Bear Hunt Begins, Treestands Recalled
9-6-2012
First things first. Rivers Edge Treestands of Cumberland Wisconsin has announced a recall that includes Big Foot, Lite Foot and Baby Big Foot “hang-on“ treestands. The recall pertains specifically to 14,000 units produced in 2012 that do not meet manufacturer specifications and therefore present a serious safety risk. It has been determined the strap hook assembly on some of these products are defective and could fail, causing the treestand and user to fall to the ground. Rivers Edge Treestands, Inc. has received one report of an incident with no injuries having been reported to date and is issuing the recall as a necessary response. Product numbers affected by this recall include: RE500, RE501, RE503, RE504, RE506, RE507, RE510 and RE511. Connect on this site with “Deer Hunting” “Outdoor News” or “Bear Hunting” to read the entire media release from Rivers Edge.
It’s 4:00 a.m. on the dawn of September 5 and that means the sun will soon rise on the 2012 Wisconsin bear season. I am in the Mike Foss bear camp in Washburn, Bayfield County and will bring you the entire story when I return. This should be interesting. You have probably seen photos of the estimated 600 pound bears hitting the Foss bait stations in our Diary of a Wisconsin Bear Guide posted weekly under “Bear Hunting”, including the monster boar nicknamed “Wood Tick” due to his enormous belly. Foss has film as of yesterday of Wood Tick getting chased off the bait…by a bigger bear. That station is being manned by the 12 year old who was featured in the diaries two months ago who came to camp with his dad to set up his own stand and help Mike work. Stand by.
Check out “Outdoor News” “Deer Hunting” “Bear Hunting” or “Trapping” to read the latest on the wolf hunt, including the DNR’s response to challenges to the use of dogs during the hunt. I have applied for a wolf permit, (the August 31 deadline has been extended one week see posting under above categories) and will be reporting from the Wisconsin Trappers’ Association convention in Marshfield this weekend, in particular on segments related to wolf hunting.
Federal Trapper David Ruid traps nuisance wolves for relocation and/or radio collaring and will be giving a presentation Friday, September 7th at 1:00 p.m. According to trapping expert and On Wisconsin Outdoors’ consultant Arnold Groehler, Ruid has more experience trapping wolves than anyone in the state. School teacher Tim Sprain has studied wolves extensively and will be giving another presentation and answering question more related to the biology and habits of the animal on Saturday morning, August 8 at 9:00 a.m.
Look for new stories by columnists Darrell Pendergrass, John Luthens, and Gary Engberg under “Inland Fishing”, and “Trips Elsewhere”. Engberg is an expert fishing guide who offers some ways to beat the heat on the water. His column is late being posted and that’s my fault. I lost it temporarily in cyberspace. Luthens hunts the elusive albino buck of Ozaukee County this week and Pendergrass returns from Canada with a story of a young Wisconsin girl with small tactics and a big fish to show for it.
In “Dick’s Trips”, we leave the hunting and fishing fields…briefly…to ATV across Iron County and the longest trails in Wisconsin. The journey was taken in 2011 with some great Iron County hosts. Try your own trip this fall, maybe during peak colors? All the contact information you need is at the beginning of the story. The photos say it all. While you’re in Iron County, I highly recommend checking out the Turtle Flambeau or Gile Flowage. Check out Mercer based guide Jerkbait Hartigan’s report this week under “Fishing Reports” or "Inland Fishing", along with the ongoing reports of our other experts scattered across the state.
We have fishing reports and outdoor information of all sorts that came in from all over this week posted under “Outdoor News”, “Firearms”, “Explore Wisconsin” and other areas of this website. Just “click” around and make yourself comfortable. Don’t forget you can read our September-October issue online on this “homepage” or pick up one of 50,000 copies distributed at 700 Wisconsin locations.
I’ll cut this off now and get to covering the hunt. But, expect photos of the bears that didn’t make it. When Mike Foss puts his mind to baiting, history tells us almost all of his 20 hunters will have the opportunity to squeeze the trigger or release the arrow.
Stand by. Shoot straight. And thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors.
Dick Ellis