In 2020, Jake Lakomski of Oneonta convinced his hunting partners Joe Signore of Milton and Jim Grant of Clifton Park to join him on a spring Canadian bear hunt at Henderson’s Hunting Camps in Hartland, New Brunswick.
Lakomski had hunted with the outfitter in the past and was successful in harvesting two black bears. Henderson’s is run by the Bowen family and is the oldest registered outfitter in the province of New Brunswick. The hunt was scheduled to take place in the spring of 2021, but border crossings were suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak. After two years of patiently waiting, the group set off on May 7 for a 10-hour drive to their destination.
The hunt consists of six nights of lodging, three home cooked meals a day, a personal licensed guide and five days hunting.
The hunting took place in an area locally known as Skedaddle Ridge. This area consisted of remote timber country and thick boreal forests, prime habitat for black bears. Hunting takes place in the evening.
The guide dropped each of the hunters off at an active stand around 2 p.m, then picked them up around 9:30 p.m. At the beginning of each hunt, a ribbon is placed out on a nearby logging road that is visible to the guide. When a bear is harvested, the hunter removes the ribbon to notify the guide that the hunter has been successful and the guide will walk into the stand after driving by to check on the hunter.
Lakomski was the first to harvest a bear on the second evening, while his partners had yet to see a bear. New Brunswick allows for the harvest of two bears per season, and Lakomski opted to purchase a second tag so he could continue hunting. On the third evening of hunting, Signore and Grant were both rewarded and successfully harvested their bears.
On the fourth evening, Lakomski was able to successfully harvest his second bear. The two years of anticipation was well worth the wait as the hunters were rewarded with the harvest of four bears. When interviewed, all three hunters agreed that their most memorable were the laughs, stories, and forming bonds with the other hunters.
Hunting Canadian bears in the spring presents a great opportunity to extend your big game season. The bears are actively foraging, and the meat is lean as a result of their fat reserves during their five months of hibernation. New Brunswick also offers excellent fishing while waiting for the evening hunt.
CARP TOURNAMENT RESULTS
Mike Barber of Stillwater held his annual Carp Shoot tournament last weekend. The final weigh-in was held at Lee’s Camp Grounds on Saratoga Lake. Forty-three teams from all over the state participated. They could get carp from any body of water in the state.
Also on hand was Operation Adopt a Soldier, which had a display, and the Carp tournament sponsor gave a generous donation to the organization.
The winning team was Rackem Outdoors from the Finger Lakes, where it caught 592 pounds of carp. The team earned $5,000.
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Categories: Sports
