Meet Dawn – Wisconsin mother, wife, huntress

Hi, my name is Dawn and I was born and raised in Wisconsin. I have 2 children both which are fully grown adults now. I have a love for the outdoors; my passions include hunting, fishing, and archery. My story is about the fall of 2015 my first bear hunt with the bow.

I grew up bear hunting with dogs but as I got older I always wanted to try bear hunting with the bow. In these parts of the woods it takes a few years to get a tag for bear hunting. Once I received my harvest tag the excitement began to build that this was really going to happen. My husband and I hooked up with a buddy of ours who had bear hunted several years with the bow. We spent three months getting baits ready and baiting at least twice a week until opening day finally came.

Opening morning my husband and I got up bright and early for the hour drive to our stand, we got there got out to the stand and we sat and waited. Morning came, morning went and still no sight of a bear. That afternoon we decided to come down out of the stand and go for a little drive to the nearest town where we got a bite to eat. We returned back to the stand that evening and sat. Well my husband was playing of his phone and was showing me something, all of a sudden we heard a noise, which we believe was a bear that either spotted us or got wind of us. We did not see that bear that evening. We came home and after talking with a few friends who had bear hunted they explained that they only hunt the evenings so not to spook a bear of the bait in the early morning.

The next day came and we head back up to our stand, it was about 1 o’clock in the afternoon when we got up in the stand. I had decided to grab a bottle of caramel from the store, which I squirted all over the trees around us to use as a scent cover. We decided to sit as still and we could, I watched the squirrels run up the trees and knock down pine cones and watch them carry them away to their home. While sitting there I was able to see a hawk swoop down and grab a squirrel of a tree as the squirrel fought with the hawk. Nature truly is amazing. Shortly after that moment, without warning I heard a twig break and looked to my right and not more than ten yard from us was this bear strolling into our bait. He stopped looked over at me and stood there smelling the air, he took a step toward us as though he wanted to come in our direction. My heart was pounding fast as I watched him. My husband was sleeping in the stand as I nudged him to let him know that there was a bear. The bear moved forward toward the bait and was eating; he was about 15 yards out at this point. I stood got ready to make my shot on the bear, calm as a leaf I pulled back and took aim. As I released the arrow I was focused on the spot I wanted to hit and as the arrow hit I seen the blood come flowing out and knew I had been successful with my hunt. I was so excited I couldn’t sit and I couldn’t stand I wanted to jump up and down with excitement as the adrenaline pumped through my veins.

I believe that no dream is to big, and if you want something bad enough you will pursue it. Don’t miss out of what your dreams are. There are always others who have done it before you and are always willing to help and see you succeed in your dreams. I am very thankful for my husband for being by my side every step of the way and for all the help that was given to us from our buddy Travis.