My hound hunt with Spaulding Lake Outfitters, owner Jeff Faye, and his assistant Steve Tweedy.
I had a booking for a 2 day hound hunt. This is my first hound hunt ever. My thoughts of a hound hunt was running through the woods chasing dogs that are chasing a bear. But that’s not how it is at all. You go to the site and hope a bear was there eating early in the morning so you can let a dog out to track him. But the bears weren’t cooperating that Monday morning. They were coming in early evening leaving us a cold trail. So after checking several sites we got one that a bear was there around midnight, so Jeff set out one of his best cold tracking dog, Diesel. About 750 yards out it looked like he had something on the move. So Jeff set out a couple more dogs and they couldn’t pick up the scent. Diesel was headed in a direction that we couldn’t intercept right away. So we went to check the last two sites and Monday wasn’t looking good. Finally after a couple hours of running around we caught up with Diesel and headed back to the meet up spot.
Tuesday is here and we meet up with Jeff and Steve. It was a little warmer today and foggy. So once again, the bears were coming in early. So we checked a few sites and found one that may produce something, so off again was Diesel. He did it again, he found a cold trail but he was pushing something and in a direction we could do something with. I was getting really excited. So Diesel ended up pushing the bear across the road and Jeff set off a couple more dogs. The dogs had him treed! Jeff was giving me step by step instructions and tells me “you need to move when I say move!! Stay right behind me and be ready!” Wow this is really happening! It was happening so fast! We got to the tree, Jeff and Steve are pulling dogs off the tree, and I get into position. I barely get the gun up and safety off and here comes the bear down the tree! Jeff yells “shoot!” I did, and missed. Now bear and Diesel are on the run! Jeff set the other dogs loose, so back to the truck to watch their movements. We intercepted again and was able to release more dogs. Now we approach barking dogs and a good size bear about 60 feet up in a crotch of a huge pine! Jeff is telling me to get closer to him for a better shot, once into position I took a deep breath to try and relax. I fired, and the first shot hit the tree. Second one found it’s mark, third one I missed again and then the 4th I believe spined him, so he dropped into the crotch and that’s where he stayed. Now to figure out how to get him down. A long story short, we found the land owners, Seven Islands. A big thank you to Seven Islands for allowing the cutting of that tree, and retrieving my bear! Spaulding Lake outfitters in Oakfield k would highly recommend for your bear hunt. Jeff gave it all he had to make sure I went home with a bear. Thank you Jeff!!
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