have had much fat on them yet under a inch of fat

well we had a big day got 2 one 260lbs and then dumped a mile up the road and got a 356 pounder
best day we have had in a few years so thats 3 in 2 days
best part is got wheeler to both no dragin

JR : Less than an inch of faT WOULD TELL ME WE ARE GOING TO HAVE AN EASY WINTER .

boy bob that wouldnt hurt my feelings a bit lol
the 2 today didnt have much on them i didnt hang around to look at them after they had all the hide off but wasnt much on them from what i did see
there is alot and i mean alot of beach nuts this year so it wont take them long to put some pounds on when they need to do
that makes 8 for us thus far

Due to family problems our season ended last week

4 treed
1 bayed
0 killed

With all the Beech out this year I wonder How many will be killed during Deer season

I always thought it took bears a few months to get a good layer of Fat on them

I had 12 hound hunters and we killed 11 bears. The largest was 390 pounds. The rest of the bears minus one 125 pounder where all 200-300 pound bears. Only one female which makes me very happy. I also try to not run the sows if I know there on a bait, as the state is working on mis-managing our bears to wipe them out i feel I need to manage my own to protect the future.

It was a slow start to the season, but things are really picking up that last few weeks. Quite a few bears killed around here upper 200lb range. over 300 and a couple over 400lbs. The ones I have seen killed during dog season have had all kinds of fat. 2 to 3 inches. I think the state is doing a fine job with the bear population. As a matter of fact, other states look to Maine for guidance and advice to manage their bears. No shortage that I see compared to the last few years. Can't have too many if you want to have any deer left after fawning time.

i agree seems to be plenty of bear just about every where we go see lots of sign

I guess things are a little different when you do it for a living and run 100-200 bait sites, Every outfitter I have talked to in Maine is saying the same thing. the bears are just not as thick as they use to be. There is a big push in augusta to put blame on the low deer numbers on the bears which is the last resource we have left in northern and eastern maine

i think our bears are as important as our deer the coyote is the predator we need to put the smackdown on to protect our wildlife.not harvesting sows unless old and barren means more bear for all that is just the way it is........the bear population is fine i do think just look at the numbers of quality bear being harvested this year with hounds they are a small percentage of whats out there in the whole .just because they arent on the baits doesnt mean their not out there.two bears per hunter / trapper not probably the best option in my opinion .whats really the difference if i tag two bears sitting on baits or with dogs or trapping . my point being two dead bears is two dead bears why does the method really matter. one per hunter/trapper was plenty of bearmeat .did somebody say money?

Laneysplott, thats an awesome year for hound hunting ! How did your bait hunters do ? Did Dale run dogs with you to ?