I took a trip to Northern Wisconsin to meet up with a buddy of mine and to sit near some bear baits to see if i could capture a few images. I arrived in high hopes as he had been seeing a lot of bears due to breeding season right now.  I took a short ride into an area where i was dropped off. Once we located a good spot to sit my friend took off and I set up my little one man Ameristep blind that i use for a lot of my photo work. I knew the bears would be curious and check this new "item" out but as long as I didn't do something stupid I knew from experience that I would be fine.  I did have a small bear sniff the outside of the blind but he showed no aggression so I let him do his thing.  Not long after he had come and gone a sow with two small cubs appeared within 20 yards but stayed hidden with her cubs only giving a few quick photo opts. The last bear of the night was a large Boar but he knew something was different once seeing the blind and made his way back to where he came from with no opportunity for photos.  I was only there 2 1/2 hours before the weather turned and storms blew in. I am hoping to head back within a couple weeks and try and spend the weekend.

 For this shoot I used my Canon 60d and the Tamron 150-600mm for a short period of time however because bears live in dark places  I ended up having to move closer to their trail and use my sigma 70-200mm 2.8 lens.

Side Note: If you have never been around wild bears please take someone that has with you until you are comfortable around them and know how to "read" a bear's attitude.  They are wild animals and can hurt/kill you if you don't respect them or give them their space.

Also as you can see by the images the mosquitoes were everywhere. If you are outdoors where they are this bad I highly recommend a Thermocell. They are worth every penny and let me sit Mosquito free while I was there.

peak a boo Black bear