Great Start to Foss Bear Camp
Despite nasty thunderstorms that shut down the first day of the Wisconsin bear hunt in Bayfield County Wednesday, Mike Foss reported last night that three hunters had already filled tags from his Washburn camp. More than 20 tag holders are taking stands over 30 square miles of rugged Superior country where Foss has been baiting since spring.
Typically, hunters in Foss’s Northern Wisconsin Outfitters camp will reach 100 percent shot opportunity, or close to it due to his hard work and diligence in bringing bears to the bait. Typically, the Foss camp will also see very big bears taken; up to 638 pounds in recent years and the 2014 opener was no exception.
Hunter Mark Hillman dropped a 405 pound monster on Wednesday afternoon. Foss had donated a fully guided bear hunt last year to a benefit for a child with cancer, and Hillman had won that auction. Like the other two successful hunters yesterday, Hillman used a firearm and made a perfect shot. His brother video recorded the hunt. We do not yet have photos of the big bear, but we will soon for posting, and hopefully the video will also be posted on this website with permission from the hunter. This reporter will also be in route to the Foss Camp today when “real” work in the office is finished.
The first ever chocolate color-phase bear ever tagged in a Foss camp was also brought in yesterday by hunter Scott Franke. “It’s a beautiful bear, a brown colored bear,” said Foss from camp last night. “Probably less than one percent of the bear population has the chocolate phase color and we have never tagged one before. Hunter John Schaetz also made a nice shot with a rifle on a 150 pound bear. That big 405 pound bear is the equivalent to a deer hunter taking a 175 class buck.”
But are “bigger” stories yet to be told from the 2014 Foss bear camp? On Tuesday, an excited Foss had called to report the huge bear caught on trail camera only once before, but pinpointed by the Foss guide crew and even seen twice in the field, came into the bait station the day before the opener. Foss believes the bear, nick-named Bus-15 in the Foss story now on shelves in the September-October issue of On Wisconsin Outdoors, could weigh up to 700 pounds. The three photos below of the giant bear were captured by Foss trail camera Tuesday.
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Will this bruiser estimated to weigh between 600 and 700 pounds fall to a Northern Wisconsin Outfitters’ hunter? The photos were captured on trail camera Tuesday, one day before the season opener.
“Robert, my head guide, saw him in the field and gave him the nick-name,” Foss said. “He’s as big as a bus and will take 15 guys to haul him out. The bear is so big that yesterday he came in to the bait and chased two other big bears that are an estimated 400 pounds and 300 pounds off the bait. Those bears never returned all day. That tells you how big and nasty this dominant bear is.”
“I think it’s amazing. We know he’s out there and have been working him for a long time. But he starts coming back to this bait station the day before opening day. It’s perfect. Now we have an experienced bear hunter on the stand with a bow, but you never know with these big bears. They didn’t live this long without being cautious. They have a sixth sense and sometimes disappear when the hunt begins. We have to set the stand just right and put a hunter on the stand when conditions are just right. We’ll see what happens.”
Fishing Guides Transition to Fall
Even though everyone is excited with the fall hunting seasons opening up, our guides and experts don’t forget the fishing, online or in print. Visit Inland Fishing to see reports and photos submitted this week for posting. Also, don’t forget to connect with Outdoor News for all kinds of news and features from the field, and browse on this site anywhere you like. In August, more than 18,600 Unique Visitors joined us here and brought with them more than 420,000 “hits”. We appreciate your company.
Speaking of fishing, my sister-in-law Colleen Ellis showed my brother Jim how to catch walleyes in Vilas County this week, as you can see below. The funny part about this is that the day before this successful trip she posed with a nice 17 inch fish, but the photo shows only empty hands. The critter flipped into the water just before Slow Jim took the shot. I think he was jealous. Send your photos for posting to ellis@onwisconsinoutdoors.com.
Colleen Ellis is not left empty handed in Vilas County this week.
OWO Now Available
The September-October issue of On Wisconsin Outdoors was off the presses last Friday and being shipped from Kwik Trip corporate in LaCrosse and Menards corporate n Eau Claire to their stores across Wisconsin. Grab your issue this week. I was a paper boy myself along with OWO firearms expert S. Wilkerson earlier this week and can tell you that 10,000 papers are already on the street from Kenosha to Lomira and west to Madison. Don’t forget also to connect with Kwik Trip Outdoors and to check out what Menards and Kwik Trip are offering you in their ads in OWO.
I’m off to bear camp, and duck camp too to target those Teal. I took the DNR test on Teal and other duck identification available on this website under Waterfowl Hunting. I was wrong with a few answers, which means I failed, which sent me back to study hall just to make sure I don’t pull the trigger unless I am 100 percent sure it’s a bluewing or green wing. If we do hunt responsibly and don’t shoot ducks not yet in season, this three-year federal experiment will become a Wisconsin early season that is here to stay. The experiment is in place because by the time the Wisconsin regular duck season begins in later September large numbers of the fair weather bird have often already skedaddled for places south.
Thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors. We like you here. Shoot straight.
Dick Ellis