My companion looked at me, I looked at him, and the same idea hit us at the same moment. What would have happened if we had hit that bear? Would we have killed it or would we have wounded it? In either case it would have fallen and landed in or near our canoe. A dead bear would have broken the canoe in half, falling from a hundred feet. But suppose the bear had been wounded? Think of the situation. Two men and a wounded bear struggling in the water within eight feet of each other. What a scene for a movie shot!

The best of us will make mistakes of judgment at the unexpected sight of game. Luckily we both missed the bear. It took us nearly an hour to find a landing place and to climb to the spot where the bear had been. We didn't go deer hunting that evening.

Another time a small group of us went on a combined deer and bear hunt near the town of Emden, down state, where bears had been doing some damage. Now bear hunting is a great sport, but hunting Maine bears is a tough proposition. I am not good enough to risk my guiding reputation by handling bear hunters. If you think our bears are no different from other bears, just ask some of the best bear hunters in the south what they think of our product. There are some pretty cagey animals in the Maine woods?and they are not all wild.

We split up and started to hunt, each in his own individual manner. I was not too experienced with- bear hunting, yet I knew the chances of seeing a night-loving bear roaming around in the daytime were pretty slim. Traveling through the woods, I checked signs of both deer and bears. There were plenty of both and the strong, unmistakable smell of bears was in the air. I poked around in the likely hiding places, finally coming to a large boulder where there was a good-sized cave under the rock.

Pointing my gun barrel ahead, I cautiously peered into the cave. My heart came into my mouth for I detected movement in the dark recesses. I did not lose complete control, however, although the gun barrel wobbled so that I could not center the sights on the animal. I don't like to shoot unless I am reasonably certain of my target, and by the time I had settled down enough to do serious work with the gun, I had recovered composure enough to identify my game as a porcupine. What a letdown! I never saw a bear or a deer that day, although I found a wild bee tree in a swampy area that I could use as a bait at some later date, to attract a bear to me as I waited in a stand nearby. I never did.

You probably don't know it, but I am a reformed poacher. No, the wardens didn't reform me. I woke up to the fact that such actions are not fair to you boys, to the rest of the guides, or to the people of Maine. I have even stooped so low as to sell deer to unsuccessful hunters, but in some of these cases it was sympathy for them rather than money that influenced me. I hate to see any hunter who has hunted diligently for a week or so go back home without his deer. Again, I believe that any man who is willing to spend his money here hunting should have some concrete return. I have no sympathy for the man who sits around camp all day, drinking and playing poker instead of getting out into the woods and enjoying our great out-of-doors. I don't care whether he goes home empty-handed or not; he has got just what he came for. But the case of the unsuccessful one who has hunted diligently is different.

If a hunter see the threat from a wild animal, it is better for him to keep himself in a hiding place until the threat pass. It is better than if he has to face the wild animal face to face which can cause him into trouble. Deer hunt is a hobby which is exciting to the people who can enjoy it and take the great fun of it, even he can get the deer or not for the day.