Washington County Weekend Post

4B • WASHINGTON COUNTY POST • SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2020 GMTODAY.COM SERVICES Place your ad 24/7 @ www.gmtoday.com/classifieds .COM Southeast Wisconsin DRYWALL CONCRETE CLEANING CARPENTRY AUTO REPAIR HANDYMAN HEALTH & BEAUTY HEATING & COOLING HOME REPAIR & IMPROVEMENT LAWN CARE & LANDSCAPING LAWN CARE & LANDSCAPING PAINTING PLUMBING TILE K ewaskum Middle School student Naiya Iraci went bear hunting for the first time last week. Her inau- gural hunt turned out to be the hunt of a lifetime. On Sept. 9, she shot a monster bear that weighed 720 pounds dressed. Wisconsin does not keep official records on the heaviest bear shot by a hunter, but this one might be at the biggest ever taken. If not, it's on the short list. Naiya, 11, is taking the hunter safety course online. She has hunted turkey and deer before under the mentored hunting program. In that program, those who have not completed hunter safety can hunt if they are with an adult mentor. Her mentor for the bear hunt was Mike Frank, who Naiya calls "Papa." Naiya only had to wait two years to draw a bear tag for management unit C. In other units, the wait can be seven or eight years. In Wis- consin, you can start applying for a bear tag at any age. Mike knew a big bear was living on his proper- ty near Black River Falls. He had the massive bruin on trail camera pictures all summer long. He showed the pic- tures to several experi- enced bear hunters who estimated the weight at 450 to 500 pounds. Naiya looked forward to the hunt and, while she waited, she practiced shooting with a 6.5 Creedmoor rifle. It was powerful enough to put down a bear, but the recoil was something her small frame could absorb. As bear season drew near, they saw some dis- turbing images on their trail camera. The big bear was a regular visi- tor at the bait location, but in the background were the ghostly images of a pack of wolves. The wolves knew better than to mess with a monster bear, but they wanted a share of the bait and they made the bruin ner- vous. A week before the sea- son, they got a picture of the bear running and the next photo showed a wolf running. Then, the bear stopped coming. Appar- ently it was tired of being harassed. That was discouraging but Mike and Naiya did- n't give up hope. On the day before the season, Mike got a picture of the bear when it came to the bait late. Opening day was rainy and not a great scenario for hunting. "He is going to come" Mike confidently said to Naiya. "He is going to get up early. It's cold out. He knows he has to feed." Mike and Naiya got to their enclosed, elevated stand at 5 p.m. and wait- ed anxiously with hope the bear would return. At 7:20 p.m., Mike spot- ted the brute below their stand. The bear did not make a sound as it cir- cled the bait from the woods to make sure things were safe. Finally confident, the bear went to the bait. Naiya decided to take an all-or-nothing head shot. There is no way they wanted to trail a wound- ed bear of that size. At her shot, the bear dropped in its tracks. I'm sure the ground shook when it hit. Naiya's dad, Joe Klahn, heard the shot from the cabin. He raced out to congratulate her and Mike. "I tried to pick up his head," Joe said. "His head was like a hundred pounds." A neighbor came with a trailer equipped with an electric winch. With manpower and the winch, they got it loaded. A taxidermist recog- nized how unique the bear was. He said they should get it weighed before skinning it for a mount. The next day they found a manufactur- ing facility with a certi- fied scale. As the workers looked at the scale, it read 720 pounds. Naiya plans to get a full body mount of the bear, but she does not know where there is room to display it. Her grand- mother, Beth Klahn, laughed and said "I hope she changes her mind on that." LARRY POLENSKE Huntin' for Fun Contributed photo Mike Frank and Naiya Iraci kneel behind the huge bear Naiya shot Sept. 9 near Black River Falls. The bear weighed 720 pounds. Mike was Naiya's mentor for the hunt. Iraci bags huge bear weighing 720 pounds See more hunting and fishing photos and news on Facebook at Larry Polenske Outdoors. Comments or ideas for this column are also welcome.

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