Well, the Pack came through last night. Beating the Bears in dramatic fashion. Rogers shows he can finish, the defense pics 4, all around a bad night for the Bears.
My night was no different!!! 
Here’s the recap of the final chapter in my first WI bear hunt… My first bear harvest, and quite the sense of accomplishment to have done it on my own, one bait site, the bears and me.
I started baiting Sept 2. Bear down Sept 13. Awesome! My bait was getting hit really well to start with, then it really died for a few days. I hunted the opener (Sept 9) and didn’t see a thing. Camera was getting zero pics. Deflating. I got back out Saturday (the 12th) and rebaited with a small amount of food and a “super secret” homemade scent attractant. 
The family went to Cabelas/In-laws house in MN this weekend, and we got back to EC about 5pm Sunday night. I was deciding between watching the season opener (Packers Bears game) or go hunting. The bait hadn’t been getting hit as of Saturday am, which was the main reason for my waffling. I knew that the bears really came in to the bait hard last time I put out “the super secret bait”, so I decided to hunt. I knew I couldn’t kill one in front of the TV! I got out there a little before 6pm. Warm night, very little breeze, partly cloudy. Around 80 degrees, which had me sweating pretty good once I got setup in the treestand.
Everything happened quickly. I was still deciding what headnet would work best to keep the mosquitos at bay and had only been in the stand less than 10 minutes. Just then, I heard something waking through the brush and getting closer. I looked up and saw a big black form slowly making its way into the baitpile. Finally a bear!! He walked slowly and cautiously, stopped to scent the area, check out my trail camera, check out the bait, smell/lick the ferns near the bait (that I loaded up with my super secret bear attractant) and finally headed back to the dinner table. He made it to about 5 yards from the base of my tree at the closest, and kept glancing up at me. I don’t think he knew what I was, and was never alarmed… Just cautious. Once he got back to the bait, I looked him over a little more. Initially, I thought he was quite small. Maybe a big cub even. But since no other bears were coming in to the bait with him, and after getting a better/longer look, he started to look bigger than I initially thought. Due to time constraints, family commitments, and this being my first potential bear kill, I had decided earlier in the year that I would take the first good bear that gave me a shot. I knew he wasn’t a giant, but I was ready to get a bear under my belt before my Newfoundland bear bow trip next June. I also knew he was well over the minimum WI length for a legal bear, so I decided that now was the time. I pulled up the .30-06 and put the crosshairs behind the front shoulder. At the shot, the bear made a lout WOOF and spun around quickly. He crashed in a semicircle through the brush around the baitpile until he hit the trail. The crashing abruptly stopped, I heard a few “death moans” and that was it, over in just a few seconds. He went just 8 straight line yards. I sat there for another two or three minutes, and then started to get down since I knew he was laying less than 25 yards from the tree. I was starting to take down my tree stand, and I heard some more crashing. Was the bear moving??? No, it was something else… Here I stand, halfway down the tree with the treestand in one hand and hugging the tree with my other (safety belt still strapped onto the tree). I sat there for a few minutes just to watch what would happen. It was hard to tell through the brush, but I did see at least two more bears coming in. I think they got right up to their fallen comrade on the trail and sniffed him a bit. I didn’t know if they would come much further or not (which would have been cool to see), but I decided to get to work before it got dark. I gave a few shouts and let my treestand drop to the ground. They backed off, but not more than 15 yards. Another few shouts to their attention again, and the left for good. It sure was something to have a bear come in and offer a shot within 10 minutes of getting on stand, and then have 2 or more bears also come in not 5 minutes after shooting the first one. They must not have been very concerned with the gunshot noise. Once I got down to him, I actually found out he was bigger than what I had thought. Still not a huge bear, he went around 200 lbs and I had to put in some effort to drag him into the open. I later found him to be 160 lbs dressed on my hanging scale, so 200 lbs live weight should be a fairly close estimate. Nice coat, real nice thick head… A real trophy as my first bear for sure!
I got him registered and home by 8pm or so. Got to skinning him, which went better than expected, and tubed out the pelt nicely. I’ll take him to the taxidermist on Tusday. Not exactly sure what I’ll have done with him, but it will be quite the memory for me regardless. The butchering didn’t take too long, and I had the meat in the freezer by 11:30 or so. I loaded the trailcam and “hero” pics onto my computer, and now I get to sit back and enjoy the memory of the hunt!
It is certainly bittersweet. I really didn’t expect to miss bear hunting this much after the harvest. My season was so short (Sept 2-13), that I didn’t hunt that much. (Only twice!) My first sit was a dissapointing 5 hour-no-bear-80-degree-sweatfest, and my second sit was 10 minutes. I went from pre-season highs with lots of bear pics, to opening day lows back to harvest highs in very short order. Such an exciting hunt, I will definately miss baiting, trail pics, and bearstand sits the rest of the month. It was always neat to have that unknown feeling until the next time you get out to check the cameras… Is the bait hit? Any big ones? How many? During the day? What time exactly? I am thankful for the free time that I’ll now have to spend bowhunting deer and spending time with the family, but I also realize that it will be 5 years minimum before my next WI bear hunt. What a hunt, a great tradition, quite the learning experience, and a huge sense of accomplishment to do this on my own. Huge thanks to the landowner for the opportunity as my baitsite was on private land. Thanks also to all of those who have helped me in various ways – family support, my wife watching the kids while I go “play”, those who offered advice, tips, tricks, etc, those who helped me hunt the private land/meet the landowner, etc..
What a great hunt!
Mike
Edit – That second pic is the bear I shot, about 30 seconds prior to taking the bullet. Now that I know how big he was, I have been looking back and realize there were some much bigger bears around. Neat to get a for sure weight on a known bear for comparison purposes!
Great story and a really nice bear! 
