Here’s a report from the bear woods of the north.

Few and far between – at least in the area around Crane Lake

near Orr, Minnesota.

Chuck Kannegaard, his father Dave and friend Mike Nelson, Jr.

hunted five days earlier this month from stands around a huge

swamp four miles from the nearest road.  Mosquitoes and grouse

were numerous but bears were hard to find.

The bear pictured in this post is the only one they saw during

their trip.  Their bait piles were being hit nightly by bigger bears

but those animals were scavenging only in the dark.

Charles Kannegaard killed this 140 pound male at 7:45 p.m. on

opening day.  He said it was the largest registered at the local

station all week.  And many other hunters reported seeing no bears.

The Kannegaard party used granola, liquid hickory smoke and left-

over spaghetti for bait.  A Carbon Express Rage one hundred grain

expandable arrow was used to drop the bear in his tracks.