A Bear Hunt Dream Come True
Father, son, fill bear tags with Northern Wisconsin Outfitters
By Chad Meinburg, Oakfield, WIsconsin
This is a story about a dream that came true on 09/19/2015
My father Greg Meinburg, was diagnosed with a life threatening illness a few years ago and has been waiting for a new liver for some time now. It has always been my brother and I quest to full fill my father’s lifelong dream of a chance to harvest the all mighty Wisconsin Black Bear. My brother Jerry and I decided to book a Wisconsin bear hunt with NORTHERN WISCONSIN OUTFITTER (Mike Ross, Robert Haas).
Our journey began as we loaded up the truck and began our 5 hour journey north to the Northern Wisconsin Outfitter headquarters in Washburn County, Wisconsin. Along the way my brother Jerry and I enjoyed laughs as we have for years with our father, letting us forget that this could be the last adventure with our beloved father Greg.
Our hopes were high at the beginning of the 5 day hunt, but a constant thought lingered in the back of my mind hoping that my father’s health would hold up for the grueling 5 day hunt. My brother Jerry was the unlucky one to not draw a tag for the 2015 bear season so he accompanied my father in the stand. I was on my own secretly hoping that I would be the one to harvest the biggest bear of the hunt but would be happy taking the second biggest bear if my dad were to take the biggest bear.
As soon as I arrived on the stand and got set in the allusive black bears began coming in. Finally all the excitement leading up to this moment, the weeks of anticipation to be in the stand and have a bear in sight, I have Wisconsin black bear right below me. My hands shaking should I shoot? No I better not the photos on the trail cam revealed there are bigger bears in these woods. The bear I was waiting for we nicknamed “Slobasauris” which seemed a fitting name for this massive Wisconsin Black bear.
As day one is ended by the nightfall I begin the descention down from the tree and begin to hike out of the woods eager to find out how my father had done. Did he harvest the elusive “Slobasauris” that we have all dreamed about, with the bow over my shoulder and my left hand firmly clinching my 40. Cal sidearm I begin the hike out. I question my manliness as the woods come alive that night in the pitch black, after all I am here to hunt bears. So I do what every man would do and call my daughter. Hearing her voice calms my nerves as I tell her about the first day of the hunt, little does she know the real reason for the call.
Greg Meinburg, Robert Haas; owner/guide of Northern Wisconsin Outfitters, Head Guide Mike Foss, and Chad Meinburg, with the two bears tagged on the same day by the father and son team hunting out of the Washburn camp.
Once back at camp we all begin to tell our stories. Dad didn’t harvest one that day but held his own in the stand which I knew he would. After countless hours in the north woods with a lot of action, and passing up several bears, even the one that decided that the tree I was sitting in was the one that he wanted to also sit in.
The fifth and final day of our hunt had arrived. We awoke and began our final climb to our stands. I think to myself I hope my father can harvest a bear and I hope it was the highly coveted “Slobasauris” from the trail camera photos. I wished my dad and brother good luck before we parted ways to our stands for the last time. At 5:02 pm on the last day of the hunt I raised my bow took aim and let the arrow fly. Second’s felt like minute’s as the arrow flew through the air and struck the bear. My heart sunk in disappointment with myself as I thought that I hit low of the bear’s vitals. I contacted my guide and new friend Mike Ross and told him of my disappointment in myself for possibly striking the bear low of his vitals. As an accomplished deer hunter, but an inexperienced bear hunter.
Head Guide Mike Foss loads his ATV and prepares to bait more stations during the first week of the hunt.
I was nervous as one of the guides (Bill) picked up the arrow from the ground, held it to his nose and took a sniff of the arrow. I thought to myself what is he doing? Bill turned, looked at me and said “right through the heart”. In disbelief we began tracking the bear through the woods, as we began to climb a hillside Bill looked at me and said “your bear will be right at the top of this river bottom”. As we reached the peak my eyes were in disbelief as there lay the Wisconsin black bear a mere 80 yards from my stand.
As I began to control my excitement of the harvest of this Wisconsin Black bear my thoughts turned to my father. Unannounced to me at 5:40 pm my father’s dream became a reality as he harvested a live weight black bear at 145lbs. Upon returning to camp the stories of our long awaited harvest began. After hearing the final weigh in I began to grin as my bear was bigger, weighing in around 160 pounds live weight. I knew the hunter in my father was disappointed that I had taken the bigger bear but none the less he was proud of his son. And who better to be out done by then his own son who he had passed down all of his hunting knowledge to. After returning back to camp there were a lot of tears lost and plenty of thanks given out as a father and his son’s dreams have come true.
Northern Wisconsin Outfitters’ super guides Robert Haas and Mike Foss wait for another call from successful bear hunters on stands spread over 60 miles of Bayfield County near Washburn.
On the long drive back I began to think to myself all the memories of being in the woods hunting with my father. As a father of two beautiful daughters I hope to share the same experiences with them sitting in a tree stand beside them hoping they can harvest the biggest buck. I have no doubt that one day I will return with my daughter’s to the Northern Wisconsin Outfitters camp and the father in me hopes to watch them take down the elusive “Slobasauris” but the hunter in me hopes that I can be the lucky one to harvest “Slobasauris”. I want to thank all the people at NORTHERN WISCONSIN OUTFITTERS for everything they did to make a father’s dream and his son’s quest to become a reality.