Dog training season begins

This past Sunday I joined my husband and his bear hunting buddies for a day of bear dog training. Bear dog training season, where bear hunters train their hound dogs to chase bear, officially begins the first weekend in July. Since my husband’s bear hunting buddies kept asking me to hunt with them, I thought since I got to bed early Saturday night, there would be no problem getting up early. Well getting up before 5 or 6 a.m. is never fun. But I did it. I woke up at dawn, got ready and went with my husband to meet the other hunters at the first bait. They let some dogs go, some of us drank coffee and ate cinnamon rolls and we all chatted for a bit during the first waiting game - the time we wait for the dogs to come back to the trucks. When all the dogs did not come back after not finding a bear, the men had to use their tracking boxes to track where the missing dogs were at. This activity continued for the rest of the morning. If the dogs would have tree-ed a bear, they would hear their barks and then have to walk into the tree to retrieve their dog. This is the heart-thumbing, scary part as you never know what a bear in a tree with some 15 dogs barking at it will do. Since the dogs didn’t tree any bears in the several different times they were let into the woods, the day was considered unsuccessful. Before leaving the woods, my husband and I stopped to find blueberries. There were only some very, very small ones and not many of them. What a bummer! We then met up with our friends and discussed the hunt and the rest of the day’s activities. Not only did they enjoy my company, but were glad I was along because I brought snack food for everyone. Since it was the end of the weekend, no beers were drank and the men made plans for the following weekend. All together, the day wasn’t that bad. I was exhausted from the long ride in the woods and couldn’t wait to get home and take a nap. I don’t know when I will again wake up that early to hunt. But just maybe in due time. Training season doesn’t end until the end of August. Then come September bear season begins. This is where those who were fortunate to receive a bear tag are able to kill a bear. This year, my husband’s teenage nephew will have the honor of being able to do that.