Send us your bear-hunting stories and photos!

Bear season began more than a week ago, and I’m seeing Facebook traffic that indicates many hunters are enjoying success even though biologists say there’s plenty of natural food in the woods.

Wildlife biologist Randy Cross, leader of the field crew for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife's 40-year bear study, poses with "Big John," a 432-pound black bear that was snared, weighed and released in Washington County on June 17, 2014. Cross first caught "Big John" four years earlier, in the exact same place. (John Wood photo/Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife)

Wildlife biologist Randy Cross, leader of the field crew for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s 40-year bear study, poses with “Big John,” a 432-pound black bear that was snared, weighed and released in Washington County on June 17, 2014. Cross first caught “Big John” four years earlier, in the exact same place. (John Wood photo/Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife)

As always, we’re interested in hearing your tales and looking at your photos. If you’ve got a bear-hunting story, please drop me a line at the email address listed below.

As the season progresses, I hope to share a few of those photos and stories with BDN readers.

So, what makes for a good bear story? It varies, but here are some guidelines: Big bears are great — the bigger the better. If your bear weighs 400 pounds, you’ve got my attention. If it weighs 500 pounds or more, I hope you’ll sit down and start sending us your photos as soon as possible.

Misadventures are cool, as long as nobody gets hurt. Tenacity and determination always make for good stories. And kids bagging their first bears with help from their relatives (or a guide) can often make for interesting column fodder.

Matt Knox of Pennsylvania poses with the bear he shot in Greenville Junction on Friday, Sept. 7, 2012. The black bear weighed 699 pounds on state-certified scales and is expected to be recognized by The Maine Sportsman newspaper as the largest bear ever taken in Maine. The previous record was a 680-pounder that was shot in 1993. (Photo courtesy of John Lonergan)

Matt Knox of Pennsylvania poses with the bear he shot in Greenville Junction on Friday, Sept. 7, 2012. The black bear weighed 699 pounds on state-certified scales and is expected to be recognized by The Maine Sportsman newspaper as the largest bear ever taken in Maine. The previous record was a 680-pounder that was shot in 1993. (Photo courtesy of John Lonergan)

If you need a bit of added inspiration as you head out, take a closer look at the photos that accompany this blog. That’s Matt Knox with his state-record 699-pound bear. And that’s Randy Cross posing with “Big John,” the bear that was named after me a few years back. According to Cross, Big John will likely weigh more than 600 pounds over the next few weeks, if he keeps doing what he has done for the past several years — avoiding hunters.

We obviously can’t publish everything we receive, but will do the best that we can.

So good luck! And I hope to hear from you soon.

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.com or 990-8214. Follow him on Twitter: @JohnHolyoke

 

John Holyoke

About John Holyoke

John Holyoke has been enjoying himself in Maine's great outdoors since he was a kid. Today, he's the Outdoors editor for the BDN, a job that allows him to meet up with Maine outdoors enthusiasts in their natural habitat. The stories he gathers provide fodder for his columns, and this blog.