# Chutes Outpost - Gosenda Lodge - Report and Pics



## ChutesGoer (Jun 1, 2009)

Another great trip (my 24th) to this camp. A short 15 hour haul to Foleyet and another 30 minute flight to Pine Lake then 1.5 hours by boat. 16 guys (12 adults) and we were one case shy of 1000 pops. 

Highlights (so to speak). Day 1: Got to camp, made the necessary and usual fixes to the John Deere and hauled gear up the hill. Ate dinner and started moving boats above the chutes. After the third boat, I was heading back down the path on the tractor and see everyone standing in the yard motioning me to slow down and pointing into the tree. I assumed a bald eagle had landed and people were shooting pictures. I was wrong. There was a bear in the tree. We left, it came down out of the tree and scooted off into the bush which has happened in the past. He was scared of us intruders and would be long gone at a very good clip. 

Wrong again. Day 2: Fished the morning and came back after lunch. While cleaning fish there was a knock on the door to the fish house. We had locked it from the inside (and by locked I mean put the hook through the eye to keep the door from swinging open). We peeked around the corner to see who it was and it wasn't a who, it was a what. He was back and we got a really good look at him. He was no longer scared. We yelled, others yelled and he bounded off with the commotion once again. With the fish house now clean and fish guts hauled off we figured we were once again free. 

Wrong again. Dinner time Day 2: The bear is now circling the camp. Down to the boats (took my nephew's seat cushion out of the boat and into the woods) up the path, back door of the cabin, knocked over the burn barrel, and set up camp right at the top of the path we need to access to get to the boats. Several of the nearly 1000 pops had gone by the wayside this afternoon and there were some REALLY bad ideas on how to scare this bear off. None worse than my cousin being handed a rather large rock while the bear is on the path, him throwing said rock and narrowly missing the bears head. The bear wasn't looking when he threw the rock and the only noise it made was after it went by his head and rolled through the woods behind him. Well, this cause the bear to VERY rapidly come up our direction and 9 grown men hauling butt and trying to enter the cabin door all at the same time. It was like a bad cartoon. The guy manning the door was the only one facing the bear at this point and once he saw the bear get to the top of the path and go sharp left away from us, he acted like he was shutting the door. That is as close as there has ever been to homicide in that camp. He was laughing hysterically. We bagged fishing that night, just played cards and continued putting a dent in the near 1000 pops. Surely we'd be able to fish in the morning.

Wrong again (Sort of) Night of Day 2/Morning of Day 3 (depending on how you look at it): My uncle gets up to take a leak, a consequence of the pops, sometime between 3:30 and 4:00 am. Does his business and comes out of the bathroom and begins to yell "GET! GET OUT OF HERE BEAR!" Now, the rest of the cabin had been previously snoozing away all peaceful-like until this. My cousin then starts yelling, "SHUT YOUR DOORS! SHUT YOUR DOORS!" If any of you are wondering, this is an AWFUL way to be woken up. We are all under the impression that the bear is now in the cabin. It turns out it wasn't. He busted through the screen and had his arm in the cabin shaking a chair up and down. It didn't matter to my adrenaline system because my heart was racing and the only thing capable of calming me down was to sit down and enjoy another pop. So there we are, my brother and I waiting by the window with a fire extinguisher for the bear to come back to the window. We were going to give him one to the face if he came back. He whispers to me "I think that bear just took a *()# in the woods." Without even a chance to enjoy the irony, He said "I can smell it." Well the reason he could smell it was because it was sitting directly underneath the window he was monitoring. He tried to get the chair again but didn't show his face so we hit his arm with a chair. 

This bear is now a problem and becoming a huge pain in our butts so we radioed for a weapon to be flown in. My uncle headed down river to retrieve said weapon and returned around noon. We never saw the bear another time after the gun was in camp. We were not disappointed. After that, it was just a normal week of great fishing, great family, and great friends...and some pops. Here are few pictures from the week.


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## ChutesGoer (Jun 1, 2009)

More pics of the week.


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## uncadave (Nov 4, 2010)

Awesome story-telling, and that is some quality fish. That a public area? Rent the cabin, own, or ?


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## ChutesGoer (Jun 1, 2009)

The camp is not ours. It may as well be though. We have been paying attendees since about 1965. My Dad started going in 75 and I started going in 82.


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## uncadave (Nov 4, 2010)

Years ago, we did an Air Ivanhoe trip to Nemogosenda lake...had a cabin (and a bear, lol). Hated the lake due to limited size of walleye and pike, but a pretty neat adenture overall.

My oldest wants to do an Ely, MN trip where you "live off the land"...may take him up on that next year.


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## fishlogic (Apr 2, 2012)

Was waiting on this report =) Thanks for putting it together. 

Crazy story about that bear though, sheesh!


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