May 27, 2025 • 39 mins
The Maine woods hold secrets and legends that only time and persistence can uncover. For nearly 15 years, one such legend—a massive one-eyed black bear—roamed the forests along the Narraguagus River, outfoxing even the most experienced hunters in the region.
Maine houndsman Blake Smith brings us an extraordinary tale of pursuit, respect, and ultimate achievement as he recounts his long history with this elusive bear. From first spotting the distinctive animal on his parents' trail camera in 2011 to watching it appear mysteriously at bait sites across a 15-mile range year after year, Blake shares the almost mythical connection that developed between hunter and hunted.
This remarkable bear demonstrated intelligence far beyond ordinary wildlife. He employed clever tactics like swimming downstream to eliminate scent trails, using smaller bears to confuse tracking dogs, and consistently appearing and disappearing at strategic times to avoid hunters. Despite numerous close calls with experienced guides and houndsmen throughout the region, the bear maintained his freedom season after season.
The story culminates with the successful harvest of this 506-pound Boone and Crockett record book bear by a young houndsman named Jaxson Marston, creating a bittersweet ending to a legendary pursuit. Both the bear's impressive size and the circumstances of the hunt made this a truly momentous occasion in Maine's hunting community.
Tragically, Jaxson later lost his life in a commercial fishing accident at just 26 years old. This episode not only celebrates the incredible saga of the one-eyed bear but also serves as a tribute to Jaxson's memory and the hunting tradition he loved. Through stories like these, we're reminded that hunting is about much more than the harvest—it's about connection, respect, and the enduring legacy we leave behind.
Check us out on Facebook and instagram Hunts On Outfitting, and also our YouTube page Hunts On Outfitting Podcast. Tell your hunting buddies about the podcast if you like it, Thanks!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
this is hunts and outfitting podcast.
I'm your host and rookie guide,ken marr.
I love everything hunting theoutdoors and all things
associated with it, from storiesto howos.
You'll find it here.
Welcome to the podcast.
Hey, thanks for listening.
So we have all heard the stories, or maybe even have some of our
(00:34):
own.
Where there is a history with acertain animal, we are chasing
the big buck on camera that hasgiven you the slip for the past
four years A giant bull, elkthat season after season you see
but just can't get into range.
Well, what about a nearly 15year history with a specific
animal?
Today's guest has that greathistory and story for us today
(00:56):
with a legendary black bearone-eye, Blake Smith gives us a
captivating tale of a well-knownblack bear in his area.
That proves just how smartthese animals can be.
Now, before we get into thisstory, him and I do talk about
hounds and some great names in ahoundsman world.
First, I realize that not allhunters are into hound hunting,
(01:19):
so just bear with us becausewhether you're a houndsman or
not, it's a great story worththe listen.
If you know someone, or maybeyou yourself would like to be a
guest on here, you can reach uson Facebook Hunts on Outfitting
or by email, huntsonoutfittingat gmailcom.
This episode is dedicated to thememory of Jackson Marston, who
(01:42):
tragically lost his life onApril 25th.
Memory of Jackson Marston, whotragically lost his life on
April 25th 2025 in a commercialfishing accident well out for
scallops.
Jackson, who was just 26 fromAddison, Maine, was a huge
outdoorsman and loved his hounds.
I was lucky to be able to meetand spend a day with him last
fall to chase some bears, alongwith some other great guys.
This story and podcast episodeis not only to give you a great
(02:06):
tale, but to share the memory ofJackson and help preserve it
with great stories like thisthat will be remembered for many
years to come.
Oh, and in the picture on theprofile of this podcast, Jackson
is on the left.
Blake is on the right.
Oh, Blake, thanks for taking mycall.
You've got a hell of a story totell us with an incredible
(02:29):
animal, quite a beast.
But before we get going, youknow you're from Maine.
You own PRL Outfitting.
What was your start?
Into?
Hunting?
And then hounds.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Well, you know, I grew up here in Cherryville,
maine and back I don't know what.
16, 18 years ago I startedhunting with a guy uh name of
bobby harris.
He's from north carolina.
He comes up maine hound huntingevery year doing uh, chasing
bears, and I got a like for it,you know.
And uh, I went from that untilI started following the Strout
(03:04):
Boys around coyote hunting andvery well-known people in the
state of Maine, and at one point, you know, I was sick and tired
of being the guinea pig, Iwanted to be the boss man, so I
struck out on my own to go getsome hounds.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Okay, yeah, no, that makes sense.
You learned the ropes andfigured you're ready to go.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
That's right.
And I tell you what the firstman, dale Cole he's a Cole Cat
Hounds he told me.
He said listen, buddy, he saysyou cannot build a pack
overnight.
And he is true, because I'm 12years 11, on my 12th year into
it now, and first few years Iwas working with my brother and
(03:44):
a few of his dogs and I got myown dogs, but I still, to this
day, don't have a good pack.
We can get it done, but it'stough.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I mean, at least you can admit that, cause I'm sure I
know, and I'm sure you do know,lots of guys that think they
have a great pack and everyonearound them knows they
definitely don't.
So at least you're honest aboutit and you know that you're
working on it that's right.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
We can always improve , you know.
You know my dogs do greattogether, but you know that's
what we work on is trying to get, uh, get each dog to do its own
little trick to, at the end ofthe day, get what we're looking
for.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
So yeah, but I mean, you've seen your pictures and
taken some great cats and bearsas well, so you know something's
working.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, I know my knack is getting into.
You know, cat hunting that'swhere I started.
I wanted to be a cat hunter andI went from cat hunting to oh
crap.
You know we can only run cat afew times a year.
You know, a few months a year.
We got to hunt these dogs, youknow they can't sit on the chain
.
So we started bear hunting, youknow, and trying to find a good
dog.
That did both.
You know it's tough, it's verytough.
(04:49):
A lot of cat hunters say youshould never run a bear with a
cat dog.
You know I learned that now,and some of my best cat dogs.
I don't really run on bear thatmuch, so there's a lot to it.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Okay, yeah, well, I mean they say that if your dog
can tree a bobcat, it can treeabout anything in North America.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
That's what they do say, you know, and it's tough,
especially in Maine.
You know, it's just, it's theunderbrush it's.
You know, we've tried dogs fromdown south that are amazing cat
dogs and you bring them up hereand they don't even know what
day it is, you know.
Yeah, well, I've heard thatMaine it's the toughest bobcats
(05:29):
to hunt.
Rumor has it are in Maine.
Yeah, and I think, and I don'tthink I know cat in general.
It's a cat, you know they're asmart animal but it's.
You know Maine has the bogs,they have the alder swamps, they
have the cedar curls, they havethe spruce swamps and they
don't have these big trees thatyou know.
A cat can just run this openspot and he's got no place to go
.
He drives up a big tree.
You know we don't have that.
So when I first started, uh, samnatoli, he's a really good,
(05:51):
well-known, you know, podcastguy and whatnot and there and
cat hunter in the state of maine.
He's proven himself over thelast 60 years.
You know he's, he's my mentor.
He's become like a secondfather to me, um, but he always
told me he said, you know, blake, he said you're only going to
treat about one out of eightcats, and that's right.
You know I got buddies thatthey treat cats every day.
Down south they treat catsevery day in British Columbia.
(06:14):
They treat cats consistently.
You know, and here in Maine wejust don't do it.
Our dogs catch them on theground and they bay them up in
rock piles.
Or you know, our dogs catchthem on the ground and they bay
them up in rock piles.
Or you know, first thick holesin the fir trees or all the
swamps, or out on beaver ponds.
You know we just don't drivethem up the trees.
So it's a big difference.
(06:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Oh, yeah, that's cool that Sam's been your mentor,
because I'm a big fan of him,watched his YouTube videos and
all that, and, yeah, he'sdefinitely a well-known and
respected houndsman, so greatmentor.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yep, oh yeah, he's a great guy.
I bought my first dog.
Well, I went and bought threedogs one day and I bought them
off our young guy that he hadn'thad much time.
I bought a dog for 250 bucksoff him.
And I went to Sam, and you knowthat same day in Waterville
area and I bought a dog namedBella off him and you know he
didn't bullshit.
(07:08):
He said you know, I want threegrand for this dog.
This is what it's going to do.
And he told me exactly whatit's going to do.
And you know, since then I'vesold dogs and I try to do the
same thing.
You know, if I'm going to sella dog, I'm going to tell the guy
exactly what I think it is.
There's a lot of guys out therethat bull crap and for a young
guy it's just tough to getstarted.
I was four years before I hadmy first litter.
(07:29):
I got hooked up with some ofthe best guys.
You got Paul Laney.
Most of my dogs I bred withPaul.
We got some good bear dogs.
They weren't very good cat dogs, but just a learning curve.
I got hooked up with Dale.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Cole and Heedy Vanderkamp just a learning curve
.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Uh, I got hooked up with uh Dale Cole and he even
under camp.
I got Cole's national cat hound, a blue dog, you know, a bread
ham to that first uh, $250 dog Igot.
That was no good and she turnedout to be one of my best dogs
I've ever had and she probablystill will be, you know, and
throughout my life.
But uh, we also got, you know,I hooked up with Danny Luke.
I run a lot of plots and he'swell-known, carries the Dwayne
(08:07):
Smith plot line and we got somepretty aggressive dogs, you know
.
But like I said, at the end ofthe day I'm still working on my
pack.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
You cannot build it overnight, right, yeah, and
Vandekamp, he's up in BritishColumbia, isn't he?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yep, yeah, yeah, great dog British Columbia isn't
he?
Yep, yeah, yeah, great dog hestarted carrying that Dale Cole
line off his sport match thatDale had created over you know
100-year cat dogs and you knowthey've proven.
So it's a proven line,world-renowned.
I took the chance and of courseduring COVID I said to Hedy,
(08:43):
you know I want this dog, hedyand a guy named Bruce Haig in
British Columbia.
They had this litter of pupsand I said I want a dog and he
sent me pictures.
I picked out which one I wantand sure as in shit the airlines
wouldn't allow you to fly dogs.
So by the times I got my dog hewas eight months old and I
picked him out at eight weeksold.
(09:04):
So by the times I got my dog hewas eight months old and I
picked him out at eight weeksold.
Yeah, but I, luckily I had a guy, um, uh, steve um, the plot guy
made it major plot guy.
He's lately passed, but SteveMoore, he um, he knew he had
some connections and we got thisdog shipped on a truck from uh
out west British Columbia allthe way to Kittery, maine.
I went and met him at his truckstop and by far you know, as
(09:30):
far as cat dog goes, and SamNatoli has another one named
Ranger.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
I was going to ask that yeah, he's from BC.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
My dog's a brother to his, just through a different
litter same mom and dad.
But I tell you what you knowthey're good cat dogs.
The only ones I know that areany better than that is the
stuff that Tim Berry bred out.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Yeah, because that's what I thought that Sam had
watching his YouTube video stuffthat Ranger was from up in
British Columbia, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
No, you know, it's been a good thing.
You know, jackson, obviouslythat's what we're going to talk
about here a little bit, and thestories of the bear and all
that stuff.
But you know, jackson, he was,he started out just like me, you
know, and we started huntingtogether and um, there wasn't
many.
As a cat hunter goes, you know,there's always coyotes.
A lot of guys will team up andgo cry on, and when it comes to
(10:21):
cat, you, you really don't get alot of houndsmen that will team
up with your cat huntingbecause there's just not a lot
of them.
You don't want to show it'slike deer hunting.
You don't want to show everyoneyour best spot.
But Jackson, he was right therewith me and I would show that
kid my best spot and I couldtrust him.
(10:41):
If I wasn't hunting that day,I'd send him into a spot where I
thought he could find a cat anduh, I respected him for that
because he respected me, youknow, and if I, if I was going
hunting that next day, he'd makedamn sure he was going to stay
clear of me.
So we kind of hit it off prettygood that way and uh, excuse me
, it went into our bear hunting,uh, where the story's gonna go
(11:04):
here a little bit more, but youknow, he's a respectful guy.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Yeah, yeah.
I was fortunate enough, like Isaid last fall, with my buddy,
Michael Germanis with Good OldBoys Guide Service.
He's friends with Jackson.
We went down and I got to spendthe day with him and see his
plots.
He had some nice young onesthere that were doing quite well
and after spending 14 hourswith the guy in the main woods
running around, you know he getsto know him a little bit and,
(11:29):
yeah, he's a great guy.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, great guy.
Like I said, he's just likeevery other houndsman.
You know that he's trying toget started.
This last year he bred hisfirst pack of dogs.
He was very excited, you know.
They were running about seven,eight months old right now.
He was damn excited for thisyear to try to get them going
and you know that's a bigachievement as a houseman is to
to to do your first litter,because you really, you know you
(11:55):
got to put two and two together.
You got to pick a good dog.
Or you know, maybe you mighthave two good dogs but you got
to pick a dog that you think canmake a litter with your best
dog.
To try to, you know, get whatyou want.
You know I always heard theexpression you know breed, breed
what you hunt, hunt what youbreed.
You know, at the end of the day, it isn't about the killing as
(12:15):
a houndsman, it's about, youknow, seeing your dogs
accomplish your goals by puttingin all the hard work that you
do throughout the season.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And I find that anyone that isa true handsman is.
We all have that in common.
You know it's all about thedogs, the, the killings, just a
bonus here and there If you evenwant to do that.
You know it's.
It's all about the hands, yep.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, it's a lot to it, but, uh, you know, something
we enjoy and something we take,uh, we take for granted.
You know, appreciate being ableto do it, because to me there's
nothing like a good old.
I'm a I, I like my bear hunting, but there's nothing like a
good old cat hunt.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Yeah, it's just, uh, so difficult.
I know I've, uh, yeah, had somehard time doing it here in New
Brunswick with, uh, with myhounds, but, um, I'm excited to
hear the story.
Blake, you know, I came acrosspart of the story that you wrote
up about the bear hunt withJackson that we're going to talk
about, and I saw this massivebeast of a bear and, uh, you
(13:15):
know, I'm excited to hear thestory right from you about how
it, uh, how it all went down.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, no, I'm glad we glad we like to share it.
Uh, in respect of you know,jackson, and and and do of all
the other guides in the areathat you know, maybe they'll get
on here and listen to this andyou know, and it can give back
the memories of you know, alltheir times that they
encountered with this bear, anduh it was a bear they're
definitely famous're definitelyfamous.
I can sit here and list off guysthat have had this bear on
(13:49):
camera, but that can go onforever, because we've got a lot
of guys around here that dostand hunts and this bear was
always lurking around for thelast 15 or 20 years.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, that's crazy Smart, really smart bear.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Well, we'll get into it.
Like I said, it all startedback in 2011.
We were at my parents' househaving dinner there one night my
mom and dad they always show usmy mom liked feeding the bears
there during the bear season andshe happened to have this bear
on camera and had one eye and Isaid, damn, you know, I've seen
(14:30):
a lot of bears, but I've neverseen a bear with one eye like
that.
He was a big one.
And so a few days passed by andI just recently lost my
grandfather to a.
He passed away of cancer thereand we had this smart idea to
play, do a Ouija board one night.
(14:50):
And we're sitting there with mybrother, his wife and a whole
family.
There's a whole bunch of us andthis part, the story, I really
didn't include in.
Sorry you read, but, like Isaid, there's a lot more back
stories, so I'm going to tellthe whole thing and then for
sure.
So we did a Ouija board out onenight.
(15:11):
We're sitting there at thehouse, we do the thing.
I'd never done it before.
I thought it was all you know,whatever.
I didn't really believe in itand fair enough spirit came
across the board is what?
One of the ladies that wasthere doing.
It said and it spelt out allthese things it said Jacob, and
(15:34):
it referred to itself as being aspirit of a one-eyed bear, and
it was kind of weird to me thatmy mom, just prior to two days,
had had a one-eyed bear on theirproperty, you know, 500 yards
up behind their house, and soforth and so on.
So this I don't think I'm crazy.
A lot of people have heard thisstory.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So I like it.
It's entertaining.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
It's a.
It goes on and on.
You know we're playing thething we're doing, the doing the
board there, and you know it.
It told my mother.
You know we're playing thething we're doing the doing the
board there, and you know it.
It told my mother.
You know, uh, on the board itspelt out that it was a, uh, it
was an indian fellow back a longtime ago this is the moral of
the story that had been um,killed by the white men and and
(16:20):
left on side of the road outthere in blackwoods and
cherryfield to just die.
Left on the side of the roadout there in Blackwoods and
Cherryfield to just die, andinstead it had been reincarnated
into a one-eyed bear namedJacob.
So my mom you know being kindof eerie of it told my brother
the next day.
(16:40):
You know this bear wanted to bekilled and given a proper
burial.
I didn't want to be buried andI told my brother.
I said, all right, mom, we'regoing to go find this bear.
I said you guys are crazy.
So they went out looking and mybrother was in Moosehead the
first night.
We played at Ice Fishing and sowhen he came back they went out
(17:02):
looking for this bear.
No joke that next night we wentto my mom and dad's.
We did the thing sure enough,said that they were so close
they could hear them breathingand um, I did an article in the
vanguard daily and I I kindlyspoke a little bit about this.
If you look it up in there,you'll be able to see the story
(17:23):
too, as well as the story that Iwrote for the boone and crocker
book as far as detail goes.
So they went out looking andyou know they didn't find
nothing whatever.
My mom was kind of skeptical soshe burnt some sage in the
house and she's like I got toget out of this.
She's like this thing's goingto eat me up.
So fast forward a few yearslater we never really thought
(17:43):
nothing more of it and I startedgetting into hound hunting and
baiting and all that stuff, andfriends of mine, jason Strout
and Matt Tienen, had put a baitover in Township 16.
And sure enough a one-eyed bearshowed up.
I think it was 450, 500 poundsat that time.
And a few stories go by DanCurtis, another guy you know he
(18:09):
had hunters that he had thisbear on camera and a couple of
his helpers.
You know a few neighbors in thearea had this bear on camera
and he's running a stretch ofwoods probably 15 miles long up
and down the Naragüez River, andso they turned out on him with
dogs.
I was there many days in.
(18:29):
This bear would always show upfour o'clock in the morning and
sure enough, around 5, 5, 30,just before we got there, a
little bear would cover him up.
You know, we put the dogs out.
Guess what?
We treated an 80 pound bear.
The bear always got away.
So, um, matt, jason kind ofmatt went into being a game
(18:51):
warden.
Jason got busy with the family.
They kind of gave up theirbaits.
So a couple years later now Itook over their baits in the 16.
I was a good friend.
They gave me some of theirbaits and I put a bait out.
Sure enough, boom, one-eyedbear.
He's still there a couple yearslater.
And I had a client one day.
It was a client of Dan Curtis'Rob Turner is his name, from
(19:15):
Carmel, and he said we met inthe morning.
I'd never met the guy before inmy life and he says I've hunted
with Dan quite a bit.
He says any chance we couldkill a one-eyed bear?
I said I mean just so happens.
Uh, rob, I said I got thisbear's been on camera so he
(19:35):
hadn't been on the bait sharefor a couple days.
Rob and his wife came down wetried to, you know, turn out on
this bear.
He showed up.
Nothing couldn't get him toalways get on a small bear we
actually treated and two cubsthat morning.
And so a few more years passedby.
We never got him.
I'm out in November one yearKind of similar area close to
(19:58):
the right on the bank of theNarragugas.
I put some deer cameras out.
I go back and I found a newspot I was going to try to bow
hunt in.
I look at my camera it'sNovember, sure enough, one-eyed
bear.
So I mean the bear was.
I feel like he was following mearound, yeah, from the shadows.
And you know, in this meantimeJackson, he was young, you know,
(20:20):
and once in a while he'd tagalong with Matt and Jason and me
.
You know bear hunting.
So he got to know this bear too, and it was last fast forward
into two years ago.
I got some land down on 193,just west of the Naragawagas,
and I put a bait out and this isprobably 12 miles south of
(20:42):
where we normally would see theone-eyed bear and I put a bait
out up.
Three days later I get apicture.
Here he is.
He's sitting down, paws rightin the barrel.
I said, man, this bear isreally.
I gotta get this bear, I gotta,I gotta kill this thing.
And he's following me aroundlike a shadow.
(21:04):
Yeah and uh, we put out on him.
Dogs take him off and they'reon him.
They jump him 80 yards off.
The bait bear gets in, uh,wholesome brook, swims down my.
My old man says uh, you knowlike the bear's coming to the
road.
I said you know, let's, let'sget him right here.
What happened?
The bear jumps in the brook,swims directly down underneath
(21:26):
the bridge, gets away from thedogs.
My dad's trying to stop cars,you know, on the main road we
got all our hounds coming to theroad.
Bear swims right by, gets awayand I said damn.
I said I've driven this bearout of the country.
He's not going to come back tothe bait.
So I move a bait, I put it upthe road over on that side where
(21:48):
he went.
About a week later we'd beenhunting all morning, got nothing
.
Nine o'clock in the oh sorry,two o'clock in the afternoon.
Look at my camera, my touch cam, the bear, one of our bears on
the bait.
Take, the dogs had it plannedout literally minutes.
The bear just walked off.
(22:13):
I dumped our dogs, dogs, chase,no, hit right off, go across
the river, treed right up, sawthey said hey, this is the day,
yeah, we have to drive like 13miles all the way around the
edge of the river back down theother other side, get over there
.
I said this ain't good.
This, this thing is.
You know, this thing's on ourhit list.
Now he's pulling all thesegames.
(22:35):
So we never did get him thatyear.
Last year Jackson had first yearthat Jackson really got his own
dates and he put pretty muchacross the river from the last
time that I'd encountered thisbear and he kind of kept it a
secret from me there for alittle while and I had lost the
baits into the Township 16 therewhere we'd lost because the
(22:58):
landowner had sold to NatureConservatory.
And so he puts a bait out downthere on the Salmon Federation
land and it was maybe a coupledays before the season and he
texts me.
He says Blake.
He says I got this one-eyedbear that's been on my bait
every day one eye.
He says I can't wait foropening hound season.
(23:20):
He says we're going to team upand kill this bear.
I said yeah, that sounds good.
Well, in the meantime I hadsome guys from Wisconsin coming
to do a little bit of standhunting.
Before we got into houndhunting there I had asked a
private landowner that ownedsome small acreage up there to
put a bait on.
I'd never had a bait therebefore and it was, like I said,
(23:41):
it was three or four miles northof where Jackson had this bear.
So I wasn't interfering withhim, I didn't think and sure
enough, put the bait out.
We're up there one day ridingaround baiting and my buddy goes
in and he says Blake, he saidthat bait's cleaned out.
I said shit.
I said let's put a camera on it.
So we put a camera on it andJackson at the same time
(24:04):
messaged me.
He says Blake.
Me.
He says Blake, this bear hasbeen gone off my bait for three
days, I jokingly said.
I said, ah, he's following mearound like a shadow.
I said I bet he's on this bait.
I just put out up here.
He said oh, probably.
He said, knowing your luck,whatever.
And next night, you know, I wasanxious to go check that camera
.
So I went right back in the nextmorning, baited it, I filled it
right full 55 gallon drum and,sure enough, there he was, one
(24:28):
hour again.
And I said nice.
And so I messaged theseWisconsin guys, the Serpent
Firearms I don't know if you'veever heard of them.
They're an air gun company.
They were coming to do a trial.
The air gun a young boy.
I said you know, I'm going toput him on this bait, hopefully
he kills this bear.
And uh, so they sat all weeklong.
(24:48):
Never see the dang thing.
And he'd been there for acouple days.
So goes by.
You know jackson's discouraged,I'm discouraged.
So we, you know we gotta getthis bear.
And I just recently taken on aproject for the salmon
federation putting a you know abottomless culvert in a
time-sensitive spawning brookfor the Atlantic salmon, and we
(25:11):
only had a couple days to getthe job done.
So I was when I wake up to goto work I always look at my
cameras.
It's right in the middle ofhound season We'd had a few
hounds Stanhurst come, a fewclients already tag out on
hounds.
It was a little bit later inthe season there and I said I
got to get this job done.
So I'm going to work.
(25:31):
I look at my phone you know sixsomething in the morning.
Sure enough, one eye.
He's right on the bait.
I said I can't do it, I can't,I can't go today.
I got to work.
So I went to work next morning.
Sure enough, same thing, boom,one eye is on the bait.
I said I can't take this muchlonger.
I said but I got to get thisjob done.
So we got the job done.
That third day I said that sonof a gun is going to be on the
(25:54):
bait.
We're going hunting.
So I had my crew, I had aclient.
We're going hunting and guesswhat?
He never showed up?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Of course not.
I can't believe the historywith this bear.
It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Yeah, it's crazy, it's unbelievable really.
When you think about it and yougo back and listen to the story
and take it all in, I mean,there's nothing but the truth.
So we A few days passed by Ithink it was four or five days,
I can't remember the exact datehere, but I think it was around
the 27th of September.
I wasn't going to go to workthat morning.
(26:30):
I had plans to get kids andwhatnot, try to get them to
school and sure enough, I waslike 612.
I wake up late in the morningand I look at my phone's going
off, bing, bing, bing.
I'm getting things from mytacticam on my phone and turn
off.
There he was.
It's like almost daylight, Isaid.
I told my wife.
I said you get mad at me, allyou want.
(26:50):
I said I'm going hunting onthis bear.
And guess what?
It was a day that I didn't havea crew, so I was taking one for
the team.
Really, you know, you don'treally want to go hound hunting
without a crew, especially on abear that size.
A lot of things can go wrongyeah so first person I call was
jackson.
I said jackson.
I said what are you doing?
He says we're all hunting.
He says I got sick guys.
You know we're trying to.
(27:11):
I got a young kid here wants tokill a bear.
I said yep.
I said he said I just put outon a small bear and uh, he said
but they're not doing anything.
I said we'll pull the dogs.
I said and give me 30 minutes,I'll meet you right here.
And we did.
We met up there and the bearjust come off the bait.
So we got a plan I got my threebest dogs and Jackson's got his
(27:34):
three best dogs and we set up.
Sure enough, 60-80 yards off thebait we dumped the dogs and
they jumped the bear and itwasn't 15 minutes.
They put them across the roadand instantly it's just walking.
They're not running, they'rewalking, howling at this bear.
I heard Jackson looks at me.
He says Blake, he says you wantto shoot this bear.
(27:54):
I said Jackson, you know thispast and me and this bear and
everything that I've learnedabout this.
I want nothing in this world todo with this bear but to see
someone else kill it.
You know he says good enough.
He says I'll kill it.
I said sweet deal.
So yeah, bear starts loopingaround to a road and, uh, dogs
are coming right at us and Isaid let's get out in front.
(28:16):
I said if this bear crossesthis road, I said there's going
to be one or two things happen.
We're not going to get the bearbecause he's going to hit the
narragansett River and swim itand the dogs don't do good in
water, you know.
I said or two, I said one ofour they're going to bait us
bear up and our dogs are goingto get hurt.
I mean, this is a 500 poundbear.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
So when he I said this bearcomes into this road, I said you
(28:39):
dump him.
And that's exactly what he did.
So the rest is history.
We shot the bear.
You know there was eight of usthere.
We tried to load it on a truck.
Couldn't do it, just couldn'tlift this bear.
That's a holy moly.
So we got down, we got it onthe truck, we got down to the
store, realized it was one eyeas soon as he shot.
You know the kid was ecstatic.
(29:01):
You know he'd been after thisbear, everyone else had been
after this bear.
I mean it was a true legend andhim to pull the trigger on.
It really was something specialto him.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yeah, it just like I said, I can't believe the
history that you have with them.
I mean it's awesome you hearpeople go out and they get like
a nice bear, a nice buck, butyou know they didn't see it on
camera or anything and it'sstill good.
But when you have the historylike this with an animal, it
just brings so much more meaningto the hunt and the harvest.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Oh, definitely, you know, and he knew and I knew too
, if I was gonna shoot this bearit's gonna cost me.
You know, I got butcher fees, Igot I'm obviously gonna get
this thing mounted and all that.
And she pulled the trigger.
It's $5,000 at least, you know.
And Jackson knew it, he didn'tcare, he didn't give a shit and
(29:51):
uh, that that was what made itfine he's.
You know, this thing's going onthe wall.
I said Jackson, what are yougoing to do with all this bear
meat?
He said you know what?
He said I got a lot of people.
He said I'll give it.
I'll give it.
He says we'll get rid of thisthing.
So we did.
We got it all cut up.
We got down to the store toweigh it down there and, uh,
actually my shop and my scaleswere broke.
I couldn't weigh it.
We looked for like two hourstrying to get this thing weighed
(30:13):
and, sure enough, we threw iton the scales at 506 pounds and
um had all we could do to liftit down here at the local store.
He had just put some scales upfor the youth deer hunt that was
coming up and uh, we aboutruined his scales trying to
weigh this bear and we got itput on and weighed and, like I
(30:35):
said, 506 pounds and it wassomething it was definitely
something to be proud of.
Uh, all of us, you know jointeffort, everyone that was on the
hunt that day uh, jackson, weended up getting it, took it to
the butcher, got it scone out,took it to the taxidermist, uh,
ryan Rhodes, uh, north roadstaxidermy, he had this, he has a
bear.
Uh, and Jackson, jackson wasgoing to get a three quarter
(30:57):
mount um, charging three quartermount done.
You know it was pretty, it willbe a pretty impressive bear.
But so, you know, Boone andCrockett's getting ready to come
out the main skull, and antlerand Jackson, you know he's a
working man and he didn't reallyhave time to do this paperwork
(31:17):
stuff.
And I can vouch the same formyself.
You know, I think I've shot, Ithink, eight bucks, over 200
pounds, some nice ones, and Idon't have a single pass to show
for it, because I never want tofill the damn paperwork out.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
So he's kind of the same way, he's always busy and
he went off to Gloucester,scotland, and ended up losing
his life down there not shortly,shortly after all this took
place, uh, to a tragic accidentand um, so this is where the
story really, you know, got outto the public, uh, just sharing
(31:53):
some of these memories of theman he was and the uh, you know,
just trying to keep the happythoughts with his family during
these difficult times.
So I, I was asked by a friendof ours, dana Austin, all those
wives, he's state police, he, hesaid, hey, you know, he'd known
that Jackson and this bear hadmade Boone and Crockett.
(32:16):
You know, to make Boone andCrockett and anything you shoot,
you know that's an achievementin itself, let alone named skull
and antler.
You know that's a bigachievement.
But Boone and Crockett, that'sanother category and it doesn't
happen very often.
No, no.
So I'm pretty sure there's onlylike 60, 65 bear in the whole
state of Maine that's everreached that milestone, and to
(32:39):
have one of them, you know it'sa pretty big achievement.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
It's impressive, yeah , I mean you think about how
many bear have been harvestedthere every year for all these
years, and to be able to be oneof those people to have a bear
in the Boone and Crockett, Imean, yeah, it's a, yeah, huge
accomplishment.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yep, definitely so.
No, I put together a quickstory there.
I didn't include a lot of thestuff we're talking about here
tonight, just because you knowthere's a lot of people reading
it and I didn't want to keep itkind of short and sweet.
But, um, I'd like you reachedout to me to share this story.
I figured I'd just telleverything you know.
I've told the story to a lot ofpeople.
A lot of people know thehistory on it, history you know
(33:27):
not how many people can focus ona single bear, for you know 15
years, and I can't wait for theage report, for the state to
come out.
You know to.
So we can, you know, seeexactly how old this beast was.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yeah, well, yeah, I know, that's just yeah.
Like I said, as soon as I readthat, I'm like boy, that's a,
that's a good story.
And you know, I knew Jacksonand then, um, yeah, that's when
I thought yeah, I'd reach out toyou and and, uh, I'm glad I did
, cause, uh, that was yeah, thatwas good, it was a great story.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
I mean it's you know a lot of people go out west or
go on hunting trips and you knowthey should have deer they've
never even seen.
You know, and this one is istotally different.
You know it's not just me asmany other outfitters,
homeowners, you know land ownersthat.
You know people just deerhunting that said that thing was
on my camera.
(34:10):
I know that bear and it was notmany.
You know it wasn't just the oneeye that was distinctive.
You know both of his ears ontop was completely ripped off.
So I mean he had a lot ofcharacteristics that you're not
just going to see in every bear.
You know he he had the one eye,he had the missing.
You know three-quarters of oneear gone, a half of an ear of
another ear gone.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
So he was easily marked and you could pick him
out like a sore thumb, you knowWell, yeah, I mean just the fact
that how many hound hunters arearound Maine and you know bait
hunters and all that, and thefact that a bear of that size
could evade everybody for thatlong it's incredible really.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yeah, no, I mean just for you know, thinking real
quick, I mean this bear hadprobably been chased at least a
dozen times by not only myhounds but Matt and Jason's and
a few of the other guys that arearound, and you know he did
evade them and a few of theother guys that are around and
you know he did evade them.
And let alone the multiplepre-stand hunting guides that
(35:11):
you know offer stand hunts overbait.
I mean there's a lot of them inthe area.
I mean just in that few squaremiles, there's hundreds of baits
that this bear, you know, wastending and he just he never
messed up, never messed up.
But his time was coming and hedid mess up the morning that we
found him.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
It just definitely a new respect for black bears, I
guess you know, knowing thatthey, some of them really are
that smart.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Yeah, and it's crazy, you know.
You know the bear hit theground.
I always go over and I look atthe bear, I check them all out
and for a bear of that age,knowing how old he was, I mean
he was a perfect, healthy bear.
Camera hit it.
It had no pigment or somethingin it to reflect the light from
(36:04):
the camera, um, but you know,his ears were gone, but his
teeth were healthy, his clawswere healthy, I mean the bear
was fat, I mean.
But you know that also showssomething good for the area.
We got a lot of feed and, youknow, keeping these bears
healthy and hopefully years tocome have plenty of bears to
harvest.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
So yeah, yeah, I mean , obviously the area uh is prime
to be able to grow an animalthat old and that large.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Yeah, 100%.
Like I said, you know he was alegend and the kid who got the
chance to harvest this bear.
I consider him a legend too.
You know he's a good man,well-known in the community, and
he lost his wife at 26 yearsold and left behind his wife,
girlfriend sorry, and a littlebaby girl and another one on the
(36:52):
way.
So pretty tragic end to thestory, which I don't really like
to talk about.
But I wanted to honor him andhis achievements and I'm glad to
be able to share it with himand multiple other people.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Well, I mean, thanks to you, blake, this podcast has
got a pretty good reach now and,yeah, a lot of people are going
to get to hear this story andabout Jackson.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yeah, no, I like what you do.
I started getting big in thepodcast there a few years back
when they started really gettingout there, and I listened to a
lot of the W?
Uh, you know podcast and howblood he's another one.
I've listened to a lot of howblood stories Um and uh continue
.
I'm glad you reached out, causeI'd like to listen to some of
your stuff as well too, so I wasglad to be a part of it.
(37:41):
And, uh, if you got anythingelse or we chat a little bit
more, let her rip, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Well, uh, I want to talk to you a bit after this,
but, um, you know, for thisstory, I mean, I can't thank you
enough for coming on and Ireally appreciate it, and, uh,
you can tell a good story.
You kept me, kept me on theedge of my seat, it was, uh, it
was good and uh yeah my wife.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
My wife always tells me I take after my grandfather.
He's a hell of a storyteller.
But I try, I try.
But you know, a lot of storiesaren't true, you hear.
But this one right here is fromthe heart and everything about
it's true and I'm glad to shareit with you.
Know, everyone, you know, justbecause it it gives another name
for what hunting.
You know it's more than thekilling it is it's more.
You know there's a lot involvedwith it and a lot of memories
(38:26):
made and you know, I hope a lotof people you know look at it as
that and not just you know, hey, we're out there killing bears
with dogs and we're doing thisand we're doing that.
You know this bear, you know hewas harvested.
He's going to be a trophy forthis, this young gentleman, but
he also fed many people.
You know we created stories,memories that will last forever.
(38:47):
You know it's our tradition andwe got a fight to keep keep it
going.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
So yeah, you know it's, it's a, it's a passion to
hopefully keep carrying on formany generations yet no, I thank
you for letting me be a part ofit sure, anytime thanks.
this is hunts and outfitting podcast.
I'm your host and rookie guide,ken marr.
I love everything hunting theoutdoors and all things
associated with it, from storiesto howos.
You'll find it here.
Welcome to the podcast.
Hey, thanks for listening.
So we have all heard the stories, or maybe even have some of our
(00:34):
own.
Where there is a history with acertain animal, we are chasing
the big buck on camera that hasgiven you the slip for the past
four years A giant bull, elkthat season after season you see
but just can't get into range.
Well, what about a nearly 15year history with a specific
animal?
Today's guest has that greathistory and story for us today
(00:56):
with a legendary black bearone-eye, Blake Smith gives us a
captivating tale of a well-knownblack bear in his area.
That proves just how smartthese animals can be.
Now, before we get into thisstory, him and I do talk about
hounds and some great names in ahoundsman world.
First, I realize that not allhunters are into hound hunting,
(01:19):
so just bear with us becausewhether you're a houndsman or
not, it's a great story worththe listen.
If you know someone, or maybeyou yourself would like to be a
guest on here, you can reach uson Facebook Hunts on Outfitting
or by email, huntsonoutfittingat gmailcom.
This episode is dedicated to thememory of Jackson Marston, who
(01:42):
tragically lost his life onApril 25th.
Memory of Jackson Marston, whotragically lost his life on
April 25th 2025 in a commercialfishing accident well out for
scallops.
Jackson, who was just 26 fromAddison, Maine, was a huge
outdoorsman and loved his hounds.
I was lucky to be able to meetand spend a day with him last
fall to chase some bears, alongwith some other great guys.
This story and podcast episodeis not only to give you a great
(02:06):
tale, but to share the memory ofJackson and help preserve it
with great stories like thisthat will be remembered for many
years to come.
Oh, and in the picture on theprofile of this podcast, Jackson
is on the left.
Blake is on the right.
Oh, Blake, thanks for taking mycall.
You've got a hell of a story totell us with an incredible
(02:29):
animal, quite a beast.
But before we get going, youknow you're from Maine.
You own PRL Outfitting.
What was your start?
Into?
Hunting?
And then hounds.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Well, you know, I grew up here in Cherryville,
maine and back I don't know what.
16, 18 years ago I startedhunting with a guy uh name of
bobby harris.
He's from north carolina.
He comes up maine hound huntingevery year doing uh, chasing
bears, and I got a like for it,you know.
And uh, I went from that untilI started following the Strout
(03:04):
Boys around coyote hunting andvery well-known people in the
state of Maine, and at one point, you know, I was sick and tired
of being the guinea pig, Iwanted to be the boss man, so I
struck out on my own to go getsome hounds.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Okay, yeah, no, that makes sense.
You learned the ropes andfigured you're ready to go.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
That's right.
And I tell you what the firstman, dale Cole he's a Cole Cat
Hounds he told me.
He said listen, buddy, he saysyou cannot build a pack
overnight.
And he is true, because I'm 12years 11, on my 12th year into
it now, and first few years Iwas working with my brother and
(03:44):
a few of his dogs and I got myown dogs, but I still, to this
day, don't have a good pack.
We can get it done, but it'stough.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I mean, at least you can admit that, cause I'm sure I
know, and I'm sure you do know,lots of guys that think they
have a great pack and everyonearound them knows they
definitely don't.
So at least you're honest aboutit and you know that you're
working on it that's right.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
We can always improve , you know.
You know my dogs do greattogether, but you know that's
what we work on is trying to get, uh, get each dog to do its own
little trick to, at the end ofthe day, get what we're looking
for.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
So yeah, but I mean, you've seen your pictures and
taken some great cats and bearsas well, so you know something's
working.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, I know my knack is getting into.
You know, cat hunting that'swhere I started.
I wanted to be a cat hunter andI went from cat hunting to oh
crap.
You know we can only run cat afew times a year.
You know, a few months a year.
We got to hunt these dogs, youknow they can't sit on the chain
.
So we started bear hunting, youknow, and trying to find a good
dog.
That did both.
You know it's tough, it's verytough.
(04:49):
A lot of cat hunters say youshould never run a bear with a
cat dog.
You know I learned that now,and some of my best cat dogs.
I don't really run on bear thatmuch, so there's a lot to it.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Okay, yeah, well, I mean they say that if your dog
can tree a bobcat, it can treeabout anything in North America.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
That's what they do say, you know, and it's tough,
especially in Maine.
You know, it's just, it's theunderbrush it's.
You know, we've tried dogs fromdown south that are amazing cat
dogs and you bring them up hereand they don't even know what
day it is, you know.
Yeah, well, I've heard thatMaine it's the toughest bobcats
(05:29):
to hunt.
Rumor has it are in Maine.
Yeah, and I think, and I don'tthink I know cat in general.
It's a cat, you know they're asmart animal but it's.
You know Maine has the bogs,they have the alder swamps, they
have the cedar curls, they havethe spruce swamps and they
don't have these big trees thatyou know.
A cat can just run this openspot and he's got no place to go
.
He drives up a big tree.
You know we don't have that.
So when I first started, uh, samnatoli, he's a really good,
(05:51):
well-known, you know, podcastguy and whatnot and there and
cat hunter in the state of maine.
He's proven himself over thelast 60 years.
You know he's, he's my mentor.
He's become like a secondfather to me, um, but he always
told me he said, you know, blake, he said you're only going to
treat about one out of eightcats, and that's right.
You know I got buddies thatthey treat cats every day.
Down south they treat catsevery day in British Columbia.
(06:14):
They treat cats consistently.
You know, and here in Maine wejust don't do it.
Our dogs catch them on theground and they bay them up in
rock piles.
Or you know, our dogs catchthem on the ground and they bay
them up in rock piles.
Or you know, first thick holesin the fir trees or all the
swamps, or out on beaver ponds.
You know we just don't drivethem up the trees.
So it's a big difference.
(06:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Oh, yeah, that's cool that Sam's been your mentor,
because I'm a big fan of him,watched his YouTube videos and
all that, and, yeah, he'sdefinitely a well-known and
respected houndsman, so greatmentor.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yep, oh yeah, he's a great guy.
I bought my first dog.
Well, I went and bought threedogs one day and I bought them
off our young guy that he hadn'thad much time.
I bought a dog for 250 bucksoff him.
And I went to Sam, and you knowthat same day in Waterville
area and I bought a dog namedBella off him and you know he
didn't bullshit.
(07:08):
He said you know, I want threegrand for this dog.
This is what it's going to do.
And he told me exactly whatit's going to do.
And you know, since then I'vesold dogs and I try to do the
same thing.
You know, if I'm going to sella dog, I'm going to tell the guy
exactly what I think it is.
There's a lot of guys out therethat bull crap and for a young
guy it's just tough to getstarted.
I was four years before I hadmy first litter.
(07:29):
I got hooked up with some ofthe best guys.
You got Paul Laney.
Most of my dogs I bred withPaul.
We got some good bear dogs.
They weren't very good cat dogs, but just a learning curve.
I got hooked up with Dale.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Cole and Heedy Vanderkamp just a learning curve
.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Uh, I got hooked up with uh Dale Cole and he even
under camp.
I got Cole's national cat hound, a blue dog, you know, a bread
ham to that first uh, $250 dog Igot.
That was no good and she turnedout to be one of my best dogs
I've ever had and she probablystill will be, you know, and
throughout my life.
But uh, we also got, you know,I hooked up with Danny Luke.
I run a lot of plots and he'swell-known, carries the Dwayne
(08:07):
Smith plot line and we got somepretty aggressive dogs, you know
.
But like I said, at the end ofthe day I'm still working on my
pack.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
You cannot build it overnight, right, yeah, and
Vandekamp, he's up in BritishColumbia, isn't he?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yep, yeah, yeah, great dog British Columbia isn't
he?
Yep, yeah, yeah, great dog hestarted carrying that Dale Cole
line off his sport match thatDale had created over you know
100-year cat dogs and you knowthey've proven.
So it's a proven line,world-renowned.
I took the chance and of courseduring COVID I said to Hedy,
(08:43):
you know I want this dog, hedyand a guy named Bruce Haig in
British Columbia.
They had this litter of pupsand I said I want a dog and he
sent me pictures.
I picked out which one I wantand sure as in shit the airlines
wouldn't allow you to fly dogs.
So by the times I got my dog hewas eight months old and I
picked him out at eight weeksold.
(09:04):
So by the times I got my dog hewas eight months old and I
picked him out at eight weeksold.
Yeah, but I, luckily I had a guy, um, uh, steve um, the plot guy
made it major plot guy.
He's lately passed, but SteveMoore, he um, he knew he had
some connections and we got thisdog shipped on a truck from uh
out west British Columbia allthe way to Kittery, maine.
I went and met him at his truckstop and by far you know, as
(09:30):
far as cat dog goes, and SamNatoli has another one named
Ranger.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
I was going to ask that yeah, he's from BC.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
My dog's a brother to his, just through a different
litter same mom and dad.
But I tell you what you knowthey're good cat dogs.
The only ones I know that areany better than that is the
stuff that Tim Berry bred out.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Yeah, because that's what I thought that Sam had
watching his YouTube video stuffthat Ranger was from up in
British Columbia, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:59):
No, you know, it's been a good thing.
You know, jackson, obviouslythat's what we're going to talk
about here a little bit, and thestories of the bear and all
that stuff.
But you know, jackson, he was,he started out just like me, you
know, and we started huntingtogether and um, there wasn't
many.
As a cat hunter goes, you know,there's always coyotes.
A lot of guys will team up andgo cry on, and when it comes to
(10:21):
cat, you, you really don't get alot of houndsmen that will team
up with your cat huntingbecause there's just not a lot
of them.
You don't want to show it'slike deer hunting.
You don't want to show everyoneyour best spot.
But Jackson, he was right therewith me and I would show that
kid my best spot and I couldtrust him.
(10:41):
If I wasn't hunting that day,I'd send him into a spot where I
thought he could find a cat anduh, I respected him for that
because he respected me, youknow, and if I, if I was going
hunting that next day, he'd makedamn sure he was going to stay
clear of me.
So we kind of hit it off prettygood that way and uh, excuse me
, it went into our bear hunting,uh, where the story's gonna go
(11:04):
here a little bit more, but youknow, he's a respectful guy.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Yeah, yeah.
I was fortunate enough, like Isaid last fall, with my buddy,
Michael Germanis with Good OldBoys Guide Service.
He's friends with Jackson.
We went down and I got to spendthe day with him and see his
plots.
He had some nice young onesthere that were doing quite well
and after spending 14 hourswith the guy in the main woods
running around, you know he getsto know him a little bit and,
(11:29):
yeah, he's a great guy.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, great guy.
Like I said, he's just likeevery other houndsman.
You know that he's trying toget started.
This last year he bred hisfirst pack of dogs.
He was very excited, you know.
They were running about seven,eight months old right now.
He was damn excited for thisyear to try to get them going
and you know that's a bigachievement as a houseman is to
to to do your first litter,because you really, you know you
(11:55):
got to put two and two together.
You got to pick a good dog.
Or you know, maybe you mighthave two good dogs but you got
to pick a dog that you think canmake a litter with your best
dog.
To try to, you know, get whatyou want.
You know I always heard theexpression you know breed, breed
what you hunt, hunt what youbreed.
You know, at the end of the day, it isn't about the killing as
(12:15):
a houndsman, it's about, youknow, seeing your dogs
accomplish your goals by puttingin all the hard work that you
do throughout the season.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
And I find that anyone that isa true handsman is.
We all have that in common.
You know it's all about thedogs, the, the killings, just a
bonus here and there If you evenwant to do that.
You know it's.
It's all about the hands, yep.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, it's a lot to it, but, uh, you know, something
we enjoy and something we take,uh, we take for granted.
You know, appreciate being ableto do it, because to me there's
nothing like a good old.
I'm a I, I like my bear hunting, but there's nothing like a
good old cat hunt.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Yeah, it's just, uh, so difficult.
I know I've, uh, yeah, had somehard time doing it here in New
Brunswick with, uh, with myhounds, but, um, I'm excited to
hear the story.
Blake, you know, I came acrosspart of the story that you wrote
up about the bear hunt withJackson that we're going to talk
about, and I saw this massivebeast of a bear and, uh, you
(13:15):
know, I'm excited to hear thestory right from you about how
it, uh, how it all went down.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Yeah, no, I'm glad we glad we like to share it.
Uh, in respect of you know,jackson, and and and do of all
the other guides in the areathat you know, maybe they'll get
on here and listen to this andyou know, and it can give back
the memories of you know, alltheir times that they
encountered with this bear, anduh it was a bear they're
definitely famous're definitelyfamous.
I can sit here and list off guysthat have had this bear on
(13:49):
camera, but that can go onforever, because we've got a lot
of guys around here that dostand hunts and this bear was
always lurking around for thelast 15 or 20 years.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, that's crazy Smart, really smart bear.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Well, we'll get into it.
Like I said, it all startedback in 2011.
We were at my parents' househaving dinner there one night my
mom and dad they always show usmy mom liked feeding the bears
there during the bear season andshe happened to have this bear
on camera and had one eye and Isaid, damn, you know, I've seen
(14:30):
a lot of bears, but I've neverseen a bear with one eye like
that.
He was a big one.
And so a few days passed by andI just recently lost my
grandfather to a.
He passed away of cancer thereand we had this smart idea to
play, do a Ouija board one night.
(14:50):
And we're sitting there with mybrother, his wife and a whole
family.
There's a whole bunch of us andthis part, the story, I really
didn't include in.
Sorry you read, but, like Isaid, there's a lot more back
stories, so I'm going to tellthe whole thing and then for
sure.
So we did a Ouija board out onenight.
(15:11):
We're sitting there at thehouse, we do the thing.
I'd never done it before.
I thought it was all you know,whatever.
I didn't really believe in itand fair enough spirit came
across the board is what?
One of the ladies that wasthere doing.
It said and it spelt out allthese things it said Jacob, and
(15:34):
it referred to itself as being aspirit of a one-eyed bear, and
it was kind of weird to me thatmy mom, just prior to two days,
had had a one-eyed bear on theirproperty, you know, 500 yards
up behind their house, and soforth and so on.
So this I don't think I'm crazy.
A lot of people have heard thisstory.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So I like it.
It's entertaining.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
It's a.
It goes on and on.
You know we're playing thething we're doing, the doing the
board there, and you know it.
It told my mother.
You know we're playing thething we're doing the doing the
board there, and you know it.
It told my mother.
You know, uh, on the board itspelt out that it was a, uh, it
was an indian fellow back a longtime ago this is the moral of
the story that had been um,killed by the white men and and
(16:20):
left on side of the road outthere in blackwoods and
cherryfield to just die.
Left on the side of the roadout there in Blackwoods and
Cherryfield to just die, andinstead it had been reincarnated
into a one-eyed bear namedJacob.
So my mom you know being kindof eerie of it told my brother
the next day.
(16:40):
You know this bear wanted to bekilled and given a proper
burial.
I didn't want to be buried andI told my brother.
I said, all right, mom, we'regoing to go find this bear.
I said you guys are crazy.
So they went out looking and mybrother was in Moosehead the
first night.
We played at Ice Fishing and sowhen he came back they went out
(17:02):
looking for this bear.
No joke that next night we wentto my mom and dad's.
We did the thing sure enough,said that they were so close
they could hear them breathingand um, I did an article in the
vanguard daily and I I kindlyspoke a little bit about this.
If you look it up in there,you'll be able to see the story
(17:23):
too, as well as the story that Iwrote for the boone and crocker
book as far as detail goes.
So they went out looking andyou know they didn't find
nothing whatever.
My mom was kind of skeptical soshe burnt some sage in the
house and she's like I got toget out of this.
She's like this thing's goingto eat me up.
So fast forward a few yearslater we never really thought
(17:43):
nothing more of it and I startedgetting into hound hunting and
baiting and all that stuff, andfriends of mine, jason Strout
and Matt Tienen, had put a baitover in Township 16.
And sure enough a one-eyed bearshowed up.
I think it was 450, 500 poundsat that time.
And a few stories go by DanCurtis, another guy you know he
(18:09):
had hunters that he had thisbear on camera and a couple of
his helpers.
You know a few neighbors in thearea had this bear on camera
and he's running a stretch ofwoods probably 15 miles long up
and down the Naragüez River, andso they turned out on him with
dogs.
I was there many days in.
(18:29):
This bear would always show upfour o'clock in the morning and
sure enough, around 5, 5, 30,just before we got there, a
little bear would cover him up.
You know, we put the dogs out.
Guess what?
We treated an 80 pound bear.
The bear always got away.
So, um, matt, jason kind ofmatt went into being a game
(18:51):
warden.
Jason got busy with the family.
They kind of gave up theirbaits.
So a couple years later now Itook over their baits in the 16.
I was a good friend.
They gave me some of theirbaits and I put a bait out.
Sure enough, boom, one-eyedbear.
He's still there a couple yearslater.
And I had a client one day.
It was a client of Dan Curtis'Rob Turner is his name, from
(19:15):
Carmel, and he said we met inthe morning.
I'd never met the guy before inmy life and he says I've hunted
with Dan quite a bit.
He says any chance we couldkill a one-eyed bear?
I said I mean just so happens.
Uh, rob, I said I got thisbear's been on camera so he
(19:35):
hadn't been on the bait sharefor a couple days.
Rob and his wife came down wetried to, you know, turn out on
this bear.
He showed up.
Nothing couldn't get him toalways get on a small bear we
actually treated and two cubsthat morning.
And so a few more years passedby.
We never got him.
I'm out in November one yearKind of similar area close to
(19:58):
the right on the bank of theNarragugas.
I put some deer cameras out.
I go back and I found a newspot I was going to try to bow
hunt in.
I look at my camera it'sNovember, sure enough, one-eyed
bear.
So I mean the bear was.
I feel like he was following mearound, yeah, from the shadows.
And you know, in this meantimeJackson, he was young, you know,
(20:20):
and once in a while he'd tagalong with Matt and Jason and me
.
You know bear hunting.
So he got to know this bear too, and it was last fast forward
into two years ago.
I got some land down on 193,just west of the Naragawagas,
and I put a bait out and this isprobably 12 miles south of
(20:42):
where we normally would see theone-eyed bear and I put a bait
out up.
Three days later I get apicture.
Here he is.
He's sitting down, paws rightin the barrel.
I said, man, this bear isreally.
I gotta get this bear, I gotta,I gotta kill this thing.
And he's following me aroundlike a shadow.
(21:04):
Yeah and uh, we put out on him.
Dogs take him off and they'reon him.
They jump him 80 yards off.
The bait bear gets in, uh,wholesome brook, swims down my.
My old man says uh, you knowlike the bear's coming to the
road.
I said you know, let's, let'sget him right here.
What happened?
The bear jumps in the brook,swims directly down underneath
(21:26):
the bridge, gets away from thedogs.
My dad's trying to stop cars,you know, on the main road we
got all our hounds coming to theroad.
Bear swims right by, gets awayand I said damn.
I said I've driven this bearout of the country.
He's not going to come back tothe bait.
So I move a bait, I put it upthe road over on that side where
(21:48):
he went.
About a week later we'd beenhunting all morning, got nothing
.
Nine o'clock in the oh sorry,two o'clock in the afternoon.
Look at my camera, my touch cam, the bear, one of our bears on
the bait.
Take, the dogs had it plannedout literally minutes.
The bear just walked off.
(22:13):
I dumped our dogs, dogs, chase,no, hit right off, go across
the river, treed right up, sawthey said hey, this is the day,
yeah, we have to drive like 13miles all the way around the
edge of the river back down theother other side, get over there
.
I said this ain't good.
This, this thing is.
You know, this thing's on ourhit list.
Now he's pulling all thesegames.
(22:35):
So we never did get him thatyear.
Last year Jackson had first yearthat Jackson really got his own
dates and he put pretty muchacross the river from the last
time that I'd encountered thisbear and he kind of kept it a
secret from me there for alittle while and I had lost the
baits into the Township 16 therewhere we'd lost because the
(22:58):
landowner had sold to NatureConservatory.
And so he puts a bait out downthere on the Salmon Federation
land and it was maybe a coupledays before the season and he
texts me.
He says Blake.
He says I got this one-eyedbear that's been on my bait
every day one eye.
He says I can't wait foropening hound season.
(23:20):
He says we're going to team upand kill this bear.
I said yeah, that sounds good.
Well, in the meantime I hadsome guys from Wisconsin coming
to do a little bit of standhunting.
Before we got into houndhunting there I had asked a
private landowner that ownedsome small acreage up there to
put a bait on.
I'd never had a bait therebefore and it was, like I said,
(23:41):
it was three or four miles northof where Jackson had this bear.
So I wasn't interfering withhim, I didn't think and sure
enough, put the bait out.
We're up there one day ridingaround baiting and my buddy goes
in and he says Blake, he saidthat bait's cleaned out.
I said shit.
I said let's put a camera on it.
So we put a camera on it andJackson at the same time
(24:04):
messaged me.
He says Blake.
Me.
He says Blake, this bear hasbeen gone off my bait for three
days, I jokingly said.
I said, ah, he's following mearound like a shadow.
I said I bet he's on this bait.
I just put out up here.
He said oh, probably.
He said, knowing your luck,whatever.
And next night, you know, I wasanxious to go check that camera
.
So I went right back in the nextmorning, baited it, I filled it
right full 55 gallon drum and,sure enough, there he was, one
(24:28):
hour again.
And I said nice.
And so I messaged theseWisconsin guys, the Serpent
Firearms I don't know if you'veever heard of them.
They're an air gun company.
They were coming to do a trial.
The air gun a young boy.
I said you know, I'm going toput him on this bait, hopefully
he kills this bear.
And uh, so they sat all weeklong.
(24:48):
Never see the dang thing.
And he'd been there for acouple days.
So goes by.
You know jackson's discouraged,I'm discouraged.
So we, you know we gotta getthis bear.
And I just recently taken on aproject for the salmon
federation putting a you know abottomless culvert in a
time-sensitive spawning brookfor the Atlantic salmon, and we
(25:11):
only had a couple days to getthe job done.
So I was when I wake up to goto work I always look at my
cameras.
It's right in the middle ofhound season We'd had a few
hounds Stanhurst come, a fewclients already tag out on
hounds.
It was a little bit later inthe season there and I said I
got to get this job done.
So I'm going to work.
(25:31):
I look at my phone you know sixsomething in the morning.
Sure enough, one eye.
He's right on the bait.
I said I can't do it, I can't,I can't go today.
I got to work.
So I went to work next morning.
Sure enough, same thing, boom,one eye is on the bait.
I said I can't take this muchlonger.
I said but I got to get thisjob done.
So we got the job done.
That third day I said that sonof a gun is going to be on the
(25:54):
bait.
We're going hunting.
So I had my crew, I had aclient.
We're going hunting and guesswhat?
He never showed up?
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Of course not.
I can't believe the historywith this bear.
It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
Yeah, it's crazy, it's unbelievable really.
When you think about it and yougo back and listen to the story
and take it all in, I mean,there's nothing but the truth.
So we A few days passed by Ithink it was four or five days,
I can't remember the exact datehere, but I think it was around
the 27th of September.
I wasn't going to go to workthat morning.
(26:30):
I had plans to get kids andwhatnot, try to get them to
school and sure enough, I waslike 612.
I wake up late in the morningand I look at my phone's going
off, bing, bing, bing.
I'm getting things from mytacticam on my phone and turn
off.
There he was.
It's like almost daylight, Isaid.
I told my wife.
I said you get mad at me, allyou want.
(26:50):
I said I'm going hunting onthis bear.
And guess what?
It was a day that I didn't havea crew, so I was taking one for
the team.
Really, you know, you don'treally want to go hound hunting
without a crew, especially on abear that size.
A lot of things can go wrongyeah so first person I call was
jackson.
I said jackson.
I said what are you doing?
He says we're all hunting.
He says I got sick guys.
You know we're trying to.
(27:11):
I got a young kid here wants tokill a bear.
I said yep.
I said he said I just put outon a small bear and uh, he said
but they're not doing anything.
I said we'll pull the dogs.
I said and give me 30 minutes,I'll meet you right here.
And we did.
We met up there and the bearjust come off the bait.
So we got a plan I got my threebest dogs and Jackson's got his
(27:34):
three best dogs and we set up.
Sure enough, 60-80 yards off thebait we dumped the dogs and
they jumped the bear and itwasn't 15 minutes.
They put them across the roadand instantly it's just walking.
They're not running, they'rewalking, howling at this bear.
I heard Jackson looks at me.
He says Blake, he says you wantto shoot this bear.
(27:54):
I said Jackson, you know thispast and me and this bear and
everything that I've learnedabout this.
I want nothing in this world todo with this bear but to see
someone else kill it.
You know he says good enough.
He says I'll kill it.
I said sweet deal.
So yeah, bear starts loopingaround to a road and, uh, dogs
are coming right at us and Isaid let's get out in front.
(28:16):
I said if this bear crossesthis road, I said there's going
to be one or two things happen.
We're not going to get the bearbecause he's going to hit the
narragansett River and swim itand the dogs don't do good in
water, you know.
I said or two, I said one ofour they're going to bait us
bear up and our dogs are goingto get hurt.
I mean, this is a 500 poundbear.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
So when he I said this bearcomes into this road, I said you
(28:39):
dump him.
And that's exactly what he did.
So the rest is history.
We shot the bear.
You know there was eight of usthere.
We tried to load it on a truck.
Couldn't do it, just couldn'tlift this bear.
That's a holy moly.
So we got down, we got it onthe truck, we got down to the
store, realized it was one eyeas soon as he shot.
You know the kid was ecstatic.
(29:01):
You know he'd been after thisbear, everyone else had been
after this bear.
I mean it was a true legend andhim to pull the trigger on.
It really was something specialto him.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yeah, it just like I said, I can't believe the
history that you have with them.
I mean it's awesome you hearpeople go out and they get like
a nice bear, a nice buck, butyou know they didn't see it on
camera or anything and it'sstill good.
But when you have the historylike this with an animal, it
just brings so much more meaningto the hunt and the harvest.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Oh, definitely, you know, and he knew and I knew too
, if I was gonna shoot this bearit's gonna cost me.
You know, I got butcher fees, Igot I'm obviously gonna get
this thing mounted and all that.
And she pulled the trigger.
It's $5,000 at least, you know.
And Jackson knew it, he didn'tcare, he didn't give a shit and
(29:51):
uh, that that was what made itfine he's.
You know, this thing's going onthe wall.
I said Jackson, what are yougoing to do with all this bear
meat?
He said you know what?
He said I got a lot of people.
He said I'll give it.
I'll give it.
He says we'll get rid of thisthing.
So we did.
We got it all cut up.
We got down to the store toweigh it down there and, uh,
actually my shop and my scaleswere broke.
I couldn't weigh it.
We looked for like two hourstrying to get this thing weighed
(30:13):
and, sure enough, we threw iton the scales at 506 pounds and
um had all we could do to liftit down here at the local store.
He had just put some scales upfor the youth deer hunt that was
coming up and uh, we aboutruined his scales trying to
weigh this bear and we got itput on and weighed and, like I
(30:35):
said, 506 pounds and it wassomething it was definitely
something to be proud of.
Uh, all of us, you know jointeffort, everyone that was on the
hunt that day uh, jackson, weended up getting it, took it to
the butcher, got it scone out,took it to the taxidermist, uh,
ryan Rhodes, uh, north roadstaxidermy, he had this, he has a
bear.
Uh, and Jackson, jackson wasgoing to get a three quarter
(30:57):
mount um, charging three quartermount done.
You know it was pretty, it willbe a pretty impressive bear.
But so, you know, Boone andCrockett's getting ready to come
out the main skull, and antlerand Jackson, you know he's a
working man and he didn't reallyhave time to do this paperwork
(31:17):
stuff.
And I can vouch the same formyself.
You know, I think I've shot, Ithink, eight bucks, over 200
pounds, some nice ones, and Idon't have a single pass to show
for it, because I never want tofill the damn paperwork out.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
So he's kind of the same way, he's always busy and
he went off to Gloucester,scotland, and ended up losing
his life down there not shortly,shortly after all this took
place, uh, to a tragic accidentand um, so this is where the
story really, you know, got outto the public, uh, just sharing
(31:53):
some of these memories of theman he was and the uh, you know,
just trying to keep the happythoughts with his family during
these difficult times.
So I, I was asked by a friendof ours, dana Austin, all those
wives, he's state police, he, hesaid, hey, you know, he'd known
that Jackson and this bear hadmade Boone and Crockett.
(32:16):
You know, to make Boone andCrockett and anything you shoot,
you know that's an achievementin itself, let alone named skull
and antler.
You know that's a bigachievement.
But Boone and Crockett, that'sanother category and it doesn't
happen very often.
No, no.
So I'm pretty sure there's onlylike 60, 65 bear in the whole
state of Maine that's everreached that milestone, and to
(32:39):
have one of them, you know it'sa pretty big achievement.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
It's impressive, yeah , I mean you think about how
many bear have been harvestedthere every year for all these
years, and to be able to be oneof those people to have a bear
in the Boone and Crockett, Imean, yeah, it's a, yeah, huge
accomplishment.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Yep, definitely so.
No, I put together a quickstory there.
I didn't include a lot of thestuff we're talking about here
tonight, just because you knowthere's a lot of people reading
it and I didn't want to keep itkind of short and sweet.
But, um, I'd like you reachedout to me to share this story.
I figured I'd just telleverything you know.
I've told the story to a lot ofpeople.
A lot of people know thehistory on it, history you know
(33:27):
not how many people can focus ona single bear, for you know 15
years, and I can't wait for theage report, for the state to
come out.
You know to.
So we can, you know, seeexactly how old this beast was.
Speaker 1 (33:33):
Yeah, well, yeah, I know, that's just yeah.
Like I said, as soon as I readthat, I'm like boy, that's a,
that's a good story.
And you know, I knew Jacksonand then, um, yeah, that's when
I thought yeah, I'd reach out toyou and and, uh, I'm glad I did
, cause, uh, that was yeah, thatwas good, it was a great story.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
I mean it's you know a lot of people go out west or
go on hunting trips and you knowthey should have deer they've
never even seen.
You know, and this one is istotally different.
You know it's not just me asmany other outfitters,
homeowners, you know land ownersthat.
You know people just deerhunting that said that thing was
on my camera.
(34:10):
I know that bear and it was notmany.
You know it wasn't just the oneeye that was distinctive.
You know both of his ears ontop was completely ripped off.
So I mean he had a lot ofcharacteristics that you're not
just going to see in every bear.
You know he he had the one eye,he had the missing.
You know three-quarters of oneear gone, a half of an ear of
another ear gone.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
So he was easily marked and you could pick him
out like a sore thumb, you knowWell, yeah, I mean just the fact
that how many hound hunters arearound Maine and you know bait
hunters and all that, and thefact that a bear of that size
could evade everybody for thatlong it's incredible really.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yeah, no, I mean just for you know, thinking real
quick, I mean this bear hadprobably been chased at least a
dozen times by not only myhounds but Matt and Jason's and
a few of the other guys that arearound, and you know he did
evade them and a few of theother guys that are around and
you know he did evade them.
And let alone the multiplepre-stand hunting guides that
(35:11):
you know offer stand hunts overbait.
I mean there's a lot of them inthe area.
I mean just in that few squaremiles, there's hundreds of baits
that this bear, you know, wastending and he just he never
messed up, never messed up.
But his time was coming and hedid mess up the morning that we
found him.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
It just definitely a new respect for black bears, I
guess you know, knowing thatthey, some of them really are
that smart.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
Yeah, and it's crazy, you know.
You know the bear hit theground.
I always go over and I look atthe bear, I check them all out
and for a bear of that age,knowing how old he was, I mean
he was a perfect, healthy bear.
Camera hit it.
It had no pigment or somethingin it to reflect the light from
(36:04):
the camera, um, but you know,his ears were gone, but his
teeth were healthy, his clawswere healthy, I mean the bear
was fat, I mean.
But you know that also showssomething good for the area.
We got a lot of feed and, youknow, keeping these bears
healthy and hopefully years tocome have plenty of bears to
harvest.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
So yeah, yeah, I mean , obviously the area uh is prime
to be able to grow an animalthat old and that large.
Speaker 2 (36:29):
Yeah, 100%.
Like I said, you know he was alegend and the kid who got the
chance to harvest this bear.
I consider him a legend too.
You know he's a good man,well-known in the community, and
he lost his wife at 26 yearsold and left behind his wife,
girlfriend sorry, and a littlebaby girl and another one on the
(36:52):
way.
So pretty tragic end to thestory, which I don't really like
to talk about.
But I wanted to honor him andhis achievements and I'm glad to
be able to share it with himand multiple other people.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Well, I mean, thanks to you, blake, this podcast has
got a pretty good reach now and,yeah, a lot of people are going
to get to hear this story andabout Jackson.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Yeah, no, I like what you do.
I started getting big in thepodcast there a few years back
when they started really gettingout there, and I listened to a
lot of the W?
Uh, you know podcast and howblood he's another one.
I've listened to a lot of howblood stories Um and uh continue
.
I'm glad you reached out, causeI'd like to listen to some of
your stuff as well too, so I wasglad to be a part of it.
(37:41):
And, uh, if you got anythingelse or we chat a little bit
more, let her rip, yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
Well, uh, I want to talk to you a bit after this,
but, um, you know, for thisstory, I mean, I can't thank you
enough for coming on and Ireally appreciate it, and, uh,
you can tell a good story.
You kept me, kept me on theedge of my seat, it was, uh, it
was good and uh yeah my wife.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
My wife always tells me I take after my grandfather.
He's a hell of a storyteller.
But I try, I try.
But you know, a lot of storiesaren't true, you hear.
But this one right here is fromthe heart and everything about
it's true and I'm glad to shareit with you.
Know, everyone, you know, justbecause it it gives another name
for what hunting.
You know it's more than thekilling it is it's more.
You know there's a lot involvedwith it and a lot of memories
(38:26):
made and you know, I hope a lotof people you know look at it as
that and not just you know, hey, we're out there killing bears
with dogs and we're doing thisand we're doing that.
You know this bear, you know hewas harvested.
He's going to be a trophy forthis, this young gentleman, but
he also fed many people.
You know we created stories,memories that will last forever.
(38:47):
You know it's our tradition andwe got a fight to keep keep it
going.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
So yeah, you know it's, it's a, it's a passion to
hopefully keep carrying on formany generations yet no, I thank
you for letting me be a part ofit sure, anytime thanks.
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