Bear hunting

Okay.

Well, enough about bear hunting.

Let's get to what the people want, man.

We're going to talk about your survival excursion.

If you're a bear hunter, bear hunters harvested 4,275 bears.

During the 35-day season, slightly above the overall harvest target, 4,160 was the DNR target, a total of 15,245 bear hunting licenses were awarded to hunters throughout the system.

So about a third of the guys and gals that got deer hunting, bow hunting licenses, or shotgun hunting, what do they hunt? Bull, they hunt bear with everything, don't they?

I think they do.

That is for sure.

Good kids doing good things.

let's talk to an old bear hunter from around our area that's rocky olson over there premier livestock in with you good morning rocky hey morning bob you're gonna bear hunting this year your kid take the kids out i

my uh my boy uh he had uh he had a bear tag but we couldn't uh we couldn't seal the deal um I don't know.

So a little bit more fired up, a little bit bigger game.

So I can only imagine what bear hunting or something would be like when them hounds get to going.

Oh, yeah.

It's a good way to ruin a good coon hound.

Gotcha.

didn't get a lot of time to go exploring.

When you go bear hunting, do you go in Virginia?

I've hunted Virginia and West Virginia.

For the black bear hunters that are in Region 5, because of this change in behavior, do you have any tips for them as far as should they change some of their tactics? What are they gonna face? And especially with them moving the way they're moving, h- how do we go about getting a black bear, one, finding them and getting them, and two, doing it safely?

Well, black bear hunting on, in the Beartooths, as well as the Priors, is controlled by quota.

Mm.

There's a spring quota on females and a fall quota by, on females.

For both Priors and the Beartooths, those quotas were filled fairly quickly, and those seasons are no longer with, it's a minor exception, which we'll talk about in a minute, those seasons are closed.

So there is no black bear hunting in the Priors or the Beartooths anymore this year.

The Hunting District 580, the Snowys, Little Belts, and Crazies, that is still open.

It's not managed under a quota.

And I said, well, I appreciate you letting me know, but we don't have bears.

And so he said, because bear hunting is my number one thing.

He said, a bear hunt, a bobcat hunt, and a coon

hunt.

And he said, of course, there's a few mountain lions, but He said, but I'm telling you, ain't nothing like them on a bear.

I don't sell puppies.

He said, you can sell the puppies tomorrow.

He said, because in bear hunting, you're going to lose some.

First time that's ever happened to me.

I've been bear hunting for 15 years, and I've harvested a bear for every year that I've been hunting.

Multiple bears a lot of years, and I've never ever had that happen for, with a bear ever, and it-

Hmm

I, I grew up hunting with my dad and my stepdad, like snaring rabbits.

I went deer hunting with both my dad and my stepdad.

Never b- never bear hunted in my life growing up at all.

Um, then in my 20s, I never hunted at all, not once.

All right.

We're gonna talk some bear hunting.

How about that? With our next guest here on WTMJ Outdoors.

Thanks for joining us on this weekend, and again, I say it all the time, thanks to Outdoor Living Unlimited for making this all po- possible.

But like a lot of things when you talk about wildlife in Wisconsin, there's a process to be eligible to hunt.

A- and I always wanna be reminded that not everyone who listens knows that process.

So for folks who are maybe interested in bear hunting or, uh, some of the other hunting opportunities in the state of Wisconsin, what is the process for that?

Yeah, absolutely.

Um, and so anyway, um, yeah.

So, so I had that and had that feeling and, and I wrestled with it a lot, and even, even to talking about it here, you know? Uh, easier just to tell folks who know I went bear hunting, "Oh no, I didn't get anything."

Right.

Uh, than to open up and, you know, be vulnerable about it.

Hard to admit, but I'm thankful you did.

And thank y'all for listening.

Thanks for letting us talk about bear hunting, which, like, we recognize the majority of people who listen [laughs] don't do.

Don't bear hunt.