Oh no! Something's going to interfere with my mulie season!

[Freebird134]

I got a call from a Wisconsin conservation officer this afternoon. I was selected for a learn to bear hunt program! The only problem is that it's the weekend I was supposed to drive to Idaho

In Wisconsin, you have to earn points to get a bear tag and I think it takes a while. I've never bear hunted and don't know anyone that bear hunts, so I've never applied for points. I heard about this program in the Spring and applied....and just found out! I guess it's a day of class to learn about bear hunting, then 2 full days hunting. Not positive if I'll be over bait or dogs, but either way I am stoked!!!!!

[bnsafe]

congrats, sounds like a great opportunity.

[Buglemaster]

Congrats Brandon! Choot em!

[WapitiTalk1]

You guys and them stinky old bears Best of luck to you on your blackie hunt. Sounds like a great time.

[elkmtngear]

Congrats on that tag, Brandon.

Either you'll love it, or it'll be a one shot deal.

It was the latter for me. I decided after taking the first bite of bear meat, that getting a 350 pound bear off the Mountain DIY was not quite worth it!

Since then (that was 30 years ago), I have had the opportunity to enjoy some very fine dining on bear meat, so I am re-thinking it.

[Swede]

I have had some good bear meat, but to give up a day of Mule deer hunting, for a bear, would be too high of a price in my economy. I have the opportunity to shoot a bear from a tree stand about every other year. I have never drawn my bow on one.

[cnelk]

If you haven't ever hunted bear, the experience will be a good memory.
I killed several bear, I don't go out of my way to hunt them anymore, but I did buy a leftover archery bear tag this year, as I hope to take a mixed bag from my tree stand.

[Triplebhunters]

Congrats Freebird!!! Going to be an awesome experience. I love bear hunting. Have two in my living room. Listening to them slober only a few yards away makes the heart beat fast. I always read books about bear attacks every year before season opens to add that little rush to it. My wife and I take the on-line test. Alaska and Montana have them on line. As far as the meat, smoked bear sticks with cheese and bear stroganoff with McCormick seasoning is really good. We started sending in for Wisconsin points this past winter, going to be a long 6 years to draw from there for us.

[Indian Summer]

Lucky you! If I ever win something it'll probably be a can of bathroom spray for testing from the NAHC. I won a bicycle once when I was 9. lol

Those mulies aren't going anywhere right. Good luck. Can't wait to hear about it. What's a good bear in Wis?

I'm a "1 good bear & I'm done" guy. I just haven't found the one good one yet.

[Triplebhunters]

If my memory serves me right. Wisconsin has 10 in the top 20 Boone and Crocket bears.

[JJ Overkill]

I believe WI has close to the same laws as MN. you will probably be stand hunting over bait. I hope your seasons in the later part of the fall, the mosquitoes can drive a person out of the woods. it is a blast though. this was a trick I employed while baiting, id place my bait and spray the area with deep woods off, (bug spray). ive been told it conditions the bears to its scent and wouldn't effect them if I had to wear it while hunting, plus it makes for a good cover scent. now how true that is im not sure but I figured it couldn't hurt.

good luck to ya, enjoy the hardwoods of the north.

[Freebird134]

Thanks guys! I am stoked. My hunt is August 23-25, which is weeks before the general season. It doesn't actually interfere with my mule deer hunt, but gives me less time to scout. I spoke to the warden I am hunting with, and he gave me the choice of bait or hounds. I think I am going to bait hunt, just because it is likely that I would bait hunt bears on my own in the future; I'll probably never get a pack of hounds to hunt on my own. So it makes sense for me to learn about baiting, a skill I might actually use. It is still unclear if I can use my bow: he said he'd think about it.

The warden said he'd start sending me trail camera pictures soon. I'll post anything interesting and maybe you guys can help me judge bears. Honestly, I don't need a huge, record book bear. I'll probably shoot the first one that gives me a shot!

I've had bear that tastes good, and I've had bear that tastes bad. But, then again, I've had bad tasting elk, deer and moose too. Worst case scenario is a hundred pounds of bear brats. Brats make anything taste good.

[Freebird134]

One of my students was also selected, and is going the week before me to a different area. His mentor/warden sent him these trail camera pics. Good bear? I don't know how to judge a bear.

[Triplebhunters]

We are guessing him to weigh 300 to 325, and probably weigh closer to 400 by season depending on when pic was taken. Can you hear him slobber yet? Lol.

[Freebird134]

We are guessing him to weigh 300 to 325, and probably weigh closer to 400 by season depending on when pic was taken. Can you hear him slobber yet? Lol.

Thanks. That sounds huge. The pic was taken last week and the hunt is in 3 weeks.....so probably won't grow a lot.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

[Triplebhunters]

Freebird. When does your bear hunt start? Are you using bow or gun?

[Freebird134]

Just spoke to my mentor/warden. We have 2 sights getting hit regularly. Trail cams are going up this week. I hunt aug 24 and 25. My student goes the weekend before me. We are excited!!! However, they are requiring me to use a rifle. I haven't killed an animal with a rifle in 6 years! I'd rather bow hunt, but I'll still have a great time.

[Triplebhunters]

Like I said earlier its a rush. Make sure you practice at 25 yards. I've found that using a rest for rifle help minimize movement especially when the big beast is 25 yards in front of you. If you don't have one I'd just trim a branch with a y in it.


A question that I would ask your menter/warden is: if I went to a state like Wyoming, to bait bear, what would be the best long range attractant to use.

[Freebird134]

My mentor/warden has 3 baits getting hit each nearly every day. Only 1 camera so far, but he's putting more up this week. I'm so stoked--7 days!

[Freebird134]

I can't judge bears well, but this looks to be the biggest one he's sent me.

[Triplebhunters]

That's killer. I'd be pumped big time. If you would rather go mulie hunting, we'd take that bear hunt for you.

[Freebird134]

Ha! Thanks for the offer Dave, but I'll manage to do both still

[Triplebhunters]

Yah but had to try. Anxious for feedback. Have one point for up there, going to be a long six years.

[Freebird134]

Just got the text: my student killed a bear! His first time hunting, and he kills a bear!!!

[Triplebhunters]

Wow that's Kool. Send the high fives and congrats. Post up the size when available. Bet it put some fire through your veins.

[Freebird134]

Just killed one that dressed #300 even. Big boar! Came out at 8 yards, 30-06 hit him at 20 yards, and he ran 15 yards. I'm thrilled. Pics to come!!!!!!!! My first bear!!

[Buglemaster]

Congrats Brandon! Can't wait to see the pics.

[Triplebhunters]

Very nice, Congradulations!!!!!!
And was it a rush???

[Freebird134]

I don't know why tapatalk won't let me post pics? I guess I have to wait until I can get on a computer. I'm driving across Montana now, headed to my patents house in Twin Falls. Hopefully pics up this afternoon. It's 4:40am and I'm in a billings Denny's right now. I need some pancakes!

It was a huge rush!!! The image of that big head suddenly appearing out of the corn (who knew that bears hung out in corn fields???) is forever burned in my memories. I knew he was nice, but it seemed like he just kept getting bigger and bigger.....when he maxed out the procrssor's scale I realized he really was something special!!! Lol

[GetemDuck]

Your such a tease

We needs pics and details soon come on your killin' me I love hearing and seeing other people success

Drive safe I'll wait.

[Freebird134]

Ha! Sorry to be a tease!

[Freebird134]

Trail cam pics. When you compare the bears, it's pretty clear that this guy was something special.

[Freebird134]

My bear hunting mentor (a warden named Chris) had 3 bait sites going. This was actually the last one he set up. A couple weeks ago he sent me pictures of a big bear that he thought was about 265# which he described as a really good bear for the area. Everyone was worried because it was a hot weekend (highs were mid-90s by sunday), so hounds would overheat and baits were expected to cool down. During the day Friday I had to attend a bear hunting class as part of the learn to bear hunt program. It ran until about 5pm, so we didn't get into the bait until about 7pm. When we pulled the SD card and looked while in the stand, we discovered some smaller bears had been there 15 minutes before we arrived. And the big guy had been active between 1pm and 3 pm the previous 2 days! But nothing showed friday night.

Saturday morning I hunted with some houndsmen (they made a video on YouTube, see below). It was a fun experience, chasing one for over 2hrs and literally running after a bear (as i say in the video, that's kind of counter to my natural instinct to run away from angry bears). But it was small (under 100#) so we passed. I still had Saturday evening and all day sunday, so they were confident we could do better and I trusted them.

Chris had to speak at a trapping class mid-day, so I caught a nap and we met up at 4:45pm Saturday. We decided to target the big bear, since we were all confident we could get some bear with dogs on Sunday if needed. We were back at that bait site around 5, finding the bait was hit early that morning but the big bear had not visited all day. We were unsure if this was bad (ie, we spooked him out) or good (he had been visiting during the day every day recently, so maybe he was on his way). We rebaited, pounded the bucket, and crawled into the stand. I'm right handed and Chris thought the bear would come from the front/left, so he sat to my right. The bait was 20 yards in front of me, with woods and a ravine and creek behind it to the left, and a corn field 8 yards to our right.

It was pretty windy, gusting over 20mph, so our ears were useless. We had been in stand for about 1.5hrs when Chris nudged me. I forget if he said something or what, but i swung my head to the left and immediately saw a big, black head pocking out of the corn 8 yards from us. It was just right there, out of nowhere, and without having made a single sound. The bear turned to his right, headed along the corn away from us. His mouth was open, panting in the heat. I whispered "is it big enough"......it looked huge to me, but so did that little one we treed at first! He said "yes" just as it all but disappeared behind some brush. I had my borrowed 30-06 read to go, watching the bear move away slowly to about 30 yards. Then it hit a trail, and turned left to the bait.

It was super cautious. I've never hunted over bait for anything, but have heard deer act similar. He seemed to know we were around, or at least had been around recently. He'd take a few steps, then sniff. Chris whispered that he looked nervous and to shoot as soon as I felt comfortable. He was almost to a shooting lane when he again stopped, head on the left of a tree and tail on the other side (we've all seen this, right? How do animals seem to know how to stop with their vitals perfectly covered?!?!?!). Every time he stopped and sniffed, I got so scared we would be busted. But when he took 2 more steps and exposed his vitals I was ready. He was quartered slightly toward me, so I compensated for the angle and sqeezed. It felt good, but I always second guess myself after a shot. He did a 180, headed out the trail he came in on. I pumped in a new shell and was going to try to toss a second shot at him, when Chris stopped me saying he thought he was done. I saw the corn move 30 or 40 yards away, then stop.

We waited a few minutes, crawled out of the stand, and walked a couple hundred yards to the truck. We drove back to the bait site and slipped up to where he was when I shot. Chris warned me bear often don't bleed much, which I had heard from others. I got on my hands and knees and started searching. I've never bloodtrailed a rifle shot animal, but my bowhunting experience kicked in. I wasn't seeing any blood and was getting nervous, even though it had only been about 30 seconds of looking. Chris was ahead of me a few yards, bent over, when I heard him whisper "there he is. you got him." He hadn't gone 15 yards.

Chris' truck thermometer read in the high 80s, so we knew we needed to move fast. He called a local butcher and I could hear Chris' side of the conversation: " Hi, this is Chris the game warden and I have a learn to bear hunt hunter that just killed a big bear and.... uh, yeah. I know the season isn't open yet. I am a conservation warden and this is a special hunt...." I was amused.

Quite a few people tracked us down as we headed through town to register it and get it to the processor. Everyone kept saying "nice bear" but I didn't really appreciate how big it was until we got to the processor. They hooked it by the pelvis and tried to lift it off the ground to get a weight, but when the winch wound tight the bear's head was still on the ground. They wrapped a chain around it's mid-section and lifted it. The scale read 300# on the nose. Chris said the average bear killed in Wisconsin was about 140#, and everyone had said that killing a 200# was realistic but would be a good bear for the area. 300# dressed made even the really experienced local bear hunters go "wow. you got a nice bear!" Then I discovered the butcher charges $1/lb to process a bear and I discovered the bad side of shooting a 300 pounds

It was a pretty amazing experience. I've lived and hunted in 4 states (Idaho, Florida, Connecticut, and now Wisconsin) and never encountered a F&G/DNR that did so much to encourage new hunters as Wisconsin does. It's pretty amazing what they do: learn to deer, duck, small game, turkey, bear, and upland game programs, plus fishing pole and bow loaner programs. If every state did what they do, we wouldn't have dwindling numbers of hunters across the country. Hats off to Wisconsin DNR!

I made it to Twin Falls and am getting ready to go find some mulie's tomorrow. The fall is off to a great start!!!!

[mtnmutt]

Congratulations on the the bear. Very nice.

[elkmtngear]

Really nice blackie...way to go, Brandon!

[GetemDuck]

nice job! I think i would have wet myself if i turned my head and seen a big black bear at 8 yards.....lol

now go get them elk!