Hunters are hitting the Maine woods for bear season

Gateway Trading Post in Ashland started registering bears on youth day and the flow of hunters coming through hasn’t stopped since.

Youth hunter Johnny Dickey’s bear was the first registered at Gateway this season. It also was his first bear ever.

By late Wednesday afternoon, the trading post had registered 26 bears, with the biggest at 425 pounds, according to store owner Brenda White.

Several hunters enlisted lodges and sporting camps and their associated guide services. White said most people weigh their animals at their outfitters’ places instead of at the store.

Youth hunter Jesse Hines, 10, and his father, also Jesse Hines, both of Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, pose with the younger Jesse’s 238-pound boar he shot on opening day of bear season. The hunters are staying at The Homestead Lodge in Oxbow. Credit: Courtesy of The Homestead Lodge

Mike Koziol of Auburn, New York, brought down this 200-pound sow on opening day of bear hunting through The Homestead Lodge in Oxbow. Credit: Courtesy of Homestead Lodge

The Homestead Lodge in Oxbow, Lento Sporting Camps in Masardis, Dead North Adventures in Ashland, Rustic Retreat Lodge in Perham and dozens of others throughout Maine have hunters booked for bear season.

Rob Pizzi Jr. poses with his 192.5-pound boar with his friend Mike Camarota at The Homestead Lodge in Oxbow on opening day of bear hunting. Both men are from Connecticut. Credit: Courtesy of The Homestead Lodge

Many of their hunting clients are from other parts of the United States, such as Texas and Pennsylvania.

Eli Maheu of Dover-Foxcroft shot this 183-pound sow with a compound bow opening day of bear hunting. Credit: Courtesy of Eli Maheu

Hunters are using several methods for killing bears too, including different types of guns and bows. One person built his own gun, just for the occasion, according to Dead North.

Blood-tracking dogs were in high demand. The dogs are specially trained to follow a blood trail when a hunter loses a wounded animal back into the woods. The state maintains a list of licensed trackers here.

Left: Cody Noel of Saegertown, Pennsylvania, shot a 268-pound dry sow in Aroostook County on the first day of the 2024 bear hunting season in Maine. This was Noel’s fifth season of bear hunting in Maine. Credit: Courtesy of Cody Noel.
Right: Mason Pierce brought in this 186-pound bear on the second day of Maine’s 2024 hunting season. Credit: Courtesy of Gateway Trading Post

Trackers recommend hunters flag the visible blood trail well, especially where the bear was struck by the bullet or arrow and the point where the animal’s trail was lost; limit the disturbance of the area, including no grid searching; have details of what happened and share any photos you have with the tracker; and call a tracker as soon as possible.

Left: Charles Newman came from Texas with his long bow to take this nice boar on the second day of the 2024 bear season in Maine. The bear’s weight was not available.
Right: Johnny Dickey was the first hunter to register a bear this season at Gateway Trading Post in Ashland. It was a first bear for Johnny too. He shot it on youth day. Credit: Photos courtesy of Gateway Trading Post

This first part of the bear season, which opened with youth day on Saturday, allows hunting over bait, ending on Sept. 21.

Hunters may trap bears from Sept. 1 until Oct. 31, and hunt with dogs from Sept. 9 until Nov. 1. Deer hunters may harvest bears during their hunt until Nov. 30. Hunters may take one by trapping and one by hunting for a total of two bears per season.

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