Bear batters hunter
Cub's cry lures mother to man's tree stand
By MEG JONES
mjones@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 16, 2007

Hunters know it's not wise to come between a bear cub and its mama.

But what happens when a frightened cub climbs up your tree stand while you're bowhunting, gets scared and starts bawling? Then the cub's angry mother comes running and climbs up after it?

Kevin Schultz, 42, found himself caught in that ursine sandwich while sitting in his 12-foot tree stand late Friday near Ladysmith. Now he has a load of stitches closing up his wounds as well as an incredible story to tell.

It all started around 6 p.m. Friday while Schultz hunted on a friend's property near the small Rusk County community of Tony. Wearing hip boots to traverse a swamp and get to his stand, Schultz climbed up, strapped himself in and waited for a nice buck to come by.

He heard a commotion in a nearby cornfield and hoped it was a buck scraping, but instead he saw four black bears ambling his way. Schultz figured they would stay near the cornfield, but they congregated under the elm tree where he was sitting.

Schultz yelled and motioned at the animals to shoo them away, but their response was just the opposite. The smallest cub got so scared he scurried up the tree. Making matters worse, the cub went right past Schultz to a branch overhead, then started crying for his mama. That put Schultz between the frightened cub and its alarmed mother, the last place he wanted to be.

That's when things really got interesting. And scary.

The sow saw her crying cub, saw Schultz and saw red, so to speak.

She immediately went up the tree after her cub. Schultz tried fighting her off with his bow and his kicks. But the bear quickly got the upper paw.

"She got me by the side and by the armpit and tried to drag me out of the tree, but I had my tree stand strap holding me. Then she tried to pull my leg. She actually pulled my boot off. I think she then thought she had me and took the boot off," said Schultz, who owns a snack, candy and tobacco distributorship in Ladysmith.

He dropped his bow during the fight and was pulled out of his seat, but the safety harness kept him from tumbling to the ground. Schultz isn't sure of the sow's size but estimates she weighed at least 300 pounds because she was bigger than a 200-plus-pound bear he shot a few years ago.

"It didn't really feel painful, it just felt super scary. I felt if I fell to the ground - the 12-foot drop would have been painful, but I think she would have killed me because she would have gone after my head and neck. Everything I was trying to do was stay in the tree. As far as pain, there was so much adrenaline I didn't really feel pain," said Schultz.

After the sow pulled off Schultz's boot, the cub climbed out of the tree and the family of bears left.

It's likely they were in the area because of a dead cow near the cornfield, said Dave Oginski, the Department of Natural Resources conservation warden supervisor in Park Falls.

"It's very uncommon for a bear to initiate contact unless you get between a sow and a cub," said Oginski. Cubs are "taught to go up the highest tree to avoid danger, and that was the highest tree in the swamp."

Despite scratch and puncture wounds to his left leg and right arm, Schultz managed to climb down and drive to his parents' home about a mile away. They took him to Rusk County Memorial Hospital - his heart rate was 200 on arrival - where he spent the weekend. Doctors didn't close the wounds for a few days to allow them to drain. He was stitched up Monday and given rabies and tetanus shots.

Schultz has bite and scratch marks on his foot, ankle and thigh, and a patch of flesh the size of a hockey puck was ripped from his elbow.

He told a warden he didn't want anything to happen to the bear since it was natural for the sow to protect her cubs, said Jim Bishop, a DNR spokesman in Spooner.

The cub that climbed above Schultz would have been born in January or February and though its size is not known, cubs weigh an average of 40 to 70 pounds at this time of year.

Though the encounter was frightening for both bear and human, the incident was unusual. Black bears are generally not aggressive and will usually leave when they hear or smell people. Occasionally bears tangle with hunting dogs, and there have been a few times when a habituated bear that is being fed by humans becomes aggressive.

Wisconsin's black bear population is estimated at 13,000.

"Considering the density of bears and the density of people that use Wisconsin's outdoors, these incidents are extremely rare," said Keith Warnke, DNR big game specialist.

As for Schultz, he's at home recovering. He'll be out of the woods for a while, though he hopes to resume bowhunting when the deer rut begins, and he expects to participate in the gun-deer hunt next month.

He does not plan, however, to return to the property where he tangled with an angry mama bear.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=675609





Now that would just be scary!!

Well, while there are a few bears around here, they are very rare, so it really isn't a concern in this area... However, if I were bow hunting in an area known to hold bears, just for the sake of safety, I'd be carrying a handgun of at least .357 Magnum power...even if I had to keep it hidden to appear legal.... I subscribe to the "Rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it", school of reasoning.

I am with you on that one Joe. I no longer bow hunt, But when I did, I had the Glock in my back pack. I hunted Alone on private land about an Hour from the house. I guess it was to make me at least feel safe. I always said if I got a ticket, I would just pay it and it would be worth it.

Well, even if I were fishing, camping, or just walking in the woods, I ALWAYS carried a handgun... Like I said, there are very few bears in this area, and while I have seen where they have been a couple of times, I have never personally seen one in the wild here... Now I have seen mountain lions a time or two, but I have never known of one doing anything except trying to get away from people..... However, packs of wild dogs have been known to sometimes be a problem here...and I know several people who have had "encounters" with them in the woods when the dogs became aggressive... I have seen dog packs on a number of occasions, and while I have never had any real problems with them personally, still I avoid them whenever possible... Quite often, when trapping on some ranch, I have had ranchers ask me to trap and remove wild dogs, or tell me to just "dispose of" any wild dogs I may catch... Besides posing a possible problem to humans, they are also hard on the deer populations, other wildlife, and quite often even cattle, sheep, goats, or other livestock.

Now we're allowed to pack a pistola while archery hunting.And I do.

There have been people in Bama...one just recently, ...that get mauled, but we can't legally kill them. I guess you "could" if you needed to save yourself..BUT, it would be a helluva political thing to go through since they are heavily protected. One poor guy, the one I refer to as the most recent, he got a hunk of his thigh torn off while bow hunting...just climbed up the stand with him! As for me....if one ever crossed over on my club (now, we don;t have them near us, I'm usiing a big "if")....I;d practice the three S's most likely.


*shoot, shovel and shut up)

(okay, maybe not...but, maybe ...lol..I don;t know..I'd be scared!!)

Yeah they act real stupid with that political crap.I'm with hands but I like the K&S system myself.


KILL AND SPLIT

And that is exactly why I put, "...even if I had to keep it hidden to appear legal..." in my first post.......... And when it comes to things like this I always remember what a friend of mine, who carries concealed without benefit of a permit, says... "I'd rather be judged by 12 than carried by 6."

LOL..so true!! (LOL @ K&S , hemmy!! I like that better!) I would hate to ever be put in a position like that, say if one (or a big cat) were to ever come in my yard....I don't want to break any of the game laws because I do rally so much for hunting and hunters....but, I mean, I don't want any potentially threatening critters in my vicinity either where I have to stand outside with my kid with a firearm just so she can play. And, if I was in the position of making a political booboo or losing my life,....I know which one I'd take!

More bad luck...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,305957,00.html

Hunting Dogs Accidentally Shoot Tama Man During Pheasant Hunt




Hahahahahahaha, "The investigation is continuing"... The DA thinks he can get a confession out of the lead dog!