Tragedy up And Down the East Coast in Hurricane Bill’s Path

This past weekend Hurricane Bill’s path up the east coast of the United States and Canada seemed the best possible outcome not making landfall as it burned up its energy and punch. However damaging waves, rip currents, and treacherous seas wreaked havoc on those who dared to get near.
In Florida a 54 year old man drowned while body surfing on Saturday in the storm fueled waves. On Sunday as many as 5 people were washed into the ocean at Acadia National Park when a large wave crashed over the viewing platform at Thunder Hole. Two of the five people were immediately rescued by bystanders and the three others were swept out to sea. Two of the three were rescued by US Coast Guard but the third, a seven year old girl was not and her body was recovered hours later.
The death of Michael Nemes on Saturday in Onslow County would also appear to be related to Hurricane Bill as more details of this tragedy become available.
Michael Nemes a vacationing police officer from New York was driving a jet ski on the ocean side of Brown’s Inlet a remote location along the North Carolina Coast near Camp Lejeune when the single vessel accident occurred around 4 pm.

The incident occurred around 4 p.m., said Jackie Schmidt of Jacksonville and his brother-in-law, Dan Haugk, of Holly Springs, who attempted to rescue the Nemes.
Schmidt and Haugk had been on their personal watercraft on the sound side of the beach, when a woman came running up the beach screaming that someone was drowning.
“We took off on our skis and went around the sound side, through Browns Inlet, and saw a man out in the ocean,” Haugk told The Daily News on Sunday.
Initially, Haugk said he thought a small boat had capsized, but as he got closer, he discovered it was a personal watercraft.
“I saw a person floating in the distance. He was face down and he was wearing a life jacket. I got as close as I could with the jet ski, then jumped off the jet ski and turned him over to see if he was responsive,” Haugk said.
Schmidt and Haugk tried to pull the man onto their personal watercraft, but the waves were too strong.
“About that time, an 8-foot wave hit us. I lost track of (Nemes) and the jet ski sunk,” said Haugk, who said he swam to shore on Browns Island. Haugk was able to spot Nemes out in the surf and, with Schmidt’s help, pulled him out the water.
“He had no pulse. He was unresponsive,” Haugk said.

Jacksonville Daily News
It took rescuers from Swansboro over an hour to reach the scene after the initial 911 call according to bystander reports. This accident remains under investigation by the NCWRC as well as the local medical examiner.
The power of the ocean especially when a storm is present or nearby can be over whelming. It would appear that in all these cases people wanted to be close to the excitement a storm like this can generate and the awe inspiring splendor of Mother Nature’s fury. Unfortunately they got caught up in that fury and paid dearly.

Another Year Without a Permit

The freezer has long been bare of moose meat so I sat by my computer tonight listening to the live stream from Skinny Moose hoping to hear my name called. If not me maybe one of my long over due family members or a friend. Anyone that I might be able to bum a steak or two off. But no such luck. Here is the link to the winners and maybe if your so lucky you’ll take pity on a poor tag less moose hunter and throw me a steak.

Moose Draw Tonight

Don’t forget the Moose Lottery is being drawn tonight from Fort Kent Maine. Tom over the Black Bear Blog is doing a live stream from there. One of these years I’m going to have to get up there for the lottery but like many of you tonight I’ll be sitting around my computer straining to hear my name or one of my many friends and relatives. Good Luck.

Maine Moose Permit Deadline This Week

Moose hunting opportunities do not necessarily mean a trip out of the country or a trip to Alaska to bag one. Many of the Northern New England States have moose hunting opportunities and are a two day drive or less for most east coasters.
I focus my moose hunting efforts on Maine where I have been successful in drawing two permits in the past. I have been extremely busy lately but I did remember tonight to get on line and apply for my Maine moose permit. The deadline for the permit application is the 15 May so if you hurry you can get in on a chance to hunt Moose this fall.

New Hampshire Info Deadline 29 May

Maine Info Deadline 15 May

Vermont Info
Deadline 02 June

part 4 of My Maine Bear Hunt

This is the part 4 the conclusion of my Maine Bear Hunt. If you’re just joining the story you might want to check one of the early posts; Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
Thursday I knew was the last time I was going to get to hunt with the schedule I had. I had much anticipation going into the final hunt, while it hadn’t been the best week for bear hunting there was no doubt that as the week went on things seemed to improve. Some guys in camp were tagged out and just about everyone had at least one bear encounter to talk about. Many of those were encounters with sows and cubs so they had past up shots others were animals not giving good opportunities for shot placement.
I got to the field where I parked my truck for the daily hike into the blind site. As I done each of the previous days I sprayed down good with Primos Scent killer and then sprayed on the special cover spray the guides make. I got into my blind around 2 and like all the other days I had to reconstruct the blind because the bears had torn it apart the night before.
I settled in and was entertained with the antic of the squirrels and the birds all around me. About 5 pm I caught the movement of a bear coming in and once again it was the small bear I’d been seeing all week. I watched him feed and hang out at the bait site for 15 minutes or so and then he left. Realizing this maybe the only bear I see this week I was still confident with almost 3 hours to go that something bigger would show up.

With just mere minutes to go in shooting light I heard something coming off to my left. The bear popped its head out just a few feet from the bait bucket. It was real quiet but the bear paused when I clicked the safety off. I was afraid I blew it and expected it to spin and run but it didn’t. After a few seconds it stepped out into the opening giving me a clear shot. I wasted no time in making my BAR 30/06 bark. The bear dropped in its tracks and didn’t move. I waited about 2 minutes then I started to step out of the blind and the bear jumped up and ran I got another shot off before it disappeared into the brush. I went back into the blind and sat down and listened. I waited 5 minutes and by now I couldn’t see. The woods were quiet so I walked up to the bait bucket and clicked on my flashlight to look. I heard the bear get up again and try to run but then I heard it crash. Not wanting to push it I backed out to get help.

We went in about 45 minutes latter and despite the lack of a blood trail we recovered the sow within 40 yards of the bait site. I had caught her a bit high but my bullet took out both her lungs. My second shot as she tried to run caught her in the back just missing her spine I owe a big thank you to Brian, Daniel, Russ, and Chip for the assistance of getting my bear out of the woods.

“Foot Race With A Bear” Part 3 Of Maine Bear Hunt

This is a 4 part series on my Maine Bear Hunt, in part one I covered some of the background information and the hunt set up, in part two I talked about my first day on stand and some of the products that helped me be successful.
Bears and bear hunting for whatever reason is a lot different then many of the other hunting we do. Unless you have a lot of experience judging the size of a bear is extremely difficult. Hunters will know the term ground shrinkage and with deer it usually means you shoot what you think is a nice 10 pt and when you recover it you discover a basket 8 or maybe even a 6 pt. Hunters usually judge bears by their weights (record books actually use skull measurements) and they tend to over estimate the weight by a lot. Maine has a very good bear population with the average bear weighing in around 150-200 lbs 300 and up is a trophy bear.

I don’t know about anyone else but hunting predators can be a bit unnerving if you really think about it. No matter the size of the bear when it gets inside your comfort zone it makes your hair stand up on end and gives you an adrenalin rush. Tuesday’s hunt was going to do this because of how it all came to be.

I arrived at the blind site around 2pm to find that a bear or bears had discovered it and tore it down. I quickly and quietly as possible put the ground blind back together and put my pack in it and rested my gun against a tree. I then took the bait I brought in to the bait bucket a mere 11 yards away and dumped it in and started to return to the blind. A few feet from the blind I noticed some fresh bear droppings probably from the culprit that rearranged the blind. As I was looking at it I heard a noise I turned and looked and caught a flash of black behind the bait site. The bear was coming in fast and I wasn’t even in the blind nor did I have my gun with me. Looking back it seemed like a foot race between him and I, he going for the bait and me for the blind. I’m not sure who won because when I looked up he was at the bait.

This turned out to be a small bear probably one of last years cubs he had to stand on his tip toes to get into the bait. His initial arrival was certainly an adrenalin rush and he entertained me after that. He came into the bait early everyday to avoid any confrontations with other bears I’m sure. His approach to the bait from directly behind was not the typical approach other bears were using judging by the trails. I started calling this guy Booboo and was hopeful he would bring Yogi in with him one day.

The only other thing that happened to me on Tuesday was halfway out of the woods my flashlight died. I lost the trail out and ended up hitting a soft place in the swamp sinking almost to my knees. Luckily I had the bucket with me that I carried the bait in with that I could use it to pull myself out.
Other then Booboo I didn’t see any other bears on Tuesday or Wednesday. Everyday I arrived at the blind to find it dismantled by bears the night before and I found fresh scat close to it like he was taunting me. Thursday would have to be the day because it was the last one I could hunt. So join me for part four and hear how this hunt ends.

Story & Photo by Dan McLaughlin AKA Moose

Part Two of My Maine Bear Hunt

This past week I was in Maine Bear hunting this is part two in what I think will be a 4 part series on the hunt. If you missed part one you may want to read that first.

The weather for bear hunting was not great; windy, warm, and threatening to rain. I packed my rain gear in my pack, sprayed down with Primos Silver XP,

load the gun and head for the blind. It is around 2 pm on Monday the hike in is not far but staying on the trail is important while maneuvering through the swampy terrain. I pour the bait I carried in with me into the bucket tied onto the tree and then I retreat back to my blind, which is only about 11 yards away. The blind is made out of burlap and is attached to three trees forming an L shape. Additional brush has been placed in front of the camo burlap to further break it up.

Once in my blind probably the best piece of hunting equipment that I brought with me is pulled out of my pack. The Thermecell is a portable mosquito repellent machine that works phenomenally well.

Within mere minutes of starting this up the pesky mosquitoes are gone. The Thermecell operates virtually silently and odorless off a butane canister that is inside the Thermecell and an external pad of repellent that is released when it is heated.

With the skeeters dealt with I go about making sure there is nothing to close that I can brush up against to make noise and that the chair is positioned the right way. Within a few minutes of getting settled down the woods return to normal as the Chickadees’ find the food in the bait bucket which sets off non stop flights to and from the bucket that would rival O Hare during the Thanksgiving rush.

Observing the wildlife is great fun and besides the birds the squirrels are now feeding out of the bait bucket as well. A couple of brief rain showers rolled through but I stayed pretty dry with the tree canopy overhead. The wind kept up though and none of the big critters seemed to be moving. Around 6pm I caught a flash in the woods but I wasn’t to sure what it was. I knew it was to small for a bear but it wasn’t a squirrel either. A few minutes latter a red fox exploded out of the weeds near the bait site catching an inattentive squirrel as it descended the tree the bait bucket was hanging from. With dinner in his mouth the fox trotted down the trail that past a few feet off to the left of my blind. A couple minutes latter he returned down the same trail and caught another squirrel near the bait bucket.

While theses events were very entertaining it was also very reassuring that the Primos Silver XP was working. This fox had walked by me only 3 or 4 feet away and never reacted to me being there. He did this not once but three times so I knew my scent control was good.
The first day’s hunt ended without me even seeing a bear but that’s fine because on Tuesday all that will change when I have a foot race with a bear. Tuesday’s exciting hunt will be in part three of this story.

Maine Bear Hunt 2008 Part One

Where to begin the story of my latest adventure is always the question I struggle with. When your adventure involves a 1200 mile drive it seems to me you have to include something about that part of the story. Suffice it to say 2 hours to drive 14miles on the Massachusetts Turnpike will be burned into my memory for a long time. The rest of the trip is pretty much a blur but I’ll tell you the slight roll back in gas prices has put a lot of the folks back on the road.

Monday morning I met up with John from R&S Guide Service and rode along with him on his bait run to refill the bait sites. John makes this run daily and the other guide Russ makes a similar run to keep the bait sites up. John’s run is about 70 miles with about 20 or so stops where he refills the buckets with a bait mixture that looks like a mixture of granola & pastries.

At some of the sites that don’t seem to have much activity he sprays a secret scent attractant that smells like a mixture of a Starbucks Coffee Shop and a good old BBQ Joint. Don’t know if it works on the bears but I’m wondering what’s for lunch and how long has it been since I had breakfast.

The use of bait when it comes to hunting is often a controversial issue with some thinking it makes it too easy for the hunter. The reality is whether it’s bears in the north or deer in the south a bait pile does not guarantee a hunter a kill. Animals coming into a bait site do not ignore their senses and if one thing be it a smell, or a sound, or movement they will be gone in a flash. The use of a bait site is also a good management tool often giving the hunter the opportunity to observe the animal closely making sure this is an animal they want to kill. In the case of bears we want to make sure we only kill boars or sows without cubs bait sites increase the opportunity for the hunter to identify the bear and whether it has cubs with it.
The bears can access the bait at any time and more often then not will access it after it becomes dark and hunting has ended. Hunting bears is important to maintain the proper balance of nature so the population does not explode impacting other species as well maintaining the natural fear of man. Baiting and using hounds are the methods most often used to hunt bears in Maine. The rural economy gets an economic boost from hunters like myself traveling to Maine for the great hunting.
Bear meat is excellent table fare, despite what many say, my family and I truly enjoy the many meals a bear will provide us.

John takes me into the place I’ll be hunting this week it’s through a broccoli field, into an overgrown hay field and down the hill into a swampy heavily wooded area. I’ll be hunting from a ground blind a mere 11 yards from the bait site. There is a bunch of trails winding through this area with a few passing on all sides of my blind. Having hunted bears before I know how silently they can come in so the multi trails especially the ones behind me give me a bit of a chill up and down my spine as we complete setting up the blind. I’ll return in a few hours to begin my hunt in the mean time we have a bait run to complete.

In part two of this series I’ll share with you the hunt and whether or not a bear came down the trail behind me and joined me in the blind.

Story & Photos by Dan McLaughlin AKA Moose

Success

Success in Northern Maine on bear hunt. Last evening I had a 170lb sow come in just before dark. I’ll post the full story latter but for now I got to pack up and head South for the opening of the Canadian Goose Season.

Story & Photo by Dan McLaughlin AKA Moose

Bear Hunt Update

Well I’m in Maine on my bear hunt so far no luck. The wind has been tough we had a couple of showers but the wind is really what is messing us up. 10 guys in camp and only one bear brought in on the opening day. Hopefully the wind will die down before this evenings hunt.

On My Way To Maine

Well the last few days have been crazy as I get ready to head north for “God’s Country” and a little bear hunting. Needless to say my plan to put a radio show together has been shot to heck so I’m sorry there won’t be a show this week. I’ll have the equipment with me on this trip if I can get acess to high speed internet to do a show next week from the road.

My intention was to use my Mossberg 500 12 gauge with a slug barrel and the new Remington Core Loct sabot slugs but that won’t be happening. I was unable to get it sighted in so after shooting two boxes of shells and developing a sore shoulder I’m opting for my ‘06 instead. I need to invest in a bore sighter for sure.

Well I have a 20 some odd hour road trip ahead of me which should be fun except for that Jersey NYC streatch. Updates on the blog will depend on internet access.

No Permit This Year For Me How’d You Do?

Yesterday Maine held it’s annual Moose Lottery and it looked like an exciting event. I want to thank Tom & Steve and everyone else involved to make the live podcast from Kittery Trading Post possible. Although I couldn’t be there it was great to watch the fun and the excitement when the 3000+ names were read. Some of the lucky folks were in the audience and that was great. In case you still don’t know if you got drawn here is a link to the winning folks Good Luck to all that got drawn and I hope you have an enjoyable hunt this fall.

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