Number of Bears in Wisconsin

[Hntr]

That's what they told us, take down your bird feeders, deer feeders and put your garbage in the garage. Learn to live with them.

[JoshB]

We had two bear sightings this summer here in Columbia County. Where only a little over an hour to the IL State line. That's pretty far south! One was a cub, the other was a nice size male. Both were seen hanging around town. What got my long johns in a bundle is when everyone started acted like they were a huge threat and we should be extremely careful. I think I felt more bad for the animals then residents dealing with them. As Hntr said learn to live with them.

Hntr, Those are some cool articles!

[susancruzs]

Thanks for the article! The TV news story touched on securing garbage cans, bird feeders but just briefly. I'm for learning to live with them, after all when it comes to wildlife we've crowded them out.

[Hntr]

Thanks Josh! And you're welcome Susan.

The bears are here to stay, so we might as well enjoy them. A couple years ago we had a huge male run right in front of us, not more than thirty yards away. He ran with such grace, his coat just glistening, one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. I was so glad my wife, my brother in law and sil were with me. I could have never described it in a million years.

Last year my son and I saw one when we were coming back from hunting, but we only caught a glimpse as it ran across the road and into a cornfield.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by susancruzs

Do they hunt bear in Wisconsin to keep the numbers down or is that not allowed? I'm just curious, in northeast Illinois, the talk would be about the deer population, sometimes I'd see fox. People swore there were cougar and coyote around, those I never saw.

I saw a red fox in Lake Forest along Deerpath Rd. back in January.

My friend shot two bears over the past ten years in N. Wisconsin. He does not feel that theya re all that rare and the statistics seem to bear that out.

[Hntr]

We still see foxes, but very rarely. When we first moved here it was hardly a week went by that we didn't see them. One day we had one in the backyard jumping into the snow and catching mice. At that time our backyard was mostly a field. We had a foxes' den not too far away, the kids and I would go laydown with a set of binoculars a hundred yards away and watch the kits play. With more coyotes moving in and all the feral cats the foxes probably got pushed out.

[ndheah]

My parents have a cabin in Amberg, Wisconsin (Crivitz, Wausaukee, Pembine area) and we have game cameras that have spotted 4 separate bears, along with 3 cubs. That makes 7 at least in our area. We know that more are around too, as our neighbors have spotted some that are more brown in color, and we don't have pictures of that one.

[KateDaum]

I still feed the birds. But there are bears around here.

[Drover]

Well, I know there's one less bear in Wisconsin after one of 'em ran a suicide mission right in front of my car.

[susancruzs]

Now that is scarey, I can't even imagine. I've only had a close encounter with a pheasant, and close calls with several deer over the years but a bear, that would be awful.