Hunting with man’s best friend

Wolves and man formed a symbiotic relationship that some believe might date back 23,000 years ago in the area we call Siberia today. That led to the domestication of wolves and their transformation into modern dogs. Modern dogs trace their genetics back to an ancestor of gray wolves from Siberia.

Archeologists consider dogs an early ‘technology’ that humans used to survive 15,000 years ago. The dogs cleaned human camps by consuming the scraps and bones that would draw large predators into their encampments. They provided warmth on cold nights, warning against intruders of all sorts that human eyes, ears, and noses couldn’t detect, and they aided in the gathering of food.

Dogs, then and now, possess the ability to track animals across terrain that humans can’t. Their sense of smell detecting trace scents, trailing that scent, and holding the quarry at bay until humans caught up with their faster four-legged canines.

The Wisconsin Bear Season started today with the dog hunters. Wisconsin’s landscape supports 24,000 black bear according to the DNR. The department issued 12,760 licenses with a projected harvest goal of 4,575 bears this season, a slight increase over last year. Hunters often wait more than eight years for a harvest tag earning a preference point for each year they apply for a tag and don’t draw one. Black bears provide tasty meat. Hunters consider it a true accomplishment to harvest a bear by the aid of dogs or bait.

The tradition of using dogs to hunt bear dates back to when humans crossed the land bridge between Siberia and North America. Inuit hunters still use their dogs to hunt polar bear, well described in Ted Kerasote’s book, “Bloodties.” Using hounds to trail game played an important part in the formation of our country. Hunters like Daniel Boone, David Crockett, and Holt Collier - a former slave that is credited with harvesting more than 3,000 black bears in the Mississippi River’s Delta region after the Civil War – all hunted game with dogs. Those hunters, and more like them, provided a growing nation with meat, bear oil, and hides for leather. How would we hunt bear in Wisconsin without the aid of dogs or bait? The answer is pretty unsuccessfully. The landscape of our state dictates how we hunt as it does in most places.

Pretty much every bear hunt with dogs sounds a lot like the hunts David Crockett wrote about in his autobiography. They involve a long walk, at least one steep hill, a creek, if not a river to cross, and sloshing through a good-sized swamp. Then there is the drag out, back across the same swamp, creek, up the hill, and through the woods.

But before that hunt takes place someone raises pups, trains the pups, cares for the pup’s needs as it grows into a dog. They continue with that after it becomes an adult dog. They plan a good portion of their life around all this so that their dogs can trail and tree bear. A lot of effort and dedication goes into hunting bear with dogs.

It’s part of our area’s culture, part of our country’s culture, and it’s worth preserving. Black bear hunting regulations date back to the 1930s. At one time hunters could fill their gun deer tags on black bear. Today, black bear hunting involves intense management and harvest authorizations. The result provides a robust population and demonstrates the effectiveness of the North American system of wildlife management.

This year’s bear season for the dog hunters will run until October 3rd along with the management zones that don’t permit hound hunting. The bait hunters in the northern zones start September 13th, next Wednesday, and they hunt until October 10th.

An experienced bear hunter once told me that everyone spends all their vacation on the first week of their season. But if bad weather hits or bears move off the baits for acorns, corn, or apples, the hunting gets real hard. He told me that the last week of the season can be the best week with the least amount of pressure.

A lot of dream hunts start today and next Wednesday. Many hunters and those that accompany them will see their first wild bear today. They may not harvest that bear, but they’ll never forget that first bear. I wish all the bear hunters all the luck in the world, but please remember, Safe Hunting is No Accident!

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