Bear Crossing Outdoors disabled deer hunt is best one yet

BY MATT FREY

THE STAR NEWS

Participation inched upward and so did the success rate at the sixth annual Bear Crossing Outdoors LLC disabled hunter deer hunt, held in Taylor County just outside of Medford Oct. 5-13.

Warm and dry conditions made it easy for the nine hunters to get out and enjoy their time outdoors. The deer also cooperated, allowing eight deer to be harvested, four bucks and four does.

The hunt was started in 2019 targeting veterans with disabilities. There were 781 acres enrolled in the program this year on three neighboring properties –– Bear Crossing Woodland, Double J Ranch and Kohn Farms.

The list of local hunters this year included three newcomers, Bill Vach, John Shear and Lester Bobbe, while Paul Dixon returned after hunting the first year. James Frischmann made his sixth consecutive Bear Crossings hunt, while Robert Denzine, Melvin Doberstein, Duane Pecher and Harlowe Schwartz were back for more.

A crew of local hunters annually volunteers to help get the participants to and from their stands, bring them anything they need and help track, retrieve and field dress wounded/harvested deer. This year’s crew included Jim Livingston, Jack Johnson, Rick Schneveis, Dave Noeldner, Steve Homeyer, Frank Werner, Kurt Staab, Mike Czerniak, Matt Tacke and Gary Kohn.

“It was very rewarding,” said Vach, who harvested a doe in his first Bear Crossing hunt on the evening of Sunday, Oct. 6. “Last year I bought all the licenses and I wasn’t able to go out. I found out about this through Jack Johnson and Jim Livingston. They pointed me in the right direction to get the permits and all. I’m very pleased. I question whether I’ll be able to do it again next year because of my health, so I’m glad I did it.”

“(Livingston) has been after me for a few years to fill out the paperwork and come on out there,” said Shear, who wound up spending portions of five days hunting. “I had enough fun after I shot my deer that I went and sat with another guy. So hopefully this turns into a yearly experience.”

Frischmann has gotten a deer in every Bear Crossing hunt but one. This year’s buck was his largest at the event thus far. He bagged a 9-pointer right around 7 a.m. on opening morning while sitting with his son Scott.

“I was willing to shoot a doe this year too, I didn’t really care,” Frischmann said. “But he didn’t hardly give us a chance to get

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James Frischmann got his 9-point while aided by his son Scott during the opening moments of the 2024 Bear Crossing Outdoors hunt in Taylor County Oct. 5.

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settled in. He was coming from the cornfield, through the woods and then out in that hayfield. He was heading back toward the woods right where they always come and go from. Well, he never made it quite to the woods.”

Frischmann certainly appears to have the lucky stand on the property.

“I told Rick and Mike, ‘I’ll fight anybody, I’ll throw a tantrum if you put anyone else in my stand,’’ Frischmann said. “That first morning, that’s my stand. I’ll walk around just to keep the deer from coming. They just had a chuckle out of that.

“It’s just enjoyable with those guys,” he said of the reasons he keeps coming back. “It’s a good area. There’s deer. You know you’re going to see something. You’re not going to sit there for nine days and you might see a tail or whatever. It’s just about enjoying sitting in deer country, you could say. Everybody that is associated with the program, they’re all good fellas. I sure appreciate all of those landowners giving all of the hunters a chance to sit on good ground.”

One of the highlights for the hunters is an opening day lunch that is served at the Hammel Town Hall, which has served as the hub of the first-day activity for four years now.

The hunt started in 2019 with two custom hunting wheelchair accessible blinds. Now eight blinds have been constructed and were available for use this year and an additional five portable pop-up blinds are available for hunters.

“They’re really nice,” Shear said of the constructed blinds.

Vach was assisted by Staab, both of whom were Medford high school classmates of Frischmann, when he got his doe.

“We were on a large food plot. It was a hayfield,” said Vach, a one-time Marine and a Vietman veteran. “We’d seen a few deer running. The sun went down. Where the sun went down, there were two does. I did not want a shoot a buck. It was Jack Johnson’s property, I wanted to let him shoot the bucks. I just wanted the meat.

“The shot was maybe a little over 100 yards,” he added. “I dropped it right there. It was right on the trail. We didn’t have to do any tracking. It worked out really well. We got rowdy afterwards. A couple of beers. This organization they have, it was very rewarding hunting with them.”

Vach noted this was the first deer he’d ever shot that he didn’t touch, other than taking the picture. A deer hunter all of his life, he was one to gut and skin deer himself. This time, the hunt crew took care of all the details.

“There’s people that probably should be taking advantage of it but probably don’t,” Vach said. “I don’t know if that many people are aware of it. The other thing is a lot of people might be too proud. I’m in a situation now where this is the only hunt I’d have a chance to do. Otherwise I wouldn’t have even bought a license this year. Last year I bought the licenses but I never even loaded the rifle or the crossbow. So this was a great opportunity, especially for the veterans.”

Shear bagged his sizable doe in the middle of the week. The doe was quickly found after she went 40-50 yards after being hit.

“Gary Kohn, he came out and helped me get it back to the truck and he was like, ‘she’s the one that busts you when you’re out bowhunting, so she’s the best one to get out of there,’” Shear said.

Shear wasn’t a hunter growing up in New York state. He said he got turned on to elk hunting when he was ranching in Colorado. Then when he came to Wisconsin, he was part of a group of nine to 10 hunters who got together annually at his father-in-law’s cabin near Wabeno.

“As we all matured and got the complications that come with that then it started slowing down a little,” Shear said. “It’s kinda fun hunting with people, not so much sitting with them, but listening to everybody’s stories when you’re eating lunch, that’s just cool.

“I hope (to come back),” he added. “If nothing else, to come back and help them. I think they’re trying to get some more people (to hunt). Once they know what’s going on, I think more people will go out there. I know they’re trying hard to get the word out.”

Wisconsin sets aside these nine days in early October each year for the gun hunt for disabled hunters. The annual process starts with landowners enrolling their property for the hunts with the Department of Natural Resources by June 1. After the land is enrolled, the list of properties is published on the Wisonsin DNR website and interested hunters who possess a valid Class A, C, D or long-term Class B shoot from a stationary vehicle disability hunting permit have until Sept. 15 to contact sponsoring landowners and set up potential October hunts.

More information on the deer hunts for the disabled can be found on the DNR’s website, dnr.wisconsin.gov. Search key words “disabled deer hunt.”

Bill Vach (l.) got his deer, a doe, during the Bear Crossing Outdoors deer hunt for the disabled with the help of landowner Jack Johnson.

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A nice buck works a field edge in Taylor County in late October. Bucks were on the move throughout the region in early November as the rut hit its annual peak. The mating season is expected to have wound down considerably by the time Wisconsin’s nine-day gun deer hunt starts on Saturday, Nov. 23, the latest start date possible under Wisconsin’s deer hunting season framework.

MATT FREY/THE STAR NEWS

Mel and Melanie Doberstein are pictured with the deer Mel harvested during the Bear Crossing Outdoors deer hunt in early October.

Hunter John Shear took down this doe mid-week during the Bear Crossing Outdoors hunt.

Eight blinds like this have been constructed for disable hunters to use on the properties that host the Bear Crossing Outdoors hunt in Taylor County. An additional five pop-up blinds are available.