The brotherhood of firefighters is legendary, and never was that bond shining stronger than in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of 343 New York City firefighters.
That anniversary remains a bittersweet one for all firefighters as they recall the disaster but also the heroics displayed on an epic scale.
Kevin Ward, of Markesan, fire chief of the volunteer Marquette Fire Department since 2008, has a deep respect for those members of FDNY and other departments who gave their lives that day. A recent bear hunt in northern Wisconsin has given him a reason to celebrate that date.
“Got up today on 9/11, a day that we all remember … and now I have a great, positive way to remember 9/11,” he wrote on his Facebook page that day.
Ward hunted with Withee guide Brian “Ratt” Nicks and his treeing Walker hounds and crew for five days earlier in the season, took two days off, then returned to the woods of Taylor County for more hunting. Ward is a veteran bear hunter, tagging three in Minnesota that weighed 250-275 pounds, as well as a 150-pounder in Wisconsin before toppling his 590-pound behemoth bruin Sept. 11.
“That one (the 150-pounder) looks like a cub now,” he said.
Bear hunting is a Herculean effort that involves dozens of bait sites called “strike baits” for dogs to strike the bear’s scent. Ratt and his crew of dog owners and helpers monitor the bait sites with the help of 40-plus cellular trail cameras, then release no more than six dogs at a time at a freshly used bait site.
They follow the dogs using GPS collars and portable or truck-mounted GPS screens that show the location of each dog. Some hunting is on national forest land, and some is on private land.
The chase began when Ward, Ratt and a few others were sitting in Ratt’s home workshop, checking trail cams on a phone. One of the cameras less than a mile away showed a decent one, so the race was on.
Mike “Clyde” Nicks, Ratt’s brother, released the first two dogs, followed by four more from the Joe Creek Bear Hunters gang. The bear led the dogs and hunters through woods and cornfields, with Ward and Ratt in Ratt’s truck trying to flank the bear’s path while other hunters moved closer.
At one point, Ratt’s truck got stuck in the mud. While Ratt called for a tow from his posse, he noticed the bear turning and heading for a nearby ambush spot near a tree stand.
“You need to get that gun loaded now,” he told Ward.
The stuck truck meant Ward had to run a few hundred yards to the woods opening. The bear changed course again, and after getting the truck pulled out, Ward and Ratt drove to a spot in the center of a divided cornfield where two others had left an ATV. Ward and Ethan Grunseth used the ATV to advance where they believed the dogs were pushing the bear.
Grunseth’s handheld GPS showed the dogs were closing on them. The corn muffled the dogs’ howling, Ward noted. Soon, he saw the tops of the cornstalks shaking violently and had his Ruger 7mm Remington Magnum ready, with Grunseth as his backup shooter.
Ward saw the bear about four rows in, standing broadside but didn’t shoot, because he saw a flash of movement and thought it might be a dog. The massive bear finally stepped into the open lane at 25 feet, and Ward looked through his scope, which was set on its lowest power of 3.5.
“All I saw was black in the scope,” he said.
He looked over the scope to line up the crosshairs and fired just as the animal took a step forward. The bear did a nosedive into the turf, then got up and ran toward the second section of cornfield.
The bear ran about 50 yards into the cornfield, and the two men waited for the dogs to enter that section. They saw blood on the trail, so they knew the shot hit meat. The wait was unnerving.
“Is this thing swatting dogs?” Ward recalled thinking. “What’s it doing?”
One of the dog handlers then said, “Get ‘em” to the hounds, so Ward and Grunseth knew the bear was down for the count.
Using a special nylon tow strap with loops sewn by Justin Burns, five men looped the strap over the bear’s neck and grabbed the loop handles to drag it about 50 yards to the truck.
After gutting, it was taken to The Safari Room Taxidermy in Medford for skinning. Ward is planning to have a half to three-quarter mount and will keep the skull for scoring to determine if it qualifies for the Boone and Crockett Club record book. He’s already been enjoying some of the meat, which will keep his freezer stocked for a long time.
For more information about a bear or bobcat hunt with Nicks, call 715-965-0630.
Ross Bielema is a freelance writer from New London and owner of Wolf River Concealed Carry LLC. Contact him at Ross@wolfriverccw.com.