WI bear season…..

Opens for me tomorrow, baby!!!

NO doubt about it, you got some energy kid!!!

Good luck, hunt safe!!!

Mark

Good luck and be safe Mike!

Will also be out looking for a bear tomorrow. Hopefully the acorns dropping won’t raise too much havoc.

Good luck!

There was a huge bear walking around the hood in Chippewa Falls Sunday night

Awesome pics. A black with my bow is in my bucket list.

Rifle get the call for a few reasons this fall. Bow gets the nod next June in Newfoundland. Sweet!

These are good sized bears for WI, right?? The pics sure make them look very respectable.

I think they are ok sized.. WI actually has some of the biggest black bears around. Obviously we have little ones, too, but there are a number of 5-600 lbers around the area (and on the same land I am hunting). The logs (even though you can’t really see most of them) are cut to roughly 6 feet if that give you any reference. Each time I have hunted MN for bear (twice), there always seemed to be a lot of little bears around / little bears shot. I know MN has big bears, too, but there seemed to be a ton of hunters around the areas I hunted in MN (close, easy to get to areas), and I think the bears didn’t make it much past 2-4 years old before getting shot (at least in the areas I had experience with)…

I think I have pics of some 225, maybe 300 lbers if I’m real lucky. Nothing huge, I think bears always look bigger than you think. The sow is smaller, but a few of the boars are respectable. They will meet a bullet if I have anything to say about it!! Can’t wait for this afternoon to hopefully meet up with one!

Good luck. I’m very jealous. I’d love to shoot a 200+ with my bow.

These were my favorites… Note the timestamp on each photo. Based on the direction he is looking, he is actually watching me walk in to the bait site.

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These were my favorites… Note the timestamp on each photo. Based on the direction he is looking, he is actually watching me walk in to the bait site.

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He will also be waiting for you to walk out at dark.

Hope he didn’t see you bent over like that. He may try to re-inact super troopers.

I’ll have 180 grains waiting if he tries it…

Just a few minutes to go time…

Good luck, hope you get one. We could use a few less bears around. And yes there is a fair amount of 5-600lb bears around, more than people think.

Good luck and stay safe.

Nice pics and let us know how it goes.

According to the taxidermist that processed my rug two years ago, the average bear dressed is 135#’s. Assuming that is 2/3rds of the live weight it would put most average bear shot at 190-205#’s.

Another friend of mine told me that trying to guess weight from a still pic is never going to be to accurate. If you can get some video of the bear moving around it becomes somewhat easier to try to guess weight, but still difficult.

Last thing is, take a look at Gursky’s post regarding the vitals of a bear. I personally was told the best gun is a shotgun with a slug!!! Big hole in and out!!! With a bow and rifle cartridge shot placement is critical!!! Know that bears anatomy if you aren’t taking a big hole maker!!!

Picture is a bear reacting to exit of 180 grains of 30-06 passing through just a little too high from right to left.

Mark

wow!! a minutes difference, do you guys carry protection when baiting

Whittsend, if you havent got your bear yet, and want an almost sure fire shot at a 450lb plus boar let me know. Had my 3rd run in with him on saturday, and would just assume to get him out of there.

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Whittsend, if you havent got your bear yet, and want an almost sure fire shot at a 450lb plus boar let me know. Had my 3rd run in with him on saturday, and would just assume to get him out of there.

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Wow, I’d love that!!! Just a day late though…

Where are you seeing this bear? I REALLY appreciate the offer… Thats a big bear. I think I have some pics of some 400 lbers at my baitsite, but anything in that weight range is a toad. Keep him around for another 5 years or so and I’ll take you up on your offer!!

Wow, bear season was just a blast for me this year, and it all came together nicely.
Here’s the story!

Well, here is the story…

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 (the12th) and rebaited with a small amount of food and a “super secret” homemade scent attractant. The family went to Cabelas/In-laws family 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 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 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 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

….Note.. The second pic is of the bear I shot, just seconds before taking a bullet….

BTW, I’ve got about 50 gallons of bait left if anyone is interested…

Awesome, congrats!!!!

Nice job! BTW Hopefully you have this posted on IDOHUNTING as well!

Thanks!

Got it covered.

Great story and enjoy this easy one. The next may not be as easy, but that is hunting.