Lon Feia and his wife own 40 acres on Lakeview Trail on the north side of Lake Mallalieu, Wisconsin. On July 4th of this year Feia spotted a large black bear, and has been anticipating bear season ever since. His neighbors are also aware of this bear, it has left many ruined bird feeders in its wake. Feia was out the first day of bear season, September 7th.

To lure the bear to the 40 acre property, Feia put out food as bait. Then began the month long waiting process. This past Saturday Feia sat for several hours, keeping watch over the bait. He ran into his house for a quick bite to eat, and the bear being a clever bear had taken the bait by the time Feia had returned.

That night Feia was thinking that a bear was getting the better of him and came up with a new tactic for the next day. Sunday Feia decided to put the bait out at noon instead of the early morning. Again Feia waited with his sights on the bait. Around 6 pm the bear showed up. He seemed aware that something wasn't quite right and very slowly creeped within 30 yards of the bait. Feia had wanted to take the bear with his bow, but the distance was not going to work out for him. He used his back-up shotgun loaded with a deer slug. He hit the bear, and then shot again but missed as the bear ran off.

Feia called a couple friends to help track the bear. With night setting in they decided it was better to call it a night, and resume in the morning. At daybreak they were back out and located the dead bear.

The bear’s skull measurements are, unofficially, 16 inches long and nearly 12 inches wide, which would be enough to get it into the Boone and Crockett records.

It measures 7 feet, 2 inches from nose to tail in length, and 6 feet, 10 inches from claw to claw across the front legs.

The Wisconsin record for a black bear is 727 pounds. Feia said his bear actually weighed more than 648 pounds, because its feet were still on the floor when they put him on the hoist scale. They couldn't raise him any higher.

Feia has the meat in his freezer and says it is very good. He is unsure what he is going to do with the bear hide and head, stating it depends on what his darling wife will allow into their home. From Hudson Star-Observer [2].