Sean Frost trapped a 638-pound bear Friday, using a Maine Bear Snare, a pipe cable restraint designed by Chris Hill.
Frost, of Skowhegan, brought the bear to Berry’s General Store in West Forks to be registered.
“We opened in 1963. I am not sure how many years we have been a tagging station, but I am assuming since my grandfather opened the store,” owner Brandon Berry said. “That’s the biggest bear we have ever had here.”
The largest bear ever tagged and recorded in Maine weighed 699 pounds live weight. It was harvested over bait in 2012.
For about a month, Frost had been baiting the bear with trail mix, Pop-Tarts and buttercream icing. But after getting only two daytime photos of the animal, he decided to try trapping it.
Hound hunting season begins Sept. 14. Trapping gave Frost an opportunity to catch the bear at night, outside the legal shooting hours that apply to a bait hunter, before hound hunters could potentially pursue it.
Instead of continuing to fill the bait barrel, he left it empty and set his pipe snare with different bait to pique the bear’s curiosity.
“This is the second bear I have had in years past with no interest in donuts, so on the third night, I switched bait to Pop-Tarts and frosting,” Frost said. “He didn’t mess around.”
The strategy worked. The bear was caught early Friday morning, before sunrise. Within a short time, Frost’s girlfriend and her son were helping drag the animal about 100 yards back to the truck.
The bear had 8 to 9 inches of fat on its hind end, according to Frost.
It was not his first big bear from the site. Three years ago, while working toward his Maine Grand Slam, he trapped a 480-pound bear from the same location.
Other styles of traps had resulted in more misses. After discovering the Maine Bear Snare, Frost watched videos, talked with people who use the traps and learned through trial and error.
