Five to six preference points or more (obtained one per year) is what it takes to receive a Wisconsin bear hunting harvest permit. I received my first Wisconsin kill tag in 1991 and harvested a fairly average sized bear of 165 pounds. I shot him over bait with my bow. After hunting over bait twice in Canada and spending some hundred plus hours on stand without getting a shot at a big Bear, I was happy to finally harvest my first Black Bear. It made a beautiful rug and had a cool looking white V patch on his chest. After Ontario’s ridiculous decision to ban spring bear hunting I decided to concentrate my bear hunts to Wisconsin.

In 1995 again I sat on stand in Bayfield County up in northern Wisconsin for over twenty hours before passing up several small bears and never drawing my bow. And in 1999 I sat with my son Cory in a tree on his first bear hunt for another twenty plus hours only to see a small hundred pounder that he couldn’t get a shot at. However, I did see a nice seven footer but he met up with an eight point buck and both of them went separate directions.

Don’t get me wrong, sitting on stand in the beautiful north woods observing nature is a great way to hunt. Many types of hunting requires the hunter to sit, be patient and watch. Stand hunting for deer is similar, only the season is much longer and you hunt in times of a breeding season. Spring turkey is basically the same deal. But I was ready for something a little different, something with a little more excitement. Yah, a dog hunt for black bears.

When a friend of mine north of Eau Claire told me he knew some die-hard hound hunters, I asked if I could hunt with them. They told him they needed another hunter with a kill permit and I was in. Being a retriever trainer myself, I love to watch dogs and could’nt wait to see what the hounds were all about.

I arrived at the camp in Douglas County the day before the opener. A loud barking of many dogs erupted. Not in an aggressive, "I’m going to eat you way" but more of a "oh goody someone’s here, maybe were going hunting" type bark. I looked around at the well maintained yard with two nice houses surrounded by over seventy (yes seventy) dog houses. About thirty dogs were on the grounds. The dogs were walkers, blue ticks, red bones, plots and some were mixes. They had erected a large bear hanging station with cleaning area for harvested bears. The boxes of bait were covered by a tarp and had a sweet smell that attracted many bees. The bees were much to occupied by the bait then thinking about us. There were big beefy ford trucks with oversized mud tires and home built dog boxes on the back of them. These brush tanks looked as if they had chased many a bear through the woods. About twenty 40 pound bags of dog food along with bow targets, ATV’s and other various bear hunting necessities were also present. As I videoed the area I said to my friend Gary "these guy’s are serious".

When I toured the inside of the buildings I saw what would be typical in most camps. Bunk beds stacked in every bedroom, lots of pictures of previous hunts and awesome mounts. I was anxious to start my hunt. We set up camp and waited for the owner and head bear houndsman Rawley to return from baiting.

As we stood outside the evening before the hunt I was introduced to Rawley and John. Rawley was the founder of this northern Wisconsin bear camp. He had been chasing bears, coyotes, bobcats and mountain lions since the fifties. The stories of his previous hunts were incredible. Stories about bears within arms reach, tales of him pulling his dogs out of holes and dens with bloodied faces from badgers, wolverines and fishers. All of his stories included his dogs. He love’s his dogs. He spoke proudly of them. He also was a proud member of the Wisconsin Bear Hunter’s Association and promoted the sport of running bears with dogs.

John was a fairly new bear hunter with five hounds. Although he didn’t have the experience of the old timer, he had hunted with his hounds for eight years and definitely knew what he was doing. Gary would be hunting with Rawley until Don (Rawley’s son) would arrive and I would be with John.

We awoke at 3:00am. I grabbed my 30-06 rifle my 44 magnum pistol, tags and gear and climbed into Johns bear rig. With a side mounted light just below and aft of the driver’s side door; John inspected the dirt roads and trails for tracks. These same areas were dragged with a large rubber mat with studs attached to the bottom pulled by an ATV the evening before. That way we can see the tracks of a bear better because the road has been smoothed out.

We looked for a front track measuring over four inches across the pad. A four inch track is a sign of a mature bear weighing over 200 pounds. A five inch track would indicate a big bear, probably over three hundred pounds. A six inch track would be a real monster bear well over three hundred. We also look at the toes. Toes the size of a quarter usually indicate a boar. Sow’s usually have small toes. We also look at the length of the front track to the back track. That gives you an idea how long the bear is.

One thing to mention about size. The age of the bear doesn’t always tell you the size of the bear. It really depends on genetics and how much fat the bear has on him. Two bears with a four and a quarter inch pad hanging in the cooler outside of town weighed 170lbs and 322lbs respectively. Both bears were mature males between three and four years old. Bears are like people. Some are big and some are little. Later in the morning everyone will get together and decide which bear to run.

While driving down these roads the bear hunters will occasionally "rig" a dog. That is, they’ll tie a dog to the top of the truck and slowly drive. If the dog starts barking we will get out of the truck and look for a track. Sometimes dogs in the truck will bark after smelling something. Ours even barked at a deer they didn’t see, but smelled.

After all the roads have been checked and information tallied we start checking baits. They bait about fifty baits and smooth out sand all around the bait and at entries and exits on trails leading to and from the bait. We bring in a rake to the bait, check the tracks in it and smooth it out after recording the track info. A lot of the bait sights were getting hit by sows with cubs and yearlings. They won’t run bears off those baits. The acorn crop was phenomenal this year and it seemed the big bears were gorging themselves on nuts.

When it gets light we try and figure out by looking at tracks which direction the bear we decide to hunt went. Then we walk one of the more experienced dogs down past the track. If the dog wants to go in, we let it go, and if they get a bark out of him they will let another dog in, than another. If the trail is good they will let out up to six dogs.

If the dogs are smelling and looking (cold tracking) they will have a broken kind of quiet bark. When they jump the bear or the scent gets real hot their barking will really pick up and get louder. Than when they are walking with him, can see him or tree him they really go nuts, non-stop barking and chopping. If they haven’t moved its time you get in there. Some times the owner of the dogs will go in and see what the dogs have. It may be a small bear or even another type of furbearing animal.

After the bear is bayed, treed or gets away you have to gather the dogs up. Sometimes a big bear will go into a swamp and sit there. The dogs may get scared and run out. Other times they just get "lost out" can’t find it, get tired, thirsty or a slew of other reasons why they don’t come up with the bear. Sometimes the scent is just too old or another animal crosses the trail and the dogs get confused. But that’s hunting. After catching all the dogs we head in have a bite to eat and talk about the hunt.

At about three or four o’clock in the evening we head out to bait and drag roads. After dinner we hit the sack and start all over again the next day. Yah this hunt is a little different than the bait hunt.

The next day I met Don, Rawley's son. A serious hounds man; this guy really knew what he was doing. A friend of theirs Greg also arrived for the hunt. Before I would leave, there would be about thirty people in camp. Hunters, wife’s, kids, grandkids and friends included. A couple ladies also hunted with the group. A 23 year old girl and 42 year old woman were among them. This is a great group of people. All members of the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association and all passionate about there sport. They expressed real concern about holding onto hound hunting for bears in Wisconsin and are trying to get the dog hunt back in Minnesota. When I left they had 73 dogs in the camp.

I hunt ducks, geese, pheasants and grouse with my dogs along with running an occasional field trial or hunt test and I love watching good dog work. Watching these hounds hunt was awesome. They love their work as much as my dogs love theirs. They are all friendly dogs with great personalities. They are real hunters. Their a beat up bunch, some have toe nails busted and cracked, cuts, scraps and generally look like prize fighters. One of them had an eyeball missing. They hunt with incredible passion and endurance sometimes running the bear for four or more hours.

On the first two days of my hunt the dogs treed some coons, chased a deer, got scarred out of a swamp, lost out and treed a 120 pounder. It was hot, low to mid eighties. A tough couple of days. I was getting worried as I could only hunt one more day before meeting up with my son at the Wisconsin youth B.A.S.S. state championship. I could possibly come back a week later, but with gas prices what they are I preferred not to.

At 6:45am we let the dogs out on a 4 inch track. For hours the dogs chased the bear, into the swamp, out of the swamp, down the woods south, down the woods north. Then they got tired and we caught them. Nothing.

John told me we might as well check some more baits. Suddenly Rawley called saying he’d chased a bear off a bait not far from where we were. We got there and found the four an a quarter inch track. "The scent doesn’t get any fresher than this" John said. After analyzing the trail we waited for Don, Gary and Greg to arrive. Soon we let out the dogs. They jumped the bear within minutes and the chase was on. The bear started heading toward the river and we jumped in the truck to head them off. Cutting down the road I saw the dogs jump across the dirt road up ahead. "There go the dogs" I told John. We turned around and headed down another old ATV trail. Suddenly the bear ran across the road in front of us. "There he is I yelled". John stopped the truck. We jumped out and John let his sixth dog out 30 seconds behind the bear. "Don’t shoot him" John said as he really didn’t know me that well and wasn’t sure what I’d do.

The dogs and bear disappeared in the woods running at a good pace. After about a half hour Greg called on the radio and figured the dogs had him treed. We drove the truck as close to the barking as we could. John jumped out of the truck and took off in the woods. I grabbed my gun and ran after him. I listened to the dogs as I got closer. As I came over the hill about a quarter mile in, I saw him in the tree.

He had a gorgeous coat and a nice head on him. The dogs were tied up and away from the bear. After everyone looked him over, guessed his weight, and took pictures and video I decided to take him. I shot once with my 30-06 and it was over. They let the dogs gnaw on him a little for a reward and the young dogs were let at him to learn the deal. But because of the warm weather I quickly tagged him, gutted him, dragged him out, registered him and then skinned him. We brought him to a bar with a giant walk in cooler and hung the carcass and hide.

We settled down in the tavern had a tasty beverage and reminisced in this now past hunt.

The group ended up shooting bears of 378lbs, 322lbs, 202lbs and 170lbs. Mine was the later. Not a huge bear but a nice head and good pads. Not the best year but not the worst either. With the dry conditions, hot weather and good acorn crop, they really didn’t do to bad. I will hopefully see these boys again soon for more extreme bear hunting.

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