I haven't myself but if you can find someone running dogs that will have you , GO

I know you like chasing the squirrel dogs , bear dogs I hear nothing but adrenaline and excitement packed days

the pictures and tales my wife's uncle comes back with , his neighbor up in rice lake area runs dogs

in one day her 2 cousins both got bears.
most of the time dogs tree them so shots are close.
the one cousin had a bear too big for the little trees in the area they shot it. it was 501# he had a picture of it hanging from the scale



I would say anything that takes the possibility of quick shooting , practice it paper plates on target stands with numbers on each plate spread them out and call off a random number target and he punches that number anywhere on the plate counts , speed and good enough to hit the plate start with letting him take his time , then speed it up a little bit by calling no shot if he waits to long.

my son wasn't happy with me at the time of running this drill , but he got so that about 3 seconds he was punching the plate every time , he totally got it when he got his first deer at 12 , deer don't sit still long where we hunt , you lucky to have them stop moving when they see you to turn and run.
he dropped his first deer as she saw him. wasn't even fully stopped and he had her down. that was when he understood the drill that had been so frustrating at first.

I got no bear advice still collecting points , just training to shoot fast and accurate enough to put it where it needs to be

Practice shooting up at a steep angel, if hunting with hounds it is a challenge for youth hunters, also a Lazer pointer is helpful to show youths where to aim, works good.

Great advice GCP also never thought about him shooting up at such an angle. We trained with a lazer pointer on "yard" deer when he was starting to hunt them so I can see the value in it in the woods. Been thinking about finding someone with dogs I know a few but none well but I plan on starting to make some calls soon and get a plan together for bait or dogs or both. Just depends on where when and how lol

One thing I would do is get a bear Target at the very least cut one out of a piece of cardboard and paint it all black so he automatically references the Kill Zone on an all black silhouette. Also don't forget that bait sites for bear are also great Fisher trapping spots later in the year.

We use plastic 55 gal drums here loaded with dog kibble coated in icing sugar.

We drill holes all over the drum just enough for the kibble to fall out and mount them horizontal on a pole about 5 feet up.

The bears have to stand up and turn the drum to let the kibble fall out and it stops the coons from eating all your bait.

I use a 44 Magnum rifle (with HOT handloads) for them so your 3030 should be more than adequate.
We are lucky here we can shoot/trap black bear on our trapping license no need to buy tags.
Good luck!

lots of bear trail cam picks also and point out the best place to shoot when it isn't presenting the target they see in the Hunters ed book bear are also different than deer.

ran into this with my cousins kid this year first year deer hunting he was waiting for the perfect textbook shot , I am whispering trying to coach him on the good enough shot he really did have a good shot head down looking way feeding and he could have gone in right behind the right shoulder and would have been out just in front of the left shoulder right through the hear , but he couldn't see it it didn't look like the pictures of what a good shot is in a book.

I had him on a deer and he waited and waited and waited and it finally walked off, unfortunately he lives 3 hours away and I didn't get a chance to get to the range with him so his shooting skills were also weak , my cousin hadn't shot in 20 years then his son took interest to hunting they did a little shooting from a bench and not standing or positions.

Shot mine this past fall with my dad's old Winchester 38-40, double lung went 70 yards. Big mature bear. Killed bears with bow, black powder and Dad's gun due to neck fusion. I am assuming zone C? Your biggest challenge will be baits go slow or dead week prior to opener. You'll hear lots about bait choices etc. Sweets have their place but trial mix with high nut volume is needed. I have been hunting an hour NE of you for 40 years with bait. Check out Big Bear Down distributor in Cadott for nuts. Check early or their gone. Ask away will help if you wish.

Thanks Bear Tracker I will definitely be checking out BBD in cadott we are hunting zone D so a bit north probably in the north east section as that's where deer camp is but plans may shift a bit before season depending on a number of things. But that's the plan as of now it'd be cool to take a bear from my dad's old deer stand site.