Where do I begin... Ron and Jeannine Dare of Bear Track Outfitters are wonderful host. They greeted us when we pulled into camp and within 2 minutes you didn't feel like a stranger anymore.. After settling into our very clean and moder cabin, it was time for dinner.. All I can say is Jeannine is no stranger to the kitchen, i knew i was in trouble with the first meal.. I can honestly say that everything that was put in front of me was nothing short of delicious and the deserts had my belt crying.. At the hunters meeting Ron really impressed me, he knows bears and knows the needs of bowhunters, being one himself really showed through.. We were faced with very unseasonal weather for the first week of June, wind, rain and snow, we seen it all.. My hunting partner and long time friend of 22+ years were assigned to one of Ron's guides, Darren shipp. Darren is a bowhunter himself and a very successful one I might add, who worked very hard to make mine and Tom's hunt a good one.. What ever we needed, it wasn't a problem... Ok, hunting time! 19 bears in 3 days of hunting, i shoot the 18 bear of the hunt and seen one more before my guide came in to get me.. On the second night, my guide had to put himself in harms way to rescue me from a protective mother. My hair still stands up thinking about that evening.. My bear was estimated to be around a 6 and a half footer, a beautiful bear that we also got trail cam pics of the day before I shot him.. The reason I say estimated is the fact we never found him, I thought I put a good hit on him but after showing my guide and Ron the video they told me I was high.. I cant even begin to tell you the feeling I have in my heart even as i write this. Everyone joined in the next morning to help look for my bear, but to no avail. I can take peace in knowing that every effort was made to recover my animal and i cant thank everyone enough for all of their hard work.. I posted that I was successful on my hunt, because i was.. Everything was done perfectly accept my shot, had i listened to Ron and not taken the shot while he was up on the barrel, there would be a pic to the left of this post with a smiling hunter.. I will have to live with my mistake for the rest of my life, I just hope my prayers are answered and he makes it through.. Trying to keep this short, so i will wrap it up.. If your looking for bear outfitter, you would be hard pressed to find one better then Bear Track.. Myself and Tom have hunted bears in other camps and they don't hold a candle to these guys. Top notch all the way, so much, that we have already booked for 2010. A big Thank You to everyone at Bear Track for making mine and Tom's hunt one to remember.. Tom shot a nice boar on the last night of our hunt, but he is kind of elderly and it might take him some time to figure how to post about it..
James K Darien IL
James and his friend Tom were great guests to have in our camp and raved about what we offered to the guests every day, on the dinner table and in the hunting woods. both. James did see a few of our bears with us even on low percentage days, James seemed to be a bear magnet. Jeannine and I look forward to having them back in 2010.
It was cold, rainy, windy and we even had some snow flakes..
