Wolf Patrol's video: Wisconsin s Unregistered Unlimited Bear Baiting on National Forest Lands

Since federally protected gray wolves killed a bear hound in a heavily bear baited portion of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest on July 13th, 2019, Wolf Patrol has been monitoring baiting in the WDNR designated Wolf Caution Area. What we are seeing is what we've come to expect with bear baiting in Wisconsin. Despite much of the baiting occurring on the weekends, black bears across the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest have become conditioned to accepting the free handouts from bear hunters and are regularly visiting bear bait sites even when they have no food to offer. This might be why a recent WDNR study found that as much as 40% of a black bear's diet in northeastern Wisconsin is comprised of human food used as bear bait. In Wisconsin, not only can anyone bait for bears without a license, they can even use chocolate which is toxic to bears and other wildlife. And its not just the bears that are being conditioned to being fed by humans on our national forest lands, but wolves too.