I recently returned from a Black Bear hunt in Maine. I hunted with Sunrise Ridge Guides out of Bingham area. I researched them carefully to include talking with all of their references. I booked a hunt for this Fall and recently returned from same.
My hunt was a five day hunt consisting of Mon - Fri. On Monday the guide picked me up at my cabin at 10:00 A.M. To take me to my blind. He also had three other hunters with him. Traditionally Bear hunting is done during the last several hours of daylight not at 12 noon. We had an hour and half drive one way to the bait sites.
On Monday my first day there, I sat in the blind from 12:00 P.M. Till 7:30 P.M. With still having the 1.5 hr. Drive back to camp. I carry some gear with me and always have a back pack for same. I always try to reduce any unnecessary odor on my clothing and equipment. The guide put my back pack in the enclosed bed of his truck next to gas cans. When I got my back pack out it smelled like gasoline! They should have known better!
On Tues I had a large male black bear at my bait site right at the end of legal shooting. I could not get a responsible shot so I video taped him until I ran out of light. Normally, an outfitter/guide will pick you at night by driving as close to the blind as possible with some even going right to the blind. This prevents a bear from being bumped off the bait by a hunter leaving the blind. The vehicle will temporarily scare them off but because they are accustom to the noise from weeks of baiting, it does not alarm them to the point of not returning during daylight.
My outfitter provided ground blind was torn up on the front side to the point of my needing to repair it with some camo tape that I had with me. The opening in the front was at least twice as large as designed. The zippers to exit would not open so I had to lift the blind up and crawl under it both arriving and leaving at night.
On Tues night I was forced to leave the blind as per the above while the bear stood off into some saplings and watched me exit the blind and walk out on the trail. This bumped him off my bait for a night or two not coming in until well after dark. Based upon my experience of observing many black bears at bait sites over the last 40 years, it is my opinion that this bear was THE dominate bear of that entire area for miles.
On Thursday I learned that one of the other hunters requested to be moved since he had not seen a bear yet. His bait was getting hit but not while he was in his blind. The outfitter and guide decided to put him on a bait that was within a mile of me. The theory being that the "big bear" hiting my bait woudl be squeezed between us and one of us should get him that night.
This was irresponsible and inconsiderate of my hunt since I had been on the same bait all week and had seen and video taped a large bear at my bait. It was thought that the bear that had been hitting my bait at/after legal shooting hours was going to the other bait earlier then made his way down to my bait. So... They put the other hunter there.
When they came to pick me up on Thursday night I was advised that the other hunter in my area killed a bear and that we would need to go assist him. My equipment was loaded up and we went to the other bait site not more than a mile from where I had been sitting all week. The bear that was dead at the bait was marked the same as the one that I'd been seeing and was the same size as far as I could tell. Further I had video evidence for comparison in case there was any doubt.
I felt betrayed by my outitter as he should have known that a black bear is going to be hitting both baits when they are placed less than a mile (give or take) apart. As far as I was concerned, there was no point in continuing to hunt the bait site that I'd been on since it appeared that the bear in question had just been reduced to a rug!
The next day I met with the guide and expressed my displeasure with the decesion to move the other hunter into the same baited area as me. This made the two us compete for the same bear. With me bumping him off my site and his watching/hearing me leave, he was hitting the other bait earlier than mine around sun set.
I specifically expressed the opinion that IF anybody was going to be moved to another bait within a mile of my area, that it should have me. Dong so had the potential of providing me a shot well before sunset. Even if that didn't occur to them, I would have thought that they would have at least discussed the matter with me prior to putting another hunter that close to me. They did none of the above.
On Friday I was confronted by the licensed outfitter who was told by my guide that I had a problem. After explaining my frustrations he apologized for putting the other hunter that close to me and for not giving me the option of moving to that bait. He indicated that he didn't want me upset so if I didn't get a bear, he would take me on a no charge hound hunt in the same area and get me a bear.
I did not want to hound hunt and it was just not a matter of getting any bear. I tought that I should have been given first consideration in that two to three mile radius. The outfitter then told me that he would reduce the fee for me for a bear hunt next year.
I advised that although I was still upset about what happened, at least he was going to attempt to try to make it as right. I hunted the same bait Friday night without seeing any sign of a bear.
Saturday when I checked out he was telling me that he could show me many bears at my bait site as he had had trail cameras up before my arrival and I still had a "chance" to take a bear there. I would not have been interested in shooting one of the smaller/younger bears anyway.
I decided to take him up on his offer on doing something for me on a hunt for the Fall of 2013 however when I attempted to book the hunt, I was advised that they were booked solid for 2013 and if they had a cancelation, they would contact me! The promised compensation and correction for this years bear hunt went out the window with his inability and/or unwillingness to provide me with a hunt for 2013.
I was trying to book a hunt 51 weeks in advance and they could not find one spot for me to hunt out of 51 baited sites? He advised me that they were limiting their hunter totals in camp to 37 or 38 for the season. So, they had that many hunters already booked a full year ahead of time? Possible but doubtful in my opinion. They just did not want to honor their original offer of "doing something for me on a hunt next year"... There now is no next year!
The outfitter advised that everybody was coming back next year and that the groupe that I hunted with was bringing an extra guy with them next year which took the spot that I filled on their roster this year. I am of the firm belief that in light of what occured by putting another hunter on my baited area and their offering to "take care of me next year", the other hunting party should have been advised that Sunrise Ridge Maine could NOT commit to allowing a new hunter with them for next year until they talked with me to see if I was willing to come back next year to take them up on their offer.
So... I feel that they elimnated my opportunity for a bear harvest this year do to moving another hunter into my area on a different bait without discussing it me first and/or offering to move me there if I desired. I was the guy hunting that area for days until the other guy complained and ask to be moved. Of all the places that they could have put him, why less than a mile from Me? Why offer to make it right next year then advise me that they are booked and cannot take me next year!
I have been bear hunting for 40 years and done so in several States and Canadian Provences and have NEVER had anything so irresponsible done to me by an outfitter not to mention sandbagging me with an offer of a hunt next year then promptly booking a new hunter into the same camp without first offering it to me!
In short... I feel that I got "Ripped Off"!!! Stay away from Sunrise Ridge Guide Service Maine!
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