Black Bears in Southwestern Wisconsin

The following article appeared in our local paper (The Muscoda Progressive) last week which I found very interesting. The author and chief editor, Wendell Smith, provides unique insight to the increasing bear population in Southwest Wisconsin.

Random Thoughts of the Editor
A weekly column written by Wendell Smith in The Muscoda Progressive - 6/10/2010

The big topic of discussion in this community in recent days is not: "What do you think about the BP oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico?" or "Who is going the be the next Wisconsin governor?" or even the old standard "Think it's goin' to rain?"

It seems everywhere we go, the question is, "Have you seen a bear?" No, we have not seen a bear, but other folks have. The talk of the Town of Eagle Memorial Day morning was the bear sighted in the Richland County Hwy E area at its southern end. On some days it seems as though bear sightings are sprouting up more quickly than morel mushrooms in May. In recent weeks folks have been talking about seeing bears throughout SW Wisconsin.

It kind of reminds me of the excitement a deer sighting could cause in those first years we were in Muscoda. I recall the late Otto Mueller, south-side car mechanic and our neighbor, coming back from a trip to the Hickory Flat area, all excited because he had seen a deer. Believe it or not, in those days, farmers would get on the phone and call the neighbor if a deer was in sight - sort of like what is happening now with bears.

Guys who wanted to hunt deer didn't give this area much thought.  They headed to Jackson, Juneau, Wood or other counties to the north. Deer registration in this area was done just at the then Conservation Department (later DNR) nursery in Boscobel. So few hunters were successful in bagging a deer in this vicinity, I would go to the nursery and copy down the names of people who gunned one down - because it was news.

We hear a lot about disappearing habitat. But, you know, as the small farms disappeared, agriculture methods changed, including not pasturing the hillsides. That has resulted in the woods being much more dense. This area has become more wild with large acreages never experiencing a human footprint except perhaps in deer season. When you drive slowly along a rural road, there are many places you cannot see into the woods at all, or maybe just for a few feet. There could be all kinds of things in "them thar woods - maybe a b'ar" for a modern day Davy Crocket. Perhaps soon we will see one of the bears unless some other wild critter gets in the way, like a wolf or a cougar!