BLACK BEARS,THE BITE AND OUTDOOR FOLKS

So far this spring,everything seems to be at least a couple of weeks ahead of schedule.The fiddleheads are popped out already and are close to peaking in some areas.The temperatures have been fluctuating between cool dark days and bright warm days,so you never know what to wear until you look out the window.I had one old gent from Carrolls Crossing tell me that the last time he saw a spring like the one we are having this year was back in 1953.That could be so because I was born in that year and I know one thing for sure,I have never seen a spring bear season like this one in all my days!  Each spring after the snow is pretty much gone,Ken and I,as well as Jamie and Dallas,head out to check the roads and clover fields for any fresh sign that we might be able to set up on.We don't just go out blindly setting out baits and hoping a hungry bear will find it.From knowing our hunting areas so well,we pretty much already know were we will see some bear sign and if we find a good set of tracks,we will set up a bait site.On a normal year,all this would be taking place around the first week of May.It is also not uncommon for us to see bears on these spotting excursions.This year,Ken and Jamie were out spotting on the 15th of April and saw nine bears in the week before the season opened!This is unheard of in my time! I said in a previous post last year that Ken had killed a very early bear in the first week of May.At that time,that was the only track we had come across up to that point.This year,we are pre-dating that action by around three weeks!Talk about a difference! Yesterday Jamie decided it was time to put one down.The bear that Jamie took was the fifteenth bear Jamie had seen this season while out spotting.Jamie prefers to hunt bear in this fashion and it works for him because he knows all the best spots to see a grazing bruin and you are usually covering lots of ground and glassing the clover fields and cuttings.

Jamie says this style of hunting black bears beats sitting in a tree stand and getting chewed alive by black-flies anytime! The bear that Jamie took is about average for this area.Certainly not a heavy-weight by any means,it was still a very nice bear.Its coat was in perfect condition and there was zero hair loss.Jamie also made a terrific shot on this bear.His girl-friend and good buddy BJ were both there when Jamie made the shot at two hundred yards, running across the top of a mud-dump.Right through the chest.Sweet!Now many will say"Why didn't he hold out for something bigger?".Well,the reason is,Jamie is first and foremost a meat hunter.He wants to make the kill and get the meat in the freezer.That's just the way it is.Ol' Wes had a lot to do with that attitude,as he raised Kenny up in much the same fashion.Ol' Wes was raised during the Depression years in a family of twelve and he prided himself on being able to go to the duck marsh with three shells and come back with a limit of ducks.It was purely a matter of economics and supper.These two things proved to be great motivators back in Wesley's day and I guess some of it rubbed off on the generations that followed.This bear will be very good eating and it has a beautiful pelt to boot! Congrats Jamie.We also have some very good sized boars coming to our bait sites.Most of the baits we have out are getting hit by multiple bears and some of them are huge!

This nice boar is one of several bears hitting one of our baits.There is a nice cinnamon bear at this site that I had a photo of but I accidentally deleted it. The time and date on this photo is wrong,as you can see.The date was actually May 5@10:12:43.We have several large boars coming in during the day-light hours to this bait and a few others.This photo is one of a yearling posing for the trail cam while his momma and sibling forage about in the bushes.This little family of bears is providing lots of entertainment while on the bait,but they are also eating a lot of the groceries we are lugging to this site.This bear seems to be looking over his shoulder ,as if something is coming in to the bait.Many times a big old boar will wait patiently near the bait,but if he thinks another bear is going to steal his grub,he will barge right in and take control of the situation.This large boar is probably the thing that caused the earlier diner to move along.He doesn't look like the type of bear that would tolerate any company.I love seeing these trophy bear coming in with lots of day-light left.Please note our bait sites do NOT have steel drums or plastic pails laying around.We do not like the look of this type of bait site and we hate the mess it makes in the woods and we refuse to set any of our baits up with steel barrels and plastic pails.We keep our sites clean and free of garbage and debris.We have found that if you tend your baits faithfully,the bears will keep coming and we do make them work a little for their supper by using logs to hide the bait.What you use for bait also is a factor in getting bears to the bait and keeping them coming.Ken and I have experimented with several different concoctions and we think we have come up with a winning combo of smells and food that keeps the big boys coming back for more!The trout are running  now on the Miramichi and Cains River and fishermen are getting some trophy sized sea-trout in the 3-7lb. range.I must say right now that the two fish limit for trout over 12in.is the best rule that has been implemented in a long time.It just makes good sense and it has started to pay big dividends in both the Miramichi and the Cains River.Fishermen pay huge fees to fly in to places in Labrador and Quebec for the chance to catch a trophy brook trout and here you can drive to either river with no difficulty and the cost is probably half of what it would cost to fly in to one of the remote spots.My son Curt,his girl-friend Erica and her father hiked in to a beaver dam on a small brook and got a nice feed of small brookies to go with some fiddleheads and had a nice supper later that day.We have dozens of spots where we can catch a nice feed of trout at any given time,but many times we just hook and release.The five trout limit has increased the trout population substantially and we don't feel one bit guilty keeping a feed of trout once in a while.Many times the population is too high in some of our spots and the trout are stunted in size,so it doesn't hurt to thin them out a bit. I was very encouraged to hear of a strong run of trout on the Newcastle Stream which flows into Grand Lake.I have a lot of history with this beautiful trout stream and it is nice to hear of a wild run of early trout coming up from the lake heading upstream to the headwaters.Normally,the early run of bigger trout would start around the tenth of May,but this year they started around the third week of April! From the reports I got,there were kids and adults alike lining the shores trying to catch some of these nice trout.Many die-hard fishermen followed the run as it made its way upstream,fishing the many deep dark pools that the Newcastle is known for. I became a fly fisherman on the Newcastle Stream many years ago as a young boy of twelve or thirteen.One fine summer day I was fishing a pool with worm and spinner and caught several trout,when I hooked a nice one and lost it before I could get it up on the rocks.No way could I get that fish to take again but I was determined to get him.Someone,I'm assuming it was one of my uncles,suggested trying a fly.So the next morning I crept in to the pool and this time I had an old fly rod and on the leader I had tied in a Grizzly King that I had just bought at Fred Dufours store on the Ridge Road. It was with great anticipation that I cast that small fly into the current just where it started to slow down as the pool got deeper.Wait,wait-There!He took that fly hard and the battle was on! For what seemed like an eternity,I fought that trout and finally brought him to hand.In that moment I became a fly fisherman and that moment will be etched in my memory for as long as I live.I was the proudest boy in the village as I walked home that day many years ago,even if the trout was only fifteen and a half inches long,it was and still is a trophy to me.This photo is one of a false morel mushroom nestled between two sticks that I found growing on the beach in front of my house.My dear Grandmother Boyd first told me about these mushrooms when I was a very young boy. She told me they were good to eat but many people said they were poisonous.That didn't deter my brother Tim and I from enjoying many meals of these delicious mushrooms throughout the years.My grandmother Boyd was an extraordinary woman who taught me many things about life and the natural world,things that I carry with me to this day.I will talk more about her in future posts but for now I would caution my readers about these mushrooms and any other wild mushrooms.KNOW WHAT YOU ARE EATING! The false morel should be fried up crisp because this eliminates the chance of toxins being present in this species. Again,caution should be used because some people are sensitive to wild mushrooms and may experience discomfort or downright illness from ingesting them.

This photo shows my son Curt with a nice bear rug done by Tom Barton.We were up to see Tom on the week-end because I wanted him to do a deer mount for me.I hadn't met Tom before but I was familiar with him from one of the hunting forums on the internet.I must say,I was impressed with Toms open and honest demeanor and we hit it off immediately.Tom does nice work and I told him I would be seeing a lot more of him in the future. After visiting Tom,Curt Ken and I had a nice lunch,then I told the boys I needed a new reel,so off to CT we went. I ended up buying a spin-cast Zebco that was spooled with Cajun line and I can't wait to try it out on the white perch.We have been waiting patiently for the run to start and every evening I have been going down to the shore and trying a few casts.Nothing so far but the usual cast of pickerel,yellow perch,sunfish and chub.The Salmon River is full of gaspereau right now and this has put the bite off a bit,especially for big pickerel.This happens every year when the gaspereau run is on.They just provide too much food for the other species.The trout and white perch follow the gaspereau and gorge on their eggs as they are spawning,so we are hoping to see those tasty white perch show up any day.Until next time,make sure you get out and about and Straight Shootin' and Tight Lines to all!

MARCH---OUT LIKE A LAMB,THE BITE AND N.B. BRUINS

March of 2010 was out like a lamb,with some very good weather from the end of the month until well into April.This made for an early ice-out and the water rose and then went on a steady drop which is continuing as I write this.The water conditions on the 15th of April,the first day of fishing season,were similar to summer conditions,only slightly higher.The water

was very clear and when boating,the man at the helm had to know the river,because it was starting to get treacherous.The photo above shows a sport netting a nice grilse just up river from the highway bridge in Doaktown.Many fishermen don't realize it,but when the water is low,like it is this year,there is a lot of good holding water right in the middle of Doaktown and correspondingly a lot of good fishing right in town.For years now my good friend,Glen D.of Doaktown,has always fished within site of his house and has had no trouble catching fish.Glens whole family are well known sportsmen and guides from Chipman and the Carrolls Crossing area.This is usually the area I stay at and fish in when I'm on the Miramichi.

This is a photo of of Glen and Leroy A.,long-time guide on the Miramichi, taking a smoke break after a morning of fishing .Normally,the first of the season is reserved for fishing with family and friends and this year was no exception.I fished with Glens niece on the first day and then fished with Glens brother Allen and a couple of other buddies fromChipman.I can tell you now that the water conditions were near perfect but the weather was brutally cold!You really must be dressed for these conditions because it can spell the difference between a good trip and a miserable one. The wind was out of the north and east mostly and if you know the little rhyme,you also know it doesn't make for the best fishing conditions.But that being said,the first day was nothing short of fantastic!Donna and I caught fish until our arms ached! It seemed as though one of us or the other was playing a fish at any given time.We played two huge salmon for a total of two hours before the hooks fell out.One salmon in particular was the biggest Atlantic salmon I have ever seen in my life!Donna hooked this fish early on the first day and I knew soon on in the ensuing fight that we would not likely land it.It was just too big!I had to pull anchor and follow it three times to try to get line back.We only got this fish back on the casting line once,the rest of the time it was half way into the backing and taking more before we would pull anchor and chase down some line again.Finally,after a hard fight for an hour,with no sign of giving an inch,the hook just fell out of its mouth.I told Donna I thought this fish was five feet long and weighed fifty pounds and I don't think I was exaggerating at all!Now some of you readers may say"Sure,we heard those fish stories before!"but I got a good look at this fish,as did Donna and it was an absolute mammoth!.I got it to the surface twice,where it came up and wallowed for a moment and then with a flip of the tail,disappeared again and started stripping line.I estimated its tail was at least ten inches wide!I also hooked another salmon shortly after losing that one that I played for an hour and the hook wore a hole in his mouth and fell out.This was also a very large salmon,but nowhere near the size of the first one!This photo shows me with a nice salmon,one of four I caught on the third morning of the season.If you look closely,you can see the fly that I caught that fish on over my left shoulder riding on the water.I could have easily caught my limit of ten fish on both of the first two days of the season.I quit fishing in the afternoon of the third day.I was still catching fish,but the wind started blowing and  it was bitterly cold,so I called it a day and spent the afternoon socializing and having a few beverages and laughs with some old friends.That is one of the most enjoyable parts of these annual excursions to the Miramichi River.The good friends and company and the many stories and tall tales that go with any of these trips really add to the enjoyment had by all.It was a rather odd start to the season because of the conditions and it was very interesting to see how the different guides and sports adapted to these unusual conditions.The ones who didn't choose the right gear and flies many times went fishless.I talked to one guide and I asked him how the fishing was and he responded,"It was terrible". This was on the third day and I had already caught four salmon and lost a couple of others and had numerous hits.I also talked to a couple of acquaintences and they also said they had some tough fishing.I tried to find a common denominator in both of these experiences and the one  thing these gents had in common was their flies.I won't go into this any further but with a predominance of large salmon in the system,you have to be on your game or you won't be IN the game! I also caught some nice native brook trout.All these trout had their regular colors and did not have that shine to them that the sea-run brookies have.This photo shows one of the trout I released while salmon fishing.In total,I caught fifteen fish over two and a half days.Twelve of those fish were large salmon over thirty inches.The other three were grilse.The fish this year were in very good condition and fought very hard.This spring ranks right up there in terms of fish caught,but it was very cold and you had to be rigged up right or you just couldn't stand to be out there very long.This is another photo of a nice salmon with the fly still in the corner of his mouth.It was a great start to the fishing season and we will be fishing for salmon for a few more days,but the fish are starting to move down river already,so the fishing will drop off quickly up river,while the lads down in Blackville will get fishing a little later in the season.One very good site for up- to- date river reports is .http://www.miramichifishingreports.blogspot.com/.Rodney Colford writes this blog and provides some very good information on the fishing conditions on the Miramichi and her tributaries.We will be gearing up for the sea-run brook trout in the middle of May this year.Normally,we don't start looking for these fish until the third week in May but this year everything is a week or two early,so we will start fishing the sea-trout a little earlier.We have a few bear baits out already and Kenney said he had a hit on one of the beaver carcasses he has out. There are a lot of bears around,including some real old smashers.These older bears are well educated and do not act like some of their younger relatives.You must wait them out and often they won't come to the bait until the last light.Sometimes they will not come in until total darkness and then the only thing a hunter can do is change the bait site to a new location nearby or hunt him in the morning and try to catch him on the bait then. Sometimes none of the tricks work and just like some big bucks,these old bruins become almost unkillable.Ken and I will be going after some of these big bears this spring and we will be trying every trick in the book to get them to come in during day-light hours.This is a trail cam photo of one of the bears we will be hunting this spring.We got a photo of him coming to a deer bait we had out and he is a good sized bear.He also has a very nice white V on his chest ,as can be seen in the next photo.If anything,our hunting area has an over-abundance of bear and getting just any bear is usually no trouble.But again,if you want a big one,you have to hunt accordingly and be prepared to go home with an empty tag if Lady Luck doesn't shine on you.TROPHY ANIMALS DON"T COME EASY! If they did,there wouldn't be any challenge to it and I guess it wouldn't be called hunting anymore,would it! The opportunities are here in abundance,whether you are fishing for the King of sport fish,Atlantic salmon,or hunting for trophy black bears.Here at Hargrove and Bauer we will do our best to put our sports in the thick of things,so don't hesitate to give me a call or shoot me an e-mail to arrange your trip to the North Woods of beautiful New Brunswick! Until next time,Tight Lines and Straight Shooting to all!

MARCH-----IN LIKE A LION...........

This month started off with a small blizzard that left behind a foot of snow north of the Cains River,but folks here in the Chipman area were lucky,we had mostly a rain event. All indications are for an early spring and I would say we are about two weeks ahead of schedule in terms of temperatures and snow melt.We had a real good winter here in New Brunswick this year,which is a welcome change from the previous two winters.Very little snow and an early melt-off has certainly been kind to our struggling deer herd.All indications are that the deer came through the winter in very good shape and this bodes well for a strong fawning season.This will help our deer numbers to start to increase and we sportsmen should be doing everything we can to help them during this difficult period.

I have a very sad report to make in this post and it's one that I hoped I would never have to make.Poor old Whiskey dog was struck by a truck as he went to the mail -box with Wes and sadly,went to his reward.I hunted over Whiskey last fall on what was his best day afield. I wrote about that day in a previous post and I must say,I was very impressed with his performance.Although he was only three years old last fall,he really came into his own and was learning how to use his nose to full advantage when finding the ducks in the tall grass. Needless to say,he was turning into an outstanding hunting dog.But,in life,stuff happens and you just have to move on and remember old Whiskey dog for what he was--a great hunting companion and pet. Jamie and Ken didn't wait very long to find not one pup,but two from the same litter to begin training in the hopes of giving them a good start by next fallThis little guy here doesn't know it yet,but he's going to be living the sporting life all his live long days.Jamie is already playing with him using a wing and the little guy is certainly game!I'm sure Ken ,Dallas and Jamie will have these new dogs in top shape in no time.The boy's really like the Golden Retrievers and I wouldn't be surprised if they start breeding their own line at some point in the future.I really like them because of their easy going nature and their smarts.They are also a very affectionate and somewhat soft breed,so a gentle hand is needed to bring them along.We had a very good year ice fishing on Grand Lake this year and we caught some really nice fish.This photo shows Ken with one of the biggest burbot we got this season.It was thirty-one inches long and weighed about six or seven pounds.We also caught a lot of nice pickerel in one area as can be seen in this photo.Overall,I would have to say it was one of the best seasons we've had in a few years.We caught burbot, smelt,whitefish,pickerel,land-locked salmon and brook trout.Thats quite a few species and all taken within an area about one acre in size. Pretty good ice fishing by any standard and we look forward to doing it all again next year.

With this early spring weather,many sportsmens thoughts are turning to the opening day for black salmon or kelts,as they are known by.This fishery is one of the finest opportunities to catch an elusive Atlantic salmon.These fish have been living under the ice all winter and when the ice finally goes out,they start to feed ravenously in preparation for their migration back to the sea.The smelt run coincides with this annual trek back to the sea and the salmon gorge on this high quality forage fish that will provide them with the strength to make it back to the feeding grounds.A good guide will know the resting areas that the salmon favor during this time and great sport can be had,as long as the weather and water conditions co-operate.A few of the top fly patterns for fishing spring salmon are the smelt,renous special and black ghost,to name a few.These are my personal favorites,but there are any number of flies as good or better than the ones I've named.A good rule of thumb to follow when fishing kelts is to fish close to shore and pay special attention to any pools that provide a break in the current.Also,make sure your fly is down deep enough,as many times the fish are laying in deeper water.This year,many old-timers and outfitters from the Miramichi area are predicting an early ice out.Some sports think this makes for a poor fishing season if the ice goes out too early,as they feel the fish will start moving out as soon as the ice goes.Others feel that the fish will stay around until the water starts to warm up and the smelt start running strong.Personally,I like an ice free opener,that way I can concentrate on fishing and not dodging ice cakes.We take a maximum of three sports per day at this time of the year.Remember,this is a one on one guided fishery and usually the fishing is so good,we have a hard time finding guides that want to work.They all want to fish instead!Many times I hear the month of March referred to as a "dirty month"because of the nasty weather we sometimes get in this part of the country or a "dead month"because there isn't much going on outdoors yet.But I like to think of March as a "get ready"month.Yes,it's time to get boats and motors painted and tuned up and all the rods and reels given a once over.There is just too much to do to leave anything to the last moment.The Mighty Miramichi is not a place to be with equipment that is not in tip top condition and we pride ourselves with having good gear that works well.This is also the time to start preparing bait sites for spring bear.The prospects for taking a trophy bear in our area are very good this year and Ken and I are keeping tabs on a couple of real old smashers.Hopefully,we will have some trail cam photos of some of these trophies so the readers of these posts can see the quality of the animals in our hunting area.Kenny shot one of the earliest bears in our area last year and it was a beautifully furred animal that was a very nice trophy.For our spring bear hunts,we have a maximum of four hunters per week in camp and remember,we will continue to offer a "book three,the fourth goes free"deal again this year.This makes this a very affordable hunt if the cost is distributed amongst the hunters or it's a great incentive for someone to put together a hunt and recieve a free hunt for his efforts! So to you sports who have been putting off that bear hunt or salmon fishing trip,I say get out there and get at it.Just give me a call or send me an e-mail and we'll fix you up in no time at all and we will see you here in beautiful Chipman New Brunswick in 2010.