Bearly moving: Rash of car vs. bear crashes
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Tuesday, November 3, 2009 1:04 PM CST
By ROD STETZER
rod.stetzer@lee.net
Mike Gappa routinely handled cases involving black bears when he worked for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Even in retirement, he continues to be an adviser on two bear studies being conducted by the University of Wisconsin.
But the Eau Claire man was taken aback after hearing of five bear-vehicle accidents taking place in Chippewa County in less than a week.
“Five bears in a week? That’s a lot of bears,” said Gappa, who retired from the DNR in 2003.
Here’s the list of bear-vehicle accidents according to the Chippewa County Sheriff’s Department:
Friday, Oct. 23: A car-bear collision was reported at 9:13 a.m. on 100th Avenue, 3/4th of a mile west of County G, Stanley. The humans suffered no injuries but the bear did, and the DNR was called.
Then at 11:24 p.m. from Highway 64-East Highway 40, Bloomer, Richard S. Jones of 19925 175th Ave. reported a car-bear accident.
Sunday, Oct. 25: Cadott officer James P. Welch at 10:55 p.m. reported hitting a bear with a squad car.
The officer’s car was actually the fourth to hit the bear, said Cadott Police Chief Louis L. Eslinger.
A semi hit the bear first followed by two other vehicles on Highway 29, a half-mile west of Highway 27, by the Whispering Pines Golf Course.
Eslinger said the Cadott officer then ran over the bear, causing no damage to the squad car. He said it was very foggy at the time.
Monday, Oct. 26: At 5:52 a.m., Judy M. Lindall, 4980 240th St. reported a car-bear crash at 16700 County OO.
Tuesday, Oct. 27: The Clark County Sheriff’s Department reported a car-bear crash at 9:48 p.m. at Highway 29 and County H.
The long walk
Gappa has a hunch about what’s happening.
“A lot of these bigger bears this time of the year, when they get their necessary fat reserves built up, they make what I call the long walk. . . Why they do this, nobody knows.”
Those walks can be more than 100 miles.
Gappa said the bigger boars generally move to the south before finding a spot to settle in for the winter. The next spring they walk back to their homes.
For example, Gappa said one year he put a radio collar on a good-sized boar in Madison. A bear hunter killed the animal later in the year in Shawano County.
“And that’s not unusual,” Gappa said.
The big bear theory gets a boost by Eslinger. He guesses the bear involved in the Cadott crashes was 400 pounds, if not larger.
“I have never seen a bear this big,” Eslinger said.
Smaller yearling bears typically move during July and August. But Gappa said by this time of year they are likely to have found a spot to settle down.
If a lighter bear, about 150 pounds, got hit by a car, Gappa said it’s likely the bear had already settled down in the area.
Gappa said the latest bear hunting season concluded Oct. 13, and it will be interesting to find out how many bear were killed.
In 2008, hunters in Chippewa County took 84 bears, including 38 males and 46 females. In Rusk County, the neighboring county to the north, 197 bear were taken, and Taylor County to the east had 123.
Gappa suspects the movement by the large boars will begin slowing down. But it’s not unusual some of the large bears continue to move around into December.
He suggests drivers be attentive in watching for bear and deer.
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