The bell rang for everyone to congregate in the bar (I think most of us were there anyway) and Rob introduced the staff and gave a safety talk before dinner. With the safety matters covered, it was time to have dinner. We would be meeting and dining with our guides. There was also some paperwork needing some blanks filled in and John Hancock’s attached. Once completed, we picked up our dinner plates. Dinner itself was a little unusual but after an explanation made a little more sense. Dinner was a BBQ plate. Not that I don’t like BBQ, I love the stuff. It is just not what I expected on the first night of an expensive hunt. I found out later the BBQ came from the local high school’s fundraiser. Cool. Supporting local causes is near and dear to my heart and I commend Dare to Hyde for doing so. Our guides gave us the actual hunting information talk and schedule over dinner. I would be hunting with Josh, and Doug would be hunting with his own guide, Zack.
Both gentlemen were young and assured us we would be on bears, big bears, in no time. The hunt was Doug’s idea and I decided he would get first shot. He wanted a really big bear. I was after a large bear myself, with one caveat. I wanted him to be old as well. Finding a bear meeting both criteria would take a little more effort, but that did not bother me in the least. Information given, supper consumed and 4:00 wakeup call necessary, we decided not to dally over dinner. There was a long day behind us and gear to prepare so it was back to the room.
