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Hunter Comments

They have a good ste up, but when we went they over booked the place and instead of 12 people in camp, they had 25. They had over 85 baits sites but you were limited to two for the entire hunt. Out of 25 hunters only 4 bears were taken and only two of them were mature bears. The lodge and the food was nice but I didn't see a bear the entire hunt (7) days. Jeff Dysinger AZHOYT

Was the outfitter notified of problems? - YES

Outfitter's Response

Dear Bowsite, We and our staff at Spruce Mountain Lodge, are very sorry to hear that Mr. Dysinger did not enjoy his stay with us.

Mr Dysinger contacted me the first part Oct. of 2005 and inquired about booking a bear hunt for the first week of the bear season of 2006. That date would be Aug. 28-Sept. 2, 2006.(I have all correspondence and copies of emails). Mr Dysinger booked his hunt, along with 3 other hunters, the middle part of Oct. 2005. Our policy states that if you book 4 or more hunters we will give you a $100 discount to each hunter in the party. Our price for a guided, 6 day hunt, ( Not 7 days of hunting as Mr. Dysinger stated), 7 nights of lodging, 3 meals per day, transportation during the hunt and preparing your trophy for the taxidermist and or processor was $1400 at the time, therefore Mr. Dysinger and his hunting party were charged $1300 each. The price for their hunting licenses and bear permit are not included, which he understood. (This is stated in all of our literature). Therefore: his figures are incorrect.

He was planning to drive then contacted me and I was informed that they would be flying. I told him we would pick them up at the airport and that we do not charge for airport pick-up and return. Everything was set.

We emailed back and forth throughout the time between Nov. 2005 and the time of his hunt. On August 22, 2006,(4 days prior to his hunt),I received another email from Mr. Dysinger. He stated that “he had two more guys that wanted to come on the first week hunt with him”. I replied, and informed him that the lodge was already over full. (Therefore; Mr. Dysinger did know in advance that the lodge would be over booked). If they wanted to rent a car and drive up, (we were planning to pick them up at the airport, but our vehicle would only hold 2 more/not 4 more), I would get them a camp to stay in. It was near by and it would be for them to sleep and shower. Their meals would be at the lodge and they would hunt with us. Everything would be the same except their sleeping quarters. Mr. Dysinger emailed and said both hunters would be joining us and that they had their plane tickets and would see us on Aug. 26.

After arrival, after the evening meal, we put all bait sites in a hat and the hunters draw their site. I inform all hunters to sit at least 3 days on the same site then if they do not see anything I will move them to another site. I have 75 active bait sites. Of the 75 sites, they are then divided into 3 sections for the 3 weeks of the bait season. This way every hunter gets 2-3 sites, not limited to 2 as Mr. Dysinger stated.

After the first day Mr. Dysinger wanted to change bait sites. I asked him to try it one more time. Then the second day he wanted to change again. He wasn’t seeing anything? Mr. Dysinger changed bait sites several times during the week and still did not see a bear. My advice is not to change bait site the first day, you need to put a little time into it. We had 25 hunters in camp; of the 25 hunters all saw bear except 2. Hmm. Out of the 25 hunters, 8 bear were taken that week. Two of the 8 bear harvested were from Mr. Dysinger’s hunting party. The bear taken that week were all at least yearling bear if not older. (Yearling bear is last years bear).

I can not control what the hunter does on the stand; I can only suggest what he should or should not do. Such as chewing tobacco, spitting tobacco, smoking, leaving the stand or leaving the stand and walking down the road. Usually a hunter hires a guide for a reason and that is to take his/her advise as the guides are the ones that have been doing this for quite some time. Most hunters listen. I have been a Registered Maine Guide for 20 years.

This week I was in contact with the Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, (IF&W), to get the total number of Maine’s bear harvest for 2006. For the entire State of Maine during the bear season there were 2,659 bear harvested. (Down from 2005) Washing County, (the county where we are located), harvested 343 bear with 68 being from Spruce Mountain Lodge. We do hold a very high success rate both with sightings and harvest.

Thank you for letting us tell our side of the story.

Sincerely, Stephen and Brenda Cole