Anybody?

Just went for a Preference Point again. I figure I have one more bear hunt in me.

Moosetrot

I had nine points, no tag.

My son got his first bear tag and I also got one, will be an interesting year

I drew with 13 points in Zone A

I have so many issues with the WI dnr bear season structure, etc that I have given up on them completely. Good luck to all who draw.

My son got a tag so I guess will be back in woods this fall. I quit applying because just helping my son is enough work me to handle.

Mac

Are there so few bears, or so many hunters, there has to be a draw? Do you think hunters would kill all the bears if there was an open season?

I drew with 4 points.

WS

Got some friends back there, hound guys and one of them drew this year. They said wherever they are it is up over ten years now, you need about 12 points to really figure on drawing.

Martentrapper, they have a ton of bears, but they also have a ton of hunters, and I suspect none of the surrounding states have an open season either, so if they went to an over the counter tag they would be inundated with hunters. Wisconsin has some good hunting and trapping, but you have to draw a tag for practically everything but deer, those they practically give you extras.

I guess if I ever want to go on a bear hunt I should start collecting points , for all the years I bought a conservation patron license I sure would have thought I had more than zero

I have a fisher point

looking a little deeper I had some bear points in the past but apparently they expire if you don't keep applying or submit for a draw.

Are there so few bears, or so many hunters, there has to be a draw? Do you think hunters would kill all the bears if there was an open season?

No WI is estimated to have somewhere between 25 and 30K of black bears in the state, which is significantly higher numbers then 20-30 years ago. As you can read on the above chart about 15k permits are issued each fall and roughly 4K of bears are harvested annually give or take a couple hundred. That means that the success rate is about 27% for those with permits. Which to me seems low when one considers the population we have and our hunting methods using baits and hounds. There are signifcantly more hunters applying for permits each year then there are permits granted. So with a fairly low success percentage for those with permits and needing several points in many cases to be successful, getting a chance to harvest a bear in WI with all the bears we have is slim. I applied in 1988 and got a permit. It was 90 degrees that day and I was sweating badly, stunk like H quit at 6 PM and went bass fishing! I miss the non kill tags when you could go out and read sign, and seek out bears but did not have a kill tag.

Bryce

I'm gonna start putting in for points this year.

This does not sound like Wisconsin. I can not remember a year that we did not have a chance to fill all of our tags. Wisconsin also has a training season. you can bait and train hounds all summer long. There are alot of bears most everywhere, not a trophy state I would admit, but if you do not get a bear, Its cause you didnt try enough.

Success rate depends what zone you’re in and method. Hounds have a much higher success rate but can only be used in the northern three zones.

The success rates in the northern zones far outpace the southern zones by so much it's hardly comparable. If I remember right, zone B has a success rate around 60%.

It's the same argument with all the draw species in Wisconsin, I understand folks wanting more tags so there's more opportunity, but at what cost? Double the tags means double the guys in the woods. Maybe fine for those with private land, but what about the public land guys? Imagine if there were twice as many trappers out there and you saw 3 other trappers' traps while checking yours. You'd be competing with twice as many baits in the woods.

My brother in law drew a tag for zone B this year so I'm looking forward to a summer full of trail cam pics and hopefully some exciting close encounters like this one.

You have to remember, not all the people who get a tag even hunt. Some are antis putting in to take tags out of the equation, but many are people that put in and then are busy or lazy when the season comes and either don't go out or only go out a time or two. And of course some of the hunters are physically impaired, and some just flat don't know how to hunt.

What the heck is a non kill tag? I know you can pursue bears in Wisconsin with hounds without needing a license, and I've never heard of any state where you can't go out and read sign and look for bears without a license.