According to today's Milwaukee newspaper , The Milwaukee Journal , a black bear was shot by a 17 year boy in Hawkins , Wi that had an estimated live weight of 711 pounds. The bear weighed 656 pounds dressed . The bear is estimated to have been 15 -20 years old. There is a picture of it in the Outdoor Section of the sports page. Sorry , I don't know how to post a link.

bear!!!

There ya go Izzy.

butthead

Butthead are you sure that's the same bear he looks awfully thin (flat) to be 711#. :)

JB

wow that's a lot of bear. As big as some grizzlies.

Izzy, a link tip: When you post a message, look below the text box and there is an "add a link" tab you can click on to easily add a link.

Thanks Izzy. That was one Big Boy!

Wow, I bet he/she could've grabbed a pack from a tree while standing on the ground.

Ken - There is some real confusion now. The article in the Milwaukee paper has the name of Dexter McKittick shhoting the bear and your atricle from the TV website has a Marl Listle as the shooter. Also , the bear was taken to 2 different taxidermists. Something doesn't add up - the odds of 2 700 + pound bears taken in Wisconsin seem remote to me.

Ken - The link you posted was from 2009. Hawkins and Spirit are about 40 miles apart. So , apparently there were 2 700 + pounds bears in the same relative area taken a year apart.

I am pro-hunting. However, I don't understand why we celebrate shooting a big bear. I mean, how hard can it be? Not like grouse that shoot straight up, or deer that bolt. Maybe I there is something I dont know, but it just seems like anyone could kill a bear if they wanted to.

quote tremolo: "I am pro-hunting. However, I don't understand why we celebrate shooting a big bear. I mean, how hard can it be? Not like grouse that shoot straight up, or deer that bolt. Maybe I there is something I dont know, but it just seems like anyone could kill a bear if they wanted to.



"

I'm not celebrating, just amazed at the size of this creature. Actually, I'm somewhat sad the big fellow has been removed from the gene pool.

I didn't think there were that many but after a short search found several over 600 lbs. Is this the one?
another BIG bear

It is hard to explain the thrill of a bear hunt. I have never harvested a bear but have hunted them, both bait and groups, trailing hounds. The dog hunts are best described as a family/community gathering. Sitting over a bait station for bear is very different from deer stand hunting.

butthead

Yes, I didn't mean any one here celebrated it, but that the media did.

quote tremolo: "I am pro-hunting. However, I don't understand why we celebrate shooting a big bear. I mean, how hard can it be? Not like grouse that shoot straight up, or deer that bolt. Maybe I there is something I dont know, but it just seems like anyone could kill a bear if they wanted to.



"

I am pro gun and pro hunting, including bear. Bear in particular because there seems to be no shortage. When I was younger, about 20 years ago I helped three people take three bears. Here's what we did, went out into the woods, anywhere we could find a spot, dug a shallow hole, added a large volume of discarded human food, rechecked the food pile a couple of days later and found that a bear had been to each pile. We added more food to create a habituated bear and at this point we set up a trip wire w/a camera and timer. The photos help to determine if the bear was large enough to take and the timer told us what time it was coming to feed each day. The one I remember in particular was coming around at about 3pm.

The first day of hunting season, my friend was up in his stand w/a video camera, a bow, and a handgun. In another stand, was my other friend who had the video camera and a handgun. I never intended to be present for the kill. The bear showed up, the would be hunter shot momma bear w/a bow. She had a cub with if I remember correctly and when the arrow hit its mark, momma bear let out a loud shriek and the cub (older not a real young cub) heard it, he/she ran up a tree. The momma was walking around squawking, so the guy with the bow then shot her with his handgun in an attempt to silence her, which it did.

The entire even was captured on video, I saw it several times and have not participated in a baited bear hunt since. It really did not seem sporting to me at all, but I think it would be very difficult to take a bear w/out baiting.

I think grouse hunting is far more sporting, but I am not against bear hunting as we have plenty of them to go around.

Gbusk

gbusk, they shot the mama bear in front of her cub and she screamed and then they shot the baby with a hand gun? all this after enticing them with food bait? No, doesnt seem sporting. seems kind of twisted.

If they guy shot the bear with a bow and arrow without baiting it and there was no baby bear and the hunter ate the meat after killing the bear, seems like that would be playing the "predator/prey" game within the "rules"

Ken - Your last post was the one I was originally referring to. So, looks like there were two 700 pound plus bears taken within about a 40 mile area of each other in the last year. Thanks for posting.

There was another last year, run over by a combine, apparently it was shot out of season just prior. I think in the area of Eau Claire.
Some big bears out there!

butthead

quote tremolo: "gbusk, they shot the mama bear in front of her cub and she screamed and then they shot the baby with a hand gun? all this after enticing them with food bait? No, doesnt seem sporting. seems kind of twisted.


If they guy shot the bear with a bow and arrow without baiting it and there was no baby bear and the hunter ate the meat after killing the bear, seems like that would be playing the "predator/prey" game within the "rules"


"

Re-read what he said.

They didn't shoot the cub, they shot mama with the gun AFTER hitting her with the bow. It makes me think that maybe one shouldn't be hunting bears with arrows.

quote tremolo: "gbusk, they shot the mama bear in front of her cub and she screamed and then they shot the baby with a hand gun? all this after enticing them with food bait? No, doesnt seem sporting. seems kind of twisted.


If they guy shot the bear with a bow and arrow without baiting it and there was no baby bear and the hunter ate the meat after killing the bear, seems like that would be playing the "predator/prey" game within the "rules"


"

The cub was physically unharmed, and mature enough to make it on its own. I do not recall what happened to the cub.

A guy I know on the Gunflint Trail told me a story regarding his neighbor who watched a bear kill and eat a moose cub in his driveway while the cow (mother) watched in horror, so what comes around goes around I guess.


Gbusk

oh, sorry, I did misread it. They shot the big mamma bear, not the cub with the hand gun. Still, seems cruel to me. Not saying it IS cruel. It SEEMS cruel to me. I mean maybe baby bear was old enough to fend for himself, but I bet if bears could wish, he would be wishing for mom.

as to the bear who at the baby moose. at least he ate the baby moose, and didnt just kill it for the thrill of it.

quote tremolo: "oh, sorry, I did misread it. They shot the big mamma bear, not the cub with the hand gun. Still, seems cruel to me. Not saying it IS cruel. It SEEMS cruel to me. I mean maybe baby bear was old enough to fend for himself, but I bet if bears could wish, he would be wishing for mom.

as to the bear who at the baby moose. at least he ate the baby moose, and didnt just kill it for the thrill of it. "

Valid point about the bear eating the calf moose.

Of the three hunts I participated in baiting, I do not remember much of the bears being eaton. These hunters were all young men in their very early twenties and all they really talked about was putting a bear head on their wall. We did eat some bear steaks out camping that fall and they didn't taste very good to us. I believe we ate mostly venison on our outings after that. I wonder where those bear heads are now. Oh well, like I say there are plenty of black bears to go around.

I remember seeing the two of the mounted heads after the taxidermist was done and thinking, that was a lot of time, money, and effort for a small head. I much prefer hoofed animal mounts, or even a good jackolope.

Gbusk

quote gbusk:
I remember seeing the two of the mounted heads after the taxidermist was done and thinking, that was a lot of time, money, and effort for a small head...
Gbusk"

Maybe that's what black bears think about us-- heads are too small, not worth the effort.

Two weeks before the Hawkins bear was killed, a 736 lb. bear was taken in Shawano County near Bowler, a town about halfway between Wausau and Green Bay. Of course, both of these precede what will be the slaughtering of dozen of bears in Chicago this coming Monday night.

quote tremolo: "

quote gbusk:
I remember seeing the two of the mounted heads after the taxidermist was done and thinking, that was a lot of time, money, and effort for a small head...
Gbusk"

Maybe that's what black bears think about us-- heads are too small, not worth the effort.



"

They try human flesh every now and then. One just bit some lady in the foot on Ensign lake.

gbusk--she had bear feet!

Lynn Rogers, the bear researcher guy in ely, supports baiting for bears. Something about allowing for the hunter to get a better look at what is being shot and cleaner kills. When I read what he wrote about it, it made sense to me. I'm not doing a great job of retelling it.

Edited to add: I also wasn't doing a great job of typing about it. Sorry for the typos! (I sometimes post from my iPod Touch which can sometimes be sloppy....)

I have my eye on a bear here in California, not that big but a real hog!

As soon as it cools off a bit I'll be heading out.

Any other hunters here?

quote nojobro: "Lynn Rogers, the bear researcher guy in ely, supports baiting for bears. Something about allowing for the hunter to get a better look at what is being shot and cleaner kills. When I read what he write about it, it made sense to me. I'm bot doing a great job of retelling it. "

Interesting point, thanks.

quote WestCoast1: "I have my eye on a bear here in California, not that big but a real hog!


As soon as it cools off a bit I'll be heading out.


Any other hunters here? "

No, but good luck!

You guys/girls bait out there?

nojo-- you are really becoming a bear expert. Thanks for sharing. Interesting. Seems counter intuitive.

Knoozer - Do you have any more information on that Shawano County bear ? I deer hunt east of Shawano. Thanks.

quote Amok: "

quote tremolo: "gbusk, they shot the mama bear in front of her cub and she screamed and then they shot the baby with a hand gun? all this after enticing them with food bait? No, doesnt seem sporting. seems kind of twisted.



If they guy shot the bear with a bow and arrow without baiting it and there was no baby bear and the hunter ate the meat after killing the bear, seems like that would be playing the "predator/prey" game within the "rules"



"

Re-read what he said.

They didn't shoot the cub, they shot mama with the gun AFTER hitting her with the bow. It makes me think that maybe one shouldn't be hunting bears with arrows."

Arrows are very effective at twenty yards..

Here is the link to the information about baiting bears. It is a long article, so I will excerpt the relevant part below, but wanted to also give the entire link. I knew there was a descriptive term for it...wounding loss.

"Another problem is wounding loss. Wounding not only leaves a bear to slowly die or slowly heal, but it leaves the hunter free to shoot another bear to fill his tag. To many people, a sporting hunt is one with weapons that can’t easily kill a bear and one in which the hunter stalks bears and pits his wiles against those of the bears. In dense forests like those in Minnesota, this leads to fleeting glimpses of running bears and a high rate of wounding loss. We wanted hunters to make quick, clean kills. We banned weapons that can’t readily kill a bear, and we allowed the controversial practice of baiting, which brings bears into cleared openings and gives hunters plenty of time for clear, killing shots."

quote sotaman: "Arrows are very effective at twenty yards."

I've said before, my uncle has 21 bear to his name - all taken with arrows. Don't know his stories, but my father was on the ground facing a bear when he pulled the string and shot the arrow... I suppose 50/50 that bear could have come after him. He does NOT carry a firearm when bow hunting, just his hunting knife. So "sporting" seems an apt word for that story. Frankly, I'm glad that bear lost. My father tracked the wounded bear and made sure he died... then we did eat the meat and I still have the skull and the eyes which contributed to my science lesson of the year.

Many many animals actually survive an arrow and go on to face another hunter another day.

Ok, so maybe I should have qualified my response and said "SOME people shouldn't hunt bears with bow/arrows." I know that it's not like you're out there with the wild west cowboys and indians type gear, compound bows are incredible!

Izzy,

Here is the story of the bear taken near Bowler earlier in the month.
I imagine that was the talk of the NorthStar Casino. Bowler bear

emptynest - Thanks - I deer hunt southeast of there. More bears are sighted every year.

I'm not against hunting but baiting a bear is wrong. Where is the sport in training a bear that there is a reliable food source so you can wait for it and shoot it. About as sporting as hunting wolves from a helicopter or using dynamite to fish.

I'm not a bear hunter, but I do understand the need to manage their numbers. Here in MN and Wisconsin, without baiting, there would be no bear hunting. Without bear hunting, there would be no management. Whether you feel it's right or wrong, it is necessary. Even with baiting, the success rate is less than 20% in MN - hardly a slam dunk. Perhaps that's worth considering before passing judgment.

gbuck,

Baiting is not legal here.

quote butthead: " bear!!!


There ya go Izzy.


butthead"

That is the skinniest bear I have ever seen, please use the air hose and reinflate him.

I read the title & thought, did the Pack finally stop the Fridge.

Doesn't surprise me that Shawano Co. grows em big. Just the right amount of swamps, woods, farms and human food to grow some big boys.

Another massive bear was shot by an 11 year old boy near Antigo, about an hour north of Bowler. This one tipped the scales at 737 lbs, one pound more than the Bowler bruin, according to the Antigo paper on Sept. 28.