Wisconsin bear season opened on Wednesday and it was not an easy hunt briefly put. I emailed my professors and told them I would be missing class, and fortunately, they were all fine with it. It's hard to justify going to school when it took eight years to draw a tag.
My dad and I had been baiting since the beginning of June and knew what bears to expect and when to expect them, the majority coming in the evening between 6:00pm to dark. We decided to get in the stand around 3:00pm to ensure we gave ourselves plenty off time. We had a beautiful sunset and perfect weather with hardly a mosquito to be found but to both our surprise we never saw any bears.
We quickly hurried back to our cabin and got inside just as the storm hit. It hailed and hailed and rained and rained all through the night. When we woke up we found that the creek had risen up to its bank and had gone from calf deep to chest deep. Our trail was also completely flooded and made it difficult to get out to the stand.
Again, we sat from the late afternoon until dark. We had a sow and cub come in 5 minutes before LST and had to scare them off shortly after. Honestly, it was a little unsettling getting down from the stand and not knowing how close they were to us. We had decided to go out the following morning after checking the camera and seeing that they were hitting the bait early.
We woke up at 4:30 yesterday morning and began to head down the trail and soon discovered that the creek had risen significantly more and walking was near impossible. We turned back and had to use the canoe. The morning produced a different sow and cub and when they left the warm air did as well. The temperature quickly dropped from low 70s to low 50s and the wind picked up as well. We stayed in the stand as long as we could bare, having only a long sleeve shirt on and sitting for hours quickly chilled oneself. We went back, ate breakfast and went out again at noon. Besides squirrels and chipmunks scampering aroundthe woods was pretty quiet and uneventful.
At 7:30, as the sun was going down we heard branches breaking behind us and to the right of us. I got in position and could see one 50 yards behind us. He began working his way towards us and didn't present a shot until he was directly beneath my stand. I aimed as best as I could and when I pulled the trigger he dropped in his tracks. I thought I had killed him there but he began crawling away. I loaded another round into the chamber and shot again. I was confident I had hit him a second time but he moved into brush and I couldn't get a third round in him. We could hear his labored breathing and had assumed he would die shortly. Unfortunately, he continued to crawl and wheeze for 45 minutes. By this time it was 9:30 and we knew we would have to find him and finish him off.
We quickly found the massive blood trail and were shocked that he was still alive. As we followed it, we soon discovered that the blood trail was lost in the water. What was normally dry now had three feet of standing water. I stood silently and heard his breathing not 15 yards away. I continued to quietly move to where I had heard his breathing and come to the bank of the creek. I would be lying if I said my heart didn't sink when I saw he had crossed the creek. I stood there shocked and knots quickly grew tight in my stomach.And then I heard him wheeze again. He was directly in front of me lying down in the grass. I knew the only thing to do was cross the creek and put a bullet in his head. I entered the chilly water and my breath quickly escaped me. The water was cold and the air was colder. I was in water up to my neck and held my rifle above my head as I tiptoed to where he was. I cautiously approached, in belly deep water now and immediately saw him. He looked up at me and I quickly finished him off with a round in his head. One bullet left. I felt bad he had suffered so long but was overjoyed when I had finally killed him. I crossed back across the creek to discuss what to do with my dad when a pair of glowing emeralds caught the reflection of my headlamp. I focused my light on the eyes and saw that a cub was in the tree. The other bear we had earlier heard to the right of us was a sow and cub. As my dad and I talked we could hear her growling and it continued to get louder. She was closing in on us fast, no further than 20 yards at her closest point. With only one round left and it being pitch black we quickly decided our best bet would be to float down the creek than face the angry bear. We pulled the bear out of the grass and began our float down. The current quickly grew to swift to slow ourselves and too deep to touch the bottom. I gripped the bear's fur and let the current take me, my dad following close behind. The creek meandered like a snake taking us around corner after corner and we quickly become disoriented, wondering if we had missed the trail or if we were even supposed to go down stream. Nothing was recognizable and the combination of the cold and thought of a bear attack had me terrified. Twenty minutes had passed when I came around a bend and saw our trail. I quickly kicked over and drug the bear into the knee deep water.
We loaded the bear into the canoe as best as we could and walked it back up the trail. We were cold, hungry and tired but successful nonetheless. It wasn't the giant I wanted but given the circumstances, I am 100% satisfied. Thanks for all the good luck wishes guys. I couldn't have done it without dad and I thank God for blessing me with this adventure and keeping us safe. It was a hunt I will never forget.
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