WDNR confiscates Huge Bear that was hit by combine
This is a story that seems to never end. A few weeks ago it was reported that a farmer near Boyceville Wi. killed a very big bear by accident one night while harvesting corn on his farm. Apparently there is more to the story than was initially reported.
On the night the bear was killed the DNR and the farmer agreed on a fee that both were agreeable to, after some haggling I might add the farmer paid $75 to the WDNR to have the bear tagged legally so that the farmer could keep the bear.
Apparently the agreement of the legal tagging has been rescinded and the DNR has confiscated the bear. A North Dakota man has confessed to shooting the bear during the nine day deer season this year.
This North Dakota man was part of a group of 4 hunters who hunted on the farmers land during the 08 deer season.
The bear was still alive after the farmer hit the bear with his combine and they were having a hard time getting someone to come out and check on the bear from the DNR.
The bear was hit in the neck area by the head of the combine and that is what they thought had fatally injured the bear.
Apparently the game warden that came to the farm on the night that the bear was killed did not properly investigate the scene.
As far as I can tell none of the people involved had any idea they were dealing with a possible record setting bear.
It was dark out and a complete inspection was not done on the bear by the DNR. The farmer and the game warden agreed on a price, the farmer paid the price and the deal was done.
Now the DNR states that the bear was killed by a gunshot to the neck.
How did the DNR get this new information? Apparently the North Dakota hunter told one of his hunting buddies about shooting at a bear while hunting on the farmers land and the rumors started flying around the area. It didn’t take long before the rumor was picked up by the DNR and they investigated.
While this was going on the farmer had the bear processed and the hide taken to a taxidermist for mounting. After all, this turned out to be a rather large bear and he had been told that he should have the bear mounted. He paid $1000 to the taxidermist to start the job.
There are other rumors flying around regarding this bear. There was one that says that Cabella’s offered the farmer $10,000 for the bear. The farmer has denied this report.
When the DNR confiscated the bear from the taxidermist it was confirmed that there indeed was a gunshot hole in the bears neck.
What a mess, now the farmer is out $1000, and the DNR is embarrassed for not investigating this event properly in the first place.