Fifteen hundred miles of growing anticipation. Finally, I was turning off the main road in New Brunswick, Canada, and was rapidly approaching my final destination, Ugly Bear Lodge.  This was my first trip to Canada, my first bear hunt ever, and my first hunting adventure on my own that far away from home!  It was an experience that was well past due, and to say I was excited doesn’t begin to describe it!

I arrived at the lodge as planned on Sunday afternoon.  I had no trouble at all in following the directions provided to me by Charlie Bourque, one of the guides.  Upon arrival I was warmly greeted by the owner, Costa Georgoudis.  I was told I was the first to arrive, with three others to follow.  Diane Fiedler and her daughter Amy were driving in from Michigan and Carlotta McBain was flying in from Wisconsin.  Both Diane and Carlotta had been guests at the lodge before.  Amy had just graduated from high school and this was her first hunt ever.

Monday turned out to be a cold, damp, rainy day.  We had a big, hearty breakfast at 9:00 a.m. followed by lunch around 2:00 p.m.  Then we changed into our hunting gear and headed for our stands, hoping to be settled in by 4:00 p.m.  My stand was a platform stand nestled in between some trees.  About 18-yards in front of me was the bear bait and behind me were a swampy area and a beaver dam.  The little pine squirrels kept me quite entertained, even coming up on the platform several times to check me over!  About 6:00 p.m. I noticed movement back in the woods.  Wow, the anticipation was building… I was about ready to see my first bear ever in the wild.  It came straight to the bait and then, well, I suddenly had a problem.  I couldn’t tell how big it was!!   The size of a bear can be very deceiving if you are not a seasoned bear hunter.  This bear stayed around eating out of the bait barrel for over half an hour giving me plenty of time to look it over.  Then it was gone.  A little while later I see movement again in another direction and the next thing I know there is a BIG bear behind the bait barrel.  There was no doubt in my mind that it was a big bear and it certainly put that first small bear in perspective!  Unfortunately it was skittish and didn’t stick around long.  That first evening two of us gals saw bear but did not take any shots.  Our guides came around to collect us at about 10:00 p.m. and we returned to the lodge for a late dinner.  I will have to say, the food at the lodge was outstanding!  There was no chance of walking away from the table hungry.  One evening we even feasted on whole fresh lobster… what a treat for this Midwestern Cornbelt gal!

The second evening I saw the same little bear I had seen the previous day, but I did not see any other bears.  Diane and Amy didn’t see any either, but Carlotta harvested a nicely colored boar with her rifle.  The third evening was a repeat for Amy and I, but Diane arrowed a bear.  She was pretty sure she had good shot placement and she and her guide followed the blood trail for a good ways that evening, but turned back when it was getting to be nearer to nightfall.  Thursday rolled around and right off, Diane, Amy and the guides went back to search some more for Diane’s bear.  They returned around noon, empty handed.  At that point, upset and hating the thought of wounding and losing an animal, Dianne borrowed Costa’s rifle for the next two days of hunting.  As we went out Thursday evening, we were all confident that at least one of us would harvest a bear that night!  As it turned out, Amy saw a nice sow with cubs and got some great video footage of it, Dianne saw a real monster of a bear that just didn’t stick around long enough for a shot and I saw two average size bears that never presented a good shot angle.  I have to admit, I was having a lot of fun that week just sitting out in the stand and observing the bears!!  One evening I even got to witness a moose with a gangly legged baby calf!  But gee whiz, we were running out of time!  Now we were down to the last day and there are three of us yet to harvest a bear.  Time for me to hang up my Diamond bow and bring out the “big guns,” my Marlin 512 Slugmaster that has never let me down on a hunt yet and I was sure hoping it wouldn’t let me down now! 

As we are preparing for our last days, hunt, I think we were all feeling a little pressure!  All the previous guests at the lodge for the spring season had harvested a bear with the exception of one, and I am told he had the opportunity but it just didn’t work out.  Were us women gong to break that outstanding record?  I think not!!  On that very last night each of us got our bears!  There couldn’t have been a more fitting ending to the week.  I will definitely be returning to Ugly Bear Lodge in the spring of ’08!

For anyone wanting to experience a bear hunt, I would highly recommend Ugly Bear Lodge.  The food and accommodations are second to none, the bear are plentiful as evidenced by the outstanding success rate, and Costa and his staff go out of their way to make your hunt the best it can be.  You can obtain more information on the lodge at www.canaanoutfitters.com or www.uglybearlodge.com   It will be a hunt you will remember for a lifetime!