Black bear appeared to be a jinx for me. I had hunted them several times before, and each time something went wrong, changing my luck from good, to not so good. I hunt with a longbow and wooden arrows, so I need to get close for a good clean shot.

I drew a tag in 2010, after amassing 9 preference points and waiting all those years since my last Wisconsin bear hunt. I booked a hunt with Dan Ducomon, near Ladysmith WI. Before I booked, I emailed several times and called and spoke with Dan. I told him right off that what I wanted was a place to hunt that offered a relatively secluded area, a reasonable chance to kill a decent bear, and a probable chance of at least seeing a few within 25 or so yards. I told him that I had the years in and the hunting experience to not need special baby sitting, just a couple working baits and some peace and quiet. Dan said that was no problem and that this worked very well for him as well. We discussed the particulars a bit more and I send him a check for the first half of the hunt to book.

The summer went by and I practiced at home, tweaking my equipment and building proper bear arrows. I settled on very sharp three blade cut-on-contact Terminator 175 grain heads on wooden arrows that I built. These were flung by my 61# Big River longbow. I bought a 3D bear target and set up a ladder stand in my back yard. I was gonna duplicate the expected hunt as closely as I could. By summer's end I knew that if I chose to shoot at one, it was gonna be in real trouble. I also looked and stared at every bear mount I came across, trying to visualize what a decent bear looks like and where I would aim.

Before I knew it, the season was just days away and I was packing. The season started mid-week and I arranged to have the whole week off and even more if needed. This was to be my year. I drove up and met Dan in the early evening of the day before my hunt. I followed him on his evening baiting run in a certain nearby location and at each bait he showed me where to stop and park the ATV and how to approach the bait. Every bait site had a treestand already in place and active baits, many with trail cameras.

Before I hit the sack for a good nights sleep I was really excited. I sat in the suggested stand on that first day with only minimal time on the ground. Lots of action, but no bears. The wind wasn't really good and it was switching so off to a second stand I went. This one also went similarly with the wind just causing problems. The evening stand on the second day found me moving to yet a third stand. This one was to break my jinx.

On that first evening, I heard something approaching maybe an hour before dark. Being high up in an oak tree, and with the wind blowing from the approaching sounds toward me, I was satisfied that the wind wouldn't give me away. Waiting, Waiting, then, there they were. . . three cubs and a very large moma bear circling around downwind of them. They entertained me for the rest of the day and unfortunately ate all of the food present at the bait. After snapping a lot of photos and laughing silently at their antics, I hoped that another bear was coming. Day two ended with me being even more excited than the first.

A hot dinner and more sack time and I was up early, heading to the same tree. It was a breezy day, blowing from a good direction and I settled in to an all day sit. It was quiet, no bears but lotsa birds and squirrels and a very relaxing time. About an hour before the day ended, I received a text from Dan asking if I was having any action and I replied "not yet, but waiting". Less than five minutes later, in walked a nice boar. He was a very decent bear, big head, big shoulders and front body, and a very dark muzzle. His pelt looked long and glossy. I wanted a chance at this bear.

He came in to the bait, looked around, and proceeded to flip the large rock off the bait stump. I had placed that rock on top of the stump earlier that day and knew it was fairly heavy. He just flipped it off with very little effort. He turned around to look behind my tree one more time and that is when it all happened. Just like I had done all summer long, I drew the arrow to my anchor point, held for a fraction of a second, meanwhile burning a hole into the spot I wanted to hit, and the next thing I saw was my fluorescent yellow four-fletched arrow enter that spot. A good hit, two holes !

He ran off maybe 60 yards and stopped, looking back to see what it was that hit him, then he turned to leave and fell over. It took a little more before he finally stopped moving, but it was over in very short time. An excited e-mail to Dan told him that I just shot a bear and saw it go down. Everybody was happy.

After a photo session and the necessary field dressing, Dan and his son helped me get the bear out of the woods, onto the trailer I had hooked to my truck, and off to the check-in station, and then to the taxidermy shop in Bruce. Was the bear big enough to make the P&Y book ? I don't know, I am not so into the numbers game, but he sure made my book !

My jinx was over and I think I had a great hunt.

Dan gave me exactly the hunt I had hoped for and I was very pleased with the results. He helped me out much more than he had agreed to and we have communicated several times since the hunt. I am recomending his services to my hunting buddies and when I draw again, I will be calling Dan for another go, maybe this time letting him ply his passion, which is running his dogs and hearing them do what comes natural to them.

Thanks Dan, for a great hunt and for all your help.

I will be picking up the full body mount bear in March I believe and will stop by to show it to you.

Chuck Cote, DeForest WI