Mother Nature can be cruel. Not only does she keep 200 inch whitetail from walking within 20 yards of most of us here at Hunting Network, she apparently won’t let any hunter take Wisconsin’s largest black bear ever.

Wade Brochman of Tomah, Wisconsin, was in his deer stand last November finishing out the 2010 gun season when he got word that a very large animal had been found dead on another part of his 800 acre farm. The Monroe county resident thought it was likely just a cow since bears are still relatively rare in the area. Wade was astonished at what he would later find.

Laying dead in one of his fields was not the body of a bovine- it was that of a HUGE black bear! Apparently it had been dead for a couple months.  What was recovered will not only change Wisconsin’s record books, but the entire world’s as well!

The bear’s skull measures 23 5/16 inches! This will shatter the previous Wisconsin record bear - a 22 12/16 inch bruin taken in 2002 by gun hunter, George Spaulding, in Washburn County. It’s also a mere 5/16 of an inch away from tying the current world record black bear (also a pickup) found in Utah in 1975. That bear is currently owned by Cabela’s Inc.

Wisconsin deer hunter, Wade Brochman, holds what could be the new state record black bear.

Based on the skull’s enormous size, the bear is estimated to have weighed over 600 pounds! It should be noted, however, that the bear may have weighed much more than this. During the 2010 Wisconsin bear season there were at least 3 different bears taken with weights well over 700 pounds and not one of those had a skull measurement close to Wade’s bear find.

The skull has been officially scored by a panel in Wisconsin Dells, and has been accepted by the director of records for the Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club. It awaits some final paperwork before the final crowning as Wisconsin’s greatest black bear ever. If this skull is accepted by the Boone & Crockett Club, it would rank third in the world! Not bad for a state that claims the Brewers as its ballclub.

The Hunting Network staff would like to congratulate Wade Brochman on this remarkable find. We’re sure he’ll be thinking about the size of this bear come this fall when he’s walking to his treestand… in the morning… alone… in the dark.