Wisconsin Woman shoots 553.4 lb Black Bear

[mudbrook]

A Cameron, Wisconsin woman had quite a night during her first year of bear hunting, bringing down a massive black bear.

Racheal Gifford shot the 553.4 pound black bear September 12 near Cameron. Gifford says she and her husband have been baiting the bear and watching him on a trail cam for a few weeks. The bear which they nicknamed 'Marmaduke' finally came in close last week and Gifford made the shot from 15 yards. An official scorer from Boone and Crockett will come and measure the bear to see just where he ranks, but Gifford says she believes Marmaduke will put her in the top 10 in state history.


Here is Gifford’s account of the hunt:
After six years applying for a tag for up north, my husband and I decided that with the rise of gas prices and our busy schedules we would give up applying for our cabin in Exeland and apply for zone C to be able to hunt closer to home. Finally after a long six years I received my first bear tag, I was ecstatic. We started baiting Aug. 11th not knowing that this bear was in the area. It wasn’t long and our trail camera’s showed us we were in for a hunt of a lifetime if this bear would cooperate. I ordered a new bow which ended up on back order and never came until two days after the season opened; meanwhile I had to practice with my old bow. After seeing the pictures of the bear I knew I had to make a great shot. I never got chance to hunt until the first Friday of season. I passed on two bears earlier that night, estimating over two hundred pounds. As I lowered my bow I looked over and the big bear was sitting there. We had no choice but to spook the bear off. We prayed that this big bear which we named Marmaduke would return. We sat the next two nights turning down three more bear and only getting pictures of Marmaduke late at night. I was not able to hunt during the next week due to work schedules until that next Friday. On Wednesday Marmaduke showed up on camera at 6:30, we were excited to see him coming in so early but at the same time disappointed we were not there to hunt. With the acorns starting to fall, a corn field to the south of us and plenty of black berries we knew we had to close on him quick. After a long week finally Friday came and we were ready for the hunt. The night was perfect, the wind was in our favor and we knew tonight was the night. The woods were dead silent and I told my husband
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