Bear Hunters Use Bait & Hounds to Kill Thousands of Black Bears in Wisconsin

/ Wolf Patrol

Every year in Wisconsin, thousands of black bears are killed by hunters with the aid of bait and hounds. Bear hunting today is no longer a skilled challenge, instead hunters dump literally tons of food in the forest to attract bears.

Wisconsin allows bear hunters to dump literally ten gallons of food waste including fryer grease at bear bait site daily…and at as many baits as you care to establish on our public lands. From Facebook group, “Bear Hunting Wisconsin” 09/11/20

Next come bear hunting hounds with GPS collars that trail bears from bait sites until they can be treed and killed. In Wisconsin, both the U.S. Forest Service and Wisconsin’s Natural Resources Board allow unlimited bear baiting from April until October.

Gresham Bear Hunters operating in portions of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest where wolves have killed numerous bear hounds and hunters have responded with poisoning wolves near bear bait sites.

The intentional feeding sites don’t only attract bears, but wolves as well. When bear hunting hounds are released from bait sites that wolves recognize as a feeding site, they are often killed by the wolves and eaten.

The Voyogers Wolf Project has proven through telemetry tracking that wolves become habituated to feeding from bear bait sites in Minnesota & Wisconsin.

Now Wisconsin bear hunters are retaliating for their hounds being killed by placing poisons that are killing not only wolves, but wildlife and even other bear hunting hounds. Wolf Patrol is offering a $5,000 reward for information on the scum responsible. You can remain anonymous, as long as you tell us who has been poisoning wolves in Wisconsin in recent years.

For the past two years and possibly longer, Wisconsin bear hunters have been poisoning wolves and other wildlife near bear baiting locations. The poisons have also killed numerous pet dogs, hunting dogs and other wildlife.

Wisconsin’s bear baiting regulations allow unlimited bear bait sites, without any requirement for registration or license. Even chocolate is legally allowed to be fed to bears even though it’s been proven to be toxic and deadly, especially to bear cubs and wild canines.

Bait dealers sell expired human food waste by the truck load to Wisconsin bear hunters who dump over 4 million gallons of bait annually in Wisconsin, most of it on our national forest lands where it comprises up to 40% of a black bear’s diet in the state.

Already this year, 20 separate deadly fights have been reported between bear hunting hounds and wolves, leaving 19 dogs dead and three injured…and still both the U.S. Forest Service and Wisconsin’s Natural Resources Board do nothing to limit or regulate bear baiting on our public lands.

From Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources gray wolf web page: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/WildlifeHabitat/wolf/dogdeps.html

Please join Wolf Patrol in our call for an end to bear baiting in our national forests and the end of Wisconsin’s two-month long summer bear hound training season, when most hounds are killed.

Feeding bears isn’t hunting…it’s just plain stupid.

We are asking concerned citizens to send emails to both Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest officials and Wisconsin’s Natural Resources Board, asking for an end deadly practices that are habituating both bears and wolves into being fed by humans. Feeding wild bears is not only dangerous, it’s just plain stupid!

Jeff Reeves of Eagle River, Wisconsin is a hound hunter who feeds bears recreationally on his private property which is illegal…Wolf Patrol has reported his activities to WDNR for over two years and the agency has taken no action to stop him from baiting bears for his pleasure.

Here are the agencies in Wisconsin that you need to express your opinions too today:

Chequamegon-Nicolet-Nicolet National Forest officials:

cnnfadmin@fs.fed.us

Wisconsin Natural Resources Board:

Laurie.Ross@wisconsin.gov