I got last year's bear back from the taxidermist and the pictures don't do him justice, but he is a welcome addition. Stay tuned as well as the skull will be getting officially scored very soon.
Thursday, August 30, 2018
Trophy Room - Redo
For the faithful readers, you probably remember the post I had done about my tropy room/den/man cave or whatever other buzz word you want to use to call your special domain that houses a collection of items that help you relive your memories. For those who don't remember, take a minute and check it out here:
Trophy Room ... Den ... Man Cave
Well to make a long story short, we had some drainage issues which ended up causing water/mold damage which totaled our finished basement, so after extensive ground work to correct the problem, we set forth on a journey to rebuild our den. We started by removing absolutely everything back to the concrete and starting completely fresh.
Here is an abbreviated photo journey through the process...
Trophy Room ... Den ... Man Cave
Well to make a long story short, we had some drainage issues which ended up causing water/mold damage which totaled our finished basement, so after extensive ground work to correct the problem, we set forth on a journey to rebuild our den. We started by removing absolutely everything back to the concrete and starting completely fresh.
Here is an abbreviated photo journey through the process...
I am very happy with how it has progressed, regardless of how long and painful the process has been, and I look forward to adding to the modest accumulation of "trophies" and memories that are housed there.
Fast Forward to 2018
Posting has been minimal and for that I do apologize, but it hasn't been from lack of activities and spending our time on the ridges and the rivers that we named the blog after. I will do a few rapid fire posts to bring everyone along our journey through the year to get everyone caught up.
Our fall was hectic and fur filled as we set steel in between our hunting outings and scratched that trapping itch.
We also visited this historic sporting camp with some really neat artwork that caught my eye!
A visit to Allagash to see the deer feeding was very productive in the deer spotting category and a giant buck fed nonchalantly at a mere 50 yards. It is a very neat experience.
We spent some time ice fishing and Drake really got hooked with his first solo salmon!
We also made our annual pilgrimage to Madawaska Lake for opening day and caught some nice stocked trout. The camaraderie coupled with these "tail-less trout" is always a good time.
As you can probably tell I am well into winter and past deer season, so you have probably already inferred the bad news, but the last item on my goals for 2017 of shooting a big buck never happened. I did have some close encounters and put more time in the woods than I have in several years, so I hope I can use all of that time to point me in the right direction as the next season approaches! Stay tuned for more adventures from 2018 coming soon!
Sunday, April 1, 2018
Bear Snaring 2017
Bear Trapping has been an ongoing adventure for me. If you haven't been following along, you might want to take a minute and read the background stories of the last couple of years at the links below:
Bear Trapping 2015
Bear Trapping 2016
If you have been following along, we will jump right into it.
The 2017 bait season had me worried from the start. I wasn't able to get bait delivered prior to the opening day of baiting and it took me almost a week past the baiting opener to get my bait sites baited. Apparently that had given enough time for the bears to concentrate on other food sources as the first week went by without a bear visit. Still plenty of raccoon kicking around, but a few less than last year as I had trapped several the fall before to enjoy their beautiful pelts. Week two I was starting to get worried as there had still been no activity at the bait, but there was bear sign in the area, so I knew I was probably competing with other baiters as well as natural foods. By week three I started panicking that I wouldn't get a bear to come in, but as the week progressed I reminded myself that it is a long season and I resigned myself to be patient.
The next week I had mixed emotions as bear showed up, but it was a sow with cubs, which for me is a scenario where I don't set my snare. Then just as quickly as they had appeared they vanished and much to my relief two boars showed up. One a young boar which wasn't really a target for me, but would have been an okay catch, and one beautiful boar that looked to me to be every bit of 250 pounds. Much rejuvenated I readied my snare equipment and made sure everything was in order. I had decided not to snare the first of the season since the weather was so warm, and the thought of processing a bear in that heat was not appealing.
The day came when I setup the snare like I had done all those many times for the last couple years before and walked away with hope. The next day as I crept up over the ridge, I could see the bait was gone and the snare was fired, but I didn't see any black fur. Sure enough, upon closer inspection the bear had triggered the snare but the loop had missed it's mark and hadn't gone onto it's foot. Somewhat dejected as I had dealt with this in years past, I added some additional sticks in an attempt to guide the bears foot exactly where I wanted it. For anyone saying it is easy, keep in mind I need to get that bear to step exactly on a spot only slightly larger than a coffee cup. Night two I was eager with anticipation, but as I snuck up over the ridge the same scenario as the day before had played out, so I added a few more sticks and rocks to get him to step where I wanted. As I approached the next morning to see the snare fired again, but no bear in sight, I decided I needed to step back a bit and rethink my strategy. Looking at the trail I had so many little sticks and stones in an attempt to guide his every footstep, I decided a change was in order and I cleaned the trail back to wide open to simplify things. I then found four sticks, two slightly bigger than the other two and placed the bigger two perpendicular to the trail and the two smaller sticks parallel to the trail to create a box of sorts and put the snare on the box.
On Friday morning I swung the rifle onto my shoulder, grabbed the bait buckets and headed up the ridge. About 100 yards away from the bait, I thought I heard something, but pausing momentarily I chalked it up to a squirrel, seeing as how it was the third season and had to be the 100th time I had checked an empty snare, I continued in. Then at about 50 yards out I caught a glimpse of movement and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest as I spotted black fur. Dropping the bait pails, I finally realized I was looking at an ear and I swung the rifle off the sling to the ready position and took another step closer. This must have caught the bear's attention, as it was laying down and abruptly stood up, as I stared in shock and disbelief that I had finally caught him, he came to realize what I was and that he didn't care for my presence. He started making a noise, that I would put in between a growl and a bark. Not sure what to expect, I quickly put the trusty .30-.30 into action and fired the lethal shot. As the bear expired and I approached, I had to put my hand onto the thick, luxurious, black fur to tell myself this was real. I had been after it so long that it seemed surreal that it could actually have happened. I excitedly rounded up a couple of friends and coworkers to help me get the bear to the pickup and as I hefted his big melon of a head and picked up his wide paws, I knew I had gotten the bear I was after and he would be over the 200 pound mark. I wasn't quite sure how much he was over until I got down to the local tagging station at Up North Outdoors and we lifted him onto the scale. As his legs cleared the bed of the truck, I saw the scale break 300 and I couldn't help but let a grin pass across my lips. When everything settled he weighed in at a respectable 319 pounds. He had a gorgeous hide, a melon of a skull and some of the sweetest bear meat I have ever tasted, and I finally achieved a life long dream of trapping a bear. Stay tuned for other outdoor adventures coming up soon!
Bear Trapping 2015
Bear Trapping 2016
If you have been following along, we will jump right into it.
The 2017 bait season had me worried from the start. I wasn't able to get bait delivered prior to the opening day of baiting and it took me almost a week past the baiting opener to get my bait sites baited. Apparently that had given enough time for the bears to concentrate on other food sources as the first week went by without a bear visit. Still plenty of raccoon kicking around, but a few less than last year as I had trapped several the fall before to enjoy their beautiful pelts. Week two I was starting to get worried as there had still been no activity at the bait, but there was bear sign in the area, so I knew I was probably competing with other baiters as well as natural foods. By week three I started panicking that I wouldn't get a bear to come in, but as the week progressed I reminded myself that it is a long season and I resigned myself to be patient.
The next week I had mixed emotions as bear showed up, but it was a sow with cubs, which for me is a scenario where I don't set my snare. Then just as quickly as they had appeared they vanished and much to my relief two boars showed up. One a young boar which wasn't really a target for me, but would have been an okay catch, and one beautiful boar that looked to me to be every bit of 250 pounds. Much rejuvenated I readied my snare equipment and made sure everything was in order. I had decided not to snare the first of the season since the weather was so warm, and the thought of processing a bear in that heat was not appealing.
The day came when I setup the snare like I had done all those many times for the last couple years before and walked away with hope. The next day as I crept up over the ridge, I could see the bait was gone and the snare was fired, but I didn't see any black fur. Sure enough, upon closer inspection the bear had triggered the snare but the loop had missed it's mark and hadn't gone onto it's foot. Somewhat dejected as I had dealt with this in years past, I added some additional sticks in an attempt to guide the bears foot exactly where I wanted it. For anyone saying it is easy, keep in mind I need to get that bear to step exactly on a spot only slightly larger than a coffee cup. Night two I was eager with anticipation, but as I snuck up over the ridge the same scenario as the day before had played out, so I added a few more sticks and rocks to get him to step where I wanted. As I approached the next morning to see the snare fired again, but no bear in sight, I decided I needed to step back a bit and rethink my strategy. Looking at the trail I had so many little sticks and stones in an attempt to guide his every footstep, I decided a change was in order and I cleaned the trail back to wide open to simplify things. I then found four sticks, two slightly bigger than the other two and placed the bigger two perpendicular to the trail and the two smaller sticks parallel to the trail to create a box of sorts and put the snare on the box.
On Friday morning I swung the rifle onto my shoulder, grabbed the bait buckets and headed up the ridge. About 100 yards away from the bait, I thought I heard something, but pausing momentarily I chalked it up to a squirrel, seeing as how it was the third season and had to be the 100th time I had checked an empty snare, I continued in. Then at about 50 yards out I caught a glimpse of movement and my heart nearly jumped out of my chest as I spotted black fur. Dropping the bait pails, I finally realized I was looking at an ear and I swung the rifle off the sling to the ready position and took another step closer. This must have caught the bear's attention, as it was laying down and abruptly stood up, as I stared in shock and disbelief that I had finally caught him, he came to realize what I was and that he didn't care for my presence. He started making a noise, that I would put in between a growl and a bark. Not sure what to expect, I quickly put the trusty .30-.30 into action and fired the lethal shot. As the bear expired and I approached, I had to put my hand onto the thick, luxurious, black fur to tell myself this was real. I had been after it so long that it seemed surreal that it could actually have happened. I excitedly rounded up a couple of friends and coworkers to help me get the bear to the pickup and as I hefted his big melon of a head and picked up his wide paws, I knew I had gotten the bear I was after and he would be over the 200 pound mark. I wasn't quite sure how much he was over until I got down to the local tagging station at Up North Outdoors and we lifted him onto the scale. As his legs cleared the bed of the truck, I saw the scale break 300 and I couldn't help but let a grin pass across my lips. When everything settled he weighed in at a respectable 319 pounds. He had a gorgeous hide, a melon of a skull and some of the sweetest bear meat I have ever tasted, and I finally achieved a life long dream of trapping a bear. Stay tuned for other outdoor adventures coming up soon!
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Muskie Derby 2017
This years muskie derby was an impressive year with huge fish showing up all over the place! On the second and third days we were releasing 40"+ fish because they wouldn't even make the board. The derby pays 15 places and the smallest fish was 42 1/2"! See the full results below:
Final Results from the 2017 Muskie Derby
1. Chuck Cabaniss 45 7/8" 23.36#
2. Dan Dionne 45 7/8" 23.25#
3. Del Harrington 44 1/4" 25.15#
4. Ben Bouchard 44" 21.53#
5. Shane Wishart 44" 18.98#
6. Kevin Deschaine 43 7/8" 21.45#
7. Dan Paradis 43 1/2" 18.84#
8. Chris Huston 43 1/8" 22.24 #
9. Cody Yberrondo 43 1/8" 20.12#
10. Luc Daigle 43" 21.56#
11. Debbie Cabaniss 43" 21.34#
12. Peter Daigle 42 7/8" 20.31#
13. Brian Stoliker 42 3/4" 21.53#
14. Shane Wishart 42 5/8" 16.57#
15. Jeff Mitchell 42 1/2" 20.63#
Youth Division
1. Ethan Lavigne 43 1/8" 22.33#
2. Tucker O' Brien 38 5/8" 12.69#
Bass
1. Bruce Bouley 21 1/4" 5.09#
2. Andy Davis 20 7/8" 5.0#
3. Dave Kelso 201/2" 5.0#
As you can see, we ended the 2017 derby with an 8th place finish for me and unfortunately Brent was on the leaderboard, but got bumped off by one fish. We logged a lot of hours over the three days from dawn to dusk, landed 9 muskies and lost several others so it was a successful weekend in my book! I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking, but if you remember my goals for 2017, 20 pound muskie was on the list at number 2, so I was able to check number 2 off multiple times this year!
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Tagged Muskie
For those folks out fishing on the St. John River watershed who have not heard, the State of Maine is tagging Smallmouth Bass and Muskellunge for research on how they are existing in the ecosystem, by monitoring things such as growth rates, population estimates and movement patterns. We have caught several tagged bass over the last couple of years, but we were able to catch our first tagged muskie this past summer. It wasn't large, but the tag protruding from it's back made it a very neat catch. An interesting note was that this fish had not traveled very far from it's tagged location and it's growth was pretty much stagnant from the year before. This brings to light an important fact for people who are interested in bringing these fish home, in that these fish take years to get to trophy size. A 3 1/2 -4 pound smallmouth could be 10 years old and most likely a 40" muskie is at least 10 years old if not 12 or 15 years old. This makes these species much more susceptible to fishing pressure than a shorter lived species such as a brook trout. If a 40" muskie is killed, it takes 10 years to grow it's replacement, so keep that in the back of your mind as you are catching these fish. Back to the tags, please support the research if you catch a tagged fish and call the number to report it. Just write down the tag number and you can send the fish on it's way.
Monday, January 22, 2018
Heather's First Muskie
My wife Heather is very patient and tolerant of my addiction that people call fishing. She has enjoyed many a fishing trip and has caught her fair share of fish, even out-fishing me at times, but had been unable to land a muskellunge. I told her that 2017 was the year that we would change that, and in true romantic fashion to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary I loaded up the canoe and we went muskie fishing! (I am not joking that we went fishing on our 10th anniversary, even though in hind-site, it might not win me any husband of the year awards!) . We hadn't been on the water long when a cast of Heather's suddenly fetched up solid and started streaking upstream. From the bend of the rod and the screaming of the drag this was obviously a good fish, which was confirmed when it came to the surface and rolled showing off it's 40"+ length. Excitedly she played the fish, but despite her best efforts it managed to throw the hook after a few minutes. The look on her face showed disappointment, but hinted at something else, a look that might signify the start of an addiction! "Did you see how big that was?!", she exclaimed again. Nodding my head in agreement, I knew that might be our only shot for the day at a fish, but yet we continued. Continuing our casts, we covered quite a bit more water and were almost ready to call it a day and go have supper (I did take her out for a nice meal after!) when her rod locked up again, and while the drag wasn't screaming this time the fish was giving the road a workout. Excitement built as she played the fish expertly, and finally I slipped the net under it and scooped it up. She had caught her first muskie! It was a beautiful 28" fish that was a perfect first fish and helped to get her big by the muskie bug. A couple quick photos and we released it to continue growing to be caught again in a few years.
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