Count down to bear season!!

I have been busy, busy, busy!!!! Big E and Peter Coyote set off yesterday to New York, the Adirondacks, to pick up the last load of bear bait from Outback Bobs. Bob is semi retired as I don't know if guides ever really retire, and is letting his son Jake take over...well kind of, anyway. This is the first time that I have stayed home, but with so much going on, one of us had to stay...so me. However that turned out to be a good thing I think. I did get a call and looks like we may have 2 more hunters this year and that IS a good thing for business. I also picked up a small load of bait yesterday, and this morning I have to load up the crew and head south for another load of pastries. You may be thinking, well if you can get bait in Maine, why are you going to New York? Well, years ago getting bear bait was easy and inexpensive or at least or so expensive as it has become. Everyone got into selling bait and the prices went through the roof on a lot of it. One guy sells a 55 gallon drug of granola for only $300.00!!! Now when we first started buying bait, we were paying $25.00 a barrel for donuts and $300.00 for a ton of waste candy. However over the years we have experienced it all: opening the barrels to find ten inches of mold and the bait two feet short from the top. So when we started we knew we had to deal with eliminating this problem when we packed our barrels. We sell to a few customers which helps lower our cost. So how much bait does a guide need?? We figure it like this. In Maine, we can bait for a full month prior to opening day of bear season, so one has to figure what it will take to effectively bring in the bears. We start with a couple buckets of good old stink bait. Need I say anymore on that??? Then we start placing two five gallon buckets of pastries and toppings in the barrels. So it will take 2 full barrels of pastries per bait site for the pre-baiting season, and 2 full barrels of bait to continue during hunting season; therefore 4 barrels per bait site. We also gauge how many hunters we have coming and add another ten bait sites to that. Each hunter is guaranteed 2 bait sites to hunt from, and we use different areas for each week, starting with the furthest ones out the first couple of weeks and pull in closer the last two as we lose hunting time with the decreasing sunlight. So if one has 25 hunters, you need 50 bait sites plus 10, and if one needs 4 barrels of bait per site....well you get it, thats a lot of bait!!! So one must collect as much as possible, and the fact that we sell bear bait as well....then it becomes a year long effort. Where's the cream filling??? At Ktaadn Guide Service!!! Now you understand also why we have bears in the bait shed, plus raccoons, skunks, squirrels, weasels, coyotes, fox, shiba inu's and one Akita, oh and a few of the neighbors cats. Well, time to make the donuts!!

Feels like fall

Wow, yesterday I commented on a few maple leaves changing, but this morning completely feels like a fall morning, with a brisk cool breeze. Not that I mind as fall is my absolute favorite time of the year and I have always said if I could find a place that was fall all year long I would be there in a heartbeat! Crisp, cool mornings, warm afternoons and that wonderful sweet scent of change in the air is just heavenly!! Of course with fall comes hunting season! I do love fly fishing, kayaking and the many other activities of summer, but there is something about hunting that excites the senses. I have had many folks say why not just let Big E do the hunting? They just don't understand, so I try to explain why I love to hunt and I will touch on a few of the finer points I think I make. First I find it extremely empowering!! The grocery store can shut it doors, I don't care because I can take to the woods and feed my family! Also, it is a time where I can get back to nature in a different way. After a busy season guiding bear hunters; being up at 5;00am and not getting to bed until after midnight many nights does not give me much time to just be quiet and think. Therefore maybe hunting for me is like a type of meditation that heals my soul.

Just another day in Bearadise!

It is slightly overcast this morning with a little rain throughout the night which was needed. I sit here quietly as everyone else is sleeping in; a rainy Sunday you know is always an excellent reason for that. The cock of the woods, AKA the pileated Woodpeckers are hollering from the trees. We have 3 pairs of them that hang around and have now for many years. They are the largest of the woodpecker species being almost 2 feet from beak to tail with bright red markings on their heads. I have so much on my mind with yesterdays latest developments which are so exciting, and then just thinking of everything that needs to be done for the coming of bear season. I'm not sure if all the projects will be completed, but things will be ready for our guests to arrive. The bears have not been back to the bait shed for a few days, so no messes to clean up in the mornings before the dogs go out. However they have been getting into what we call "the stink bait", which is just as it sounds, "Gross"!!! It is buckets of meat that have been allowed to decompose. Big E calls it, "the call of the wild"! We place it out on the bait sites only the first time we tend the sites and it calls in the wildlife alright! We have kept the buckets away from the house, placing them in the woods at the bottom of our field and the bears have been carrying them off! We have retrieved several in various states of condition. Thankfully, we will be taking them into the woods on the 30th!!!! I'm quite sure the neighbors may be thankful as well, although no one has inquired.......Now if I were a bear I'm certain I would go for the pastries before I would want stink bait!!! Well I can hear Big E stirring...time to start another day in bearadise!!!

Big News

I received a phone call yesterday from a representative of the Maine Cabelas Store in Scarborough. He left a very intriguing message that had me wondering what is was all about all night long. Cabelas is one of the leading retailers of Outdoor gear and apparel as most know, however they also offer a listing for guide services and outfitters all over the world. Well around noontime I received a call back. Seems he found me off the wide world web, which is always nice to know that you can be found. Cabelas has several special events throughout the year at their stores. He told me he would really like to have me come down as a guest to speak to folks and meet some celebrities and others in the business as well. I was asked to come to a couple different events, but realizing that this is kind of short notice and a very busy time of the year for us, would I consider at least one. Well of course I said "YES"!! They are having a special women in the outdoors weekend August 14th and 15th, which I thought would be the one, however he asked me to come for the following weekend event of the 21st and 22nd, which is the big Fall Great Outdoors Days I event. This is truly exciting for me and could bring my business some wonderful publicity which is key to survival in this line of work! I'm so psyched!!!!

Introduction

Hello, please let me introduce myself, I'm Kimberley Lyons, AKA Lady Guide. I'm a Master Maine Guide in central Maine, and I own and operate Ktaadn Guide Service, Outfitter and Camps, LLC with the kind and loving help of family and friends. My husband known to all as Big E is my biggest fan and supporter of which this all would not be possible without his great knowledge and teaching. I'm also a freelance writer and columnist, with a running column in Outdoors Magazine titled the "Lyons Den". I'm not just a guide, I'm an avid outdoors enthusiast. I have successfully taken bear, moose and deer, as well as many other critters. I absolutely love fishing, especially fly fishing on Nesowadnehunk Lake, which we refer to as "our little piece of Heaven". Kayaking is yet another passion that I discovered several years ago and I take every opportunity I can to get out on the waters. So here it is, just the beginning of the many tales of the Maine woods and waters. I hope all who reads my posts will enjoy the stories and adventures of the past, present and beyond!!