The locals were saying this was the worst winter in 40 years. This was the first time the lodge had opened this early for Bear hunters. Last year was very mild and everyone said the Bears were up and around a full two weeks earlier last year. I wanted a one with no rubs and got it but the success rate was pretty low over all. Two groups in camp, we had three hunters and the other group five. I was the only one in our group to fire a round. The other group missed several bears and managed to fill one tag. We averaged seeing two Bear per day which is much less than people report seeing later in the year.