I have been waiting patiently for eight years to get my Wisconsin bear tag. With a busy schedule at work getting in the way, I’ve been sending in for a preference point only the last few years. I decided last fall that this would be the year to try for a kill tag. I had more preference points than most of my family but they were getting enough points accrued where we could have possibly ended up with three kill tags in the same season. That wouldn’t be the end of the world but it’s just too much work for my dad who would be doing the majority of the baiting.
While season was closing in, we had all of our baits producing good numbers of bears and quite a few baits had some good bears hitting consistent during daylight. In northern Wisconsin, hunters who use dogs and bait sitters rotate seasons. This year the dog runners get to hunt a week before the sitters. I knew this before applying for a tag and I never really felt it would be a big change in my game plan. We kept our baits close to main highways, county roads, and towns. Three things dog hunters don’t like to deal with. I feel it keeps us from competing with a majority of the runners.
Of course, as soon as everything starts to fall in place, we were thrown a curve ball. With the wet summer, there was a bumper crop of raspberries, black berries, acorns, apples, corn, and choke cherries. None of which help anyone trying to bait a bear. Most of the food sources mentioned seemed to ripen just before season or during season. All my baits kept getting hit, but they slowly started turning nocturnal and eating less bait. Many times, the bait would not be completely eaten. We even cut back on the amount of bait in hopes of having the bears compete with each other for the sweets.
The most promising bait had the biggest bear and it was consistently coming in an hour or two before sun set. Three days before season he started coming in a half hour before the end of shooting light. It was obvious he was either filling up on acorns, corn, or had found someone else’s bait.
I was able to take off the first day of season with high hopes of filling my tag right away. I was in the tree by 8:30am and sat until dark with no bear sightings. I was back in the tree on Saturday bright and early. The day flew by as I watched a doe and her fawn munch on acorns directly below me.
As the sun went down and the deer moved off I caught a glimpse of a bear circling down wind of me. After a few minutes it walked in smelling the ground around the bait. It smelled every trail to the bait to see who/what else has visited recently. After five minutes or so, it settled down and ate every cookie, sugar cone, and granola we had to offer. Next it moved to the acorns the deer hadn’t eaten yet. I watched it feed directly below me until dark. At one point it actually smelled my climbing sticks and stood up on the tree. It bounced against the tree and “woofed” at me a few times before it was satisfied that I was no threat and must be part of the tree. I was doing my best to angle the camera straight down and catch it all on film but it was so close I couldn’t get the camera on it. By this point you’re probably wondering why I wasn’t shooting. Well looking back, I probably should have. It was a really nice bear, I had the camera on and recording the second I saw it, and I had my bow with me with lots of shooting light. I guess with the thought of the big one still fresh in my head I just couldn’t bring myself to end it so quickly. I was fully aware that this could be my only chance at a bear and I had already prepared myself for tag soup.
Sunday was a long day sitting. The rain and wind was strong and swirling so much the deer were jumping at the drop of every acorn. The only excitement was the skunk trying to figure out how to get to my bait. Right at dark I had a small bear under me eating acorns but never touch the bait.
The following Saturday, the wind was correct again so I decided to head for the same bait. Some of the other baits were producing bears all hours of the day but nothing as big as I was looking for.
When we arrived at the bait, we went through our normal routine. I headed for the stand, my dad baited, took care of the trail camera and helped me pull everything up the tree. I could see a look of confusion on his face so I asked him what was going on. He says, “There’s no card in the camera!” (For the rest of the story you will have to find my previous post).
With an tough Saturday, I followed it up with a just as agonizing Sunday. It was windy, rainy, and cold all day. I didn’t think mosquitoes liked low to mid 50 temps! I did have a bear come in during the late afternoon but it would have been lucky to hit 150 pounds soaking wet. I’m pretty sure it was the same bear eating acorns below me the Sunday before. He was the most frequent bear visiting the bait. The most fun to watch for sure.
The following Saturday I took all the advice I had been given and decided to move off the bait and try to catch them before dark. I brought my climber with me and picked out a few trees I felt I could see well enough to shoot out of. Every tree I climbed was horrible. I just couldn’t find one with some openings to shoot through. After an hour I decided just to sit in my same tree stand on the bait and just sit tight. I was mad at myself for not being more prepared. Thinking I would be sitting in a different tree, I did not bring my camera or my bow. So there I stood as still as possible, holding my gun and doing my best not to swat the million mosquitoes buzzing around my face.
Somewhere around 4:15 I caught some movement in the brush to my right about 40 yards. I swore I seen the nose and an ear of a bear. A split second later I saw the outline of its back. OK…GAME ON! It’s moving down wind. With my heart in my throat, I scanned every opening in the direction it was heading. After a half hour without another glimpse I started to think I was seeing things. At 5:20 I heard something behind and directly down wind of me. I waited a few minutes and heard nothing else. Having the trunk of the tree blocking my view, I slowly turned my head and leaned around the tree….Nothing….As I turn back I hear something walking again. I lean back again and 15 yards from me stands a good bear. All I can see is it’s rump but it was enough for me to know it was a shooter. It walked directly under me stopping to smell the rope I pulled the gun up with. Obviously, at 14 feet it was easy to see small ears, big head, round rump. While it continued to the bait I pull the gun up and settled the cross hairs between its shoulders. It paused and started to back up like it was nervous. I waited to see if it was going to circle or keep moving forward. As it started to back up for a second time, I couldn’t take it any more. I’d seen this storyboard many times deer hunting. Normally the outcome is in the animals favor. I pushed the safety off and made sure the cross hairs were exactly where they needed to be and pulled the trigger. Immediately the bear went down. After a few minutes, I gained my composure and called my dad.
It wasn’t long and I could hear the wheeler on its way. My father and my son were soon next to me hugging and all smiles. I can say without a doubt my dad has more to do with the success of my hunt that I. He’s the one who took the time daily to bait for me the last few months. I can’t thank him enough!
All said and done, I spent a little over 57 hours in the tree to harvest my dressed 298 pound sow. I wouldn’t give back a second of it. I enjoy being in the tree watching animals go about their business just as much as I like calling friends and family to tell them of my success. Heads on the wall are nice; but memories etched in my mind and written on paper are much more appealing.
October 5, 2011 at 7:45 pm
#197512
and a great read 
Very nice bear. 
