What a week we’re having! First of all, fishing has been very, very good for most of our guests. The walleye have been plentiful, and many large ones have been returned to the Lake! You’ll see new photos on our website within the next few days. I had a good day of fishing Monday…more on that later. Let’s get to the good stuff.
The nuisance bear was continuing to be a nuisance. You may recall that he had punctured some oil jugs and left his “sign” in our front yard. Steve kept forgetting to bring in his popcorn oil (used for bear bait), so the bear kept coming in. Our guests saw him last week around 9:00 p.m. He was becoming quite a regular. Steve set up the trail cam so we could see what goes on around here after we’ve called it a day:
Jason left several poses on both of our cameras:)
Apparently we have a lot of ghost activity after hours.
Ah-ha! There's the culprit checking out Gruper's truck!
Steve was getting concerned about the level of bear activity. Our guests were reporting more and more sightings of the bear–the whole Camp was in a turmoil. It was time to call in a professional:
Meet Ben "Dead Eye" Taylor, a retired mule skinner from Pleasant Valley, Iowa.
Ben arrived Saturday. Steve brought him up to speed about our nuisance bear and the possible danger to everyone in Camp. Ben formulated a plan to frighten the bear enough to leave us alone. Ben would fish by day and stand sentinel by night.
Ben fishes and talks strategy with his able-bodied assistant Greg.
An all-around outdoorsman, Ben released a nice walleye here.
Then came the big moment! Sunday night–only 36 hours after his arrival–Ben heard a commotion on the deck of the Bear’s Den cabin. He carefully looked out the window to find the bear right outside! He raised his rifle and shot the bear in the butt…
...right through the screen!
We’re very happy to report that the bear has not been back to bother anything or anyone since. Thanks to Ben, everyone is resting a bit easier around here.
Speaking of bears, Steve got one Monday night! He had seen several in just a couple of nights. Here are some photos. CAUTION: some of these are a bit graphic and may not be suitable for all audiences.
It’s always good to have a mule skinner around when something needs to be skinned.
That's fat...
Something dies every year when Ann visits...and she likes it.
Ben still has a few days with us. We’ve found the next nuisance for him to eliminate:
