When The Paying Bear Hunters Started Coming In, Fin And Gary Told Me That Our Most Important Responsibility As Their Guides Was To Protect Them From Their Own Mistakes. Even though most hunters were competent individuals, they were all handling loaded firearms, and there was a great, expansive forest to get lost in where we took them hunting. We three Registered Maine Guides strictly enforced all of the rules of safe, legal hunting. We also did our best to see that everyone enjoyed themselves and had a lot of laughs.
Most of our paying guests had a real good time in Maine. We had many satisfied customers in 1969, and our hunters got over half of the bears reported killed in the State of Maine that year.
Some of the hunters liked my wild and wooly ways so much that they gave me an open invitation to visit them if I was ever in their hometown.
Unfortunately, some of our paying hunters felt great animosity towards Fin, because he had verbally assaulted or offended them at some time during their one week stay at the Lodge. Some of them had spoken to me about these incidents when no one else was around but the other hunters who agreed with them. Those hunters had witnessed the way that Fin and Marty treated me, and they didn't like it. They were all aware that Katahdin Lodge provided honest-all-out-effort bear hunts with clean, comfortable lodging and lots of good homemade food to eat, but for the money they had paid Fin and Marty they expected to be treated with complete respect at all times. Then after a few days of experiencing the way that Finley talked to some of them at times, and they felt that they had gotten to know me well enough to realize that I wasn't happy about that bullshit, they spoke candidly to me about it. That was a difficult aspect of my adventures in Maine to stomach; Finley was after all, first and foremost, my uncle.
Fin took this photo of Gary and I, because it was the first time that hunters at Katahdin Lodge had gotten 4 bears in one day.
That’s one my favorite hats that I have on, a green Efrennam Crusha’. I wore outa’ few of them, and I still have the last one I bought in Patten, and it’s some kinda’ broke in, let me tell you.
Most of our paying guests had a real good time in Maine. We had many satisfied customers in 1969, and our hunters got over half of the bears reported killed in the State of Maine that year.
Some of the hunters liked my wild and wooly ways so much that they gave me an open invitation to visit them if I was ever in their hometown.
Unfortunately, some of our paying hunters felt great animosity towards Fin, because he had verbally assaulted or offended them at some time during their one week stay at the Lodge. Some of them had spoken to me about these incidents when no one else was around but the other hunters who agreed with them. Those hunters had witnessed the way that Fin and Marty treated me, and they didn't like it. They were all aware that Katahdin Lodge provided honest-all-out-effort bear hunts with clean, comfortable lodging and lots of good homemade food to eat, but for the money they had paid Fin and Marty they expected to be treated with complete respect at all times. Then after a few days of experiencing the way that Finley talked to some of them at times, and they felt that they had gotten to know me well enough to realize that I wasn't happy about that bullshit, they spoke candidly to me about it. That was a difficult aspect of my adventures in Maine to stomach; Finley was after all, first and foremost, my uncle.
Fin took this photo of Gary and I, because it was the first time that hunters at Katahdin Lodge had gotten 4 bears in one day.That’s one my favorite hats that I have on, a green Efrennam Crusha’. I wore outa’ few of them, and I still have the last one I bought in Patten, and it’s some kinda’ broke in, let me tell you.
Photography by David Robert Crews
This is up over Rt. 11, about halfway between the Lodge and Patten, looking out into the Great North Maine Woods that stetches out for 90+ miles behind Katahdin Lodge.
David Robert Crews Copyright 2006
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David Robert Crews
2 comments:
Wow! It sounds like you're quite the guide. I appreciate being treated with respect on my hunts and think bear hunting in Maine would be awesome!
I was quite the guide, but I haven't worked as one since 1979.
I do believe that Patten Maine is still the best area to go bear hunting in Maine. You will get the same respect and good treatment from most of the lodges up there, as was given at Katahdin Lodge when I worked there. I cannot recommend or steer you away from any lodge, as I don't know who is the best, or if there even is a worst. The competition up there should be making them all work hard for your money.
It is great that we have the Internet today to help us find a lodge up there to suit our own personal tastes--the food is always good and wholesome and some lodges may have unique menus--and there are all kinds of other outdoors activities to choose from, for hunters or their family members or friends who may also want to go along on the hunting trip, but not go hunting.
I hope to get back up there soon myself. I love it up there.
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