Bear Dispatched After Combine Lands On It

[379 Peterbilt]

Full story.....

http://www.bear-hunting.com/news.cfm?Action=News&NewsFlashID=255

[SDS-GEN]

This e-mail has been going around for a few days, I was wondering when it was going to show up on this sight.  So far this bear has been killed is 3 states, IL, WI, and MN and dozens of towns including 3 communities by me.  The farmers name has also changed a few times.  the bear is somewhere between 5 feet and 8.5 feet and weighs between 250 and 800 lbs.  Apparently it was hibernating in its den in the middle of a corn field, despite temperatures that have barely dipped below freezing this year and an obviously large supply of grain to eat.  I doubt the combine would have stopped in the hole, probably would have just rolled right over it.  The REAL story is as follows.

This is a rare breed of burrowing zebra that has established a small feral population in the U.S.  This happened in Westchestertonville, IA and the farmer's name is Peter Fitznugli.  The best part is his brother-in-law is an amish guy who shot this giant buck with a crossbow in Ohio, or was it Kentucky.

Don't believe everything you see on the internet, this may be real but I doubt it.  A couple of years ago someone found a Cougar here in Illinois that someone else had shot with a bow.  It was in every paper within 100 miles and the guy was on TV and radio every day for two weeks giving interviews.  There was video of the lion and law enforcement statements to back it up.  This story about the bear, so far, doesn't have much verifying its authenticity.

[379 Peterbilt]

LMAO on the zebra pic post, LOL

With the information superhighway, one must have the capability to sort the wheat from the chaff. The bear/combine pic may/may not qualify. I posted it as information for the viewer. .. One can read and draw own conclusions.

Again, lol on the zebra pic  . Funny

[GregP42]

Is this the deer your talking about, crossbow kill in Ohio.

http://ohiodnr.com/wildlife/dow/Photos/PhotoDetailHorizontal.aspx?Num=6984&pagingresultsid=5726979&queryid=52846&PageNo=7&numperpage=36

Greg

[SDS-GEN]

Greg,
That looks like the deer I've been seeing.  The only thing I've seen that's been consistent in this picture is that it's a big, dead deer.  Again the hunter's name remains anonomous and kill locations keep changeing.  I think more on this has been posted in the deer hunting forum.
Being that this has finally showed up on an official DNR website will lend some credence to it.  I do find the deer story much easier to believe than the bear one.

[GregP42]

Greg,
That looks like the deer I've been seeing.  The only thing I've seen that's been consistent in this picture is that it's a big, dead deer.  Again the hunter's name remains anonomous and kill locations keep changeing.  I think more on this has been posted in the deer hunting forum.
Being that this has finally showed up on an official DNR website will lend some credence to it.  I do find the deer story much easier to believe than the bear one.

SDS,

If I can find it I did see the real news story on the bear, it was from a TV station or DNR sight, just have to remember where it was. If I can find it again I will post that one too.

As for the deer, he was shot opening day here in Ohio and has been on the DNR site since abot 2 or 3 days after he was checked in.

Greg

[SDS-GEN]

The bear story was on the news from an "ap wire source".  Some local radio guys around here were trying to track down the people in the photo without luck.  I think the news said that this happened in Taylorville, IL. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but it sure didn't happen in Illinois or it would have made national headlines.  When was the last time anyone has seen a wild bear in Illinois, let alone hit one with a combine?  The story is suspect to me and I'm sure it will be proven or debunked in the next couple of weeks.  Either way, if it's an interesting occurance or a funny hoax, we seem to be having fun with it.    

[SDS-GEN]

OK, I'll eat my share of crow on this one.  Here are the details, straight from the farmer who ran over this bear.  Troy Derosier ran over the bear near Oscoela, WI.  The bear was in a burrow in a corn field that Troy rented.  This happened at the end of October.  Troy is not a hunter but was going to have the bear rugged, it weighed around 300lbs.

[379 Peterbilt]

Hmmmmmmmmmm......





The rest here...
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/bearcombine.asp

[Editor]

I'm the managing editor of The Country Today newspaper, a rural news publication based in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. I'm happy to see that people have started to figure out the truth about the photos of the bear trapped by the combine -- that, as our newspaper reported, it occurred in northwest Wisconsin. Actually, it was one of two that occurred in Wisconsin that week (the other was a bit to the southeast of the first, near Osseo, Wisconsin).

This matter shows the danger of depending upon blogs and e-mails for the "real stories" behind such an incident. Professional journalists are trained to check facts before reporting them and strive to get and report the facts as they are and bloggers and e-mailers are free to create stories as quickly and easily as their imaginations can go. Incredible as it might seem, there are clowns in this world who get their hands on something such as the story about the bears trapped by the combines, take the photos and pass them off as their own stories -- complete with locations hundreds of miles from where the actual incidents.

Even more troubling is that there are REAL PEOPLE who get caught up in something like this. Imagine a photo of yourself suddenly popping up all over the country with someone else's identity attached. Anyone involved with taking an interesting story and photos and twisting it into their own tales should be ashamed of themselves and owe apologies to our newspaper and the farmers involved with this incident.

If anyone would like to see the real stories about news such as the combines that trapped the bears, I invite them to read newspapers such as ours -- operated by news organizations that have real journalists.

Scott Schultz
Managing Editor
The Country Today
Eau Claire, WI

countrytoday@cvolnet

www.thecountrytoday.com

[379 Peterbilt]

Editor, Scott, first off welcome to GBO.

You covered many things in the above post. From what you say, it sounds like snopes got it right - Wisconsin. Yep, the 'net is full of erroneous tales, blogs, etc, no doubt (who could ever believed the Illinois version ). It sounds like you have the firsthand information on the bear/combine story(s). I browsed your newspaper website, but could not find the story on this (archives). If you could copy/paste it into a post, or perhaps post the link, that would be great. I'd enjoy seeing it. I found nothing on the Wisconsin DNR's website btw.

PB

[gutshot_again]

Today in the pioneer press

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/16172917.htm

So.... bloggers always lie and "real" reporters never lie, never give thier own (or thier editors) slant on a story.  I guess all the stats on the liberal media bias was made up by bloggers.  Dan Rather must have been a blogger.

[Gusto]

Hello,

I am the Director of Marketing for Bear Hunting Magazine and I also maintain the News Flash section of our website www.bear-hunting.com . For the record, I was sent the same e-mail as everyone else, however I don't usually buy the "facts" going around in these e-mails so I began to make phone calls to various offices of the Wisconsin DNR. I tracked down John Hofer and Troy Derosier--participants in both of the bear/combine incidents. I spoke with them on the phone and also exchanged e-mails with John Hofer. As far as I know we were the first publication anywhere who found the Hofer story, since it was in no way related to the Derosier story being circulated on the internet.

Every fact in the stories on our website was personally confirmed by me. While it is possible that The Country Today was the first publication to have the Derosier story (I don't know when you published it and I have never seen your publication) we certainly did not copy or plagiarize any information from your newspaper. I hope there are no hard feelings, however I must clarify that every fact on our site was obtained directly by us. We work very hard to verify facts in our magazine and on our website. Thanks.

Gary Gustafson
Director of Marketing
Bear Hunting Magazine
"The Bear Hunting Authority"
Phone: 888-420-6966
gary@bear-hunting.com

[gutshot_again]

Gary, my point is that making blanket statements about professional reporters always check their facts and bloggers make thiers up doesn't hold up.  I don't doubt for a minute that both the Bear Hunting Magazine and The Country Today verify facts before publication, and will continue to believe so until proven wrong. 

However, there are also bloggers that are very careful to check thier facts.  Yes, there are bloggers that make up stories, but then again there are pro's that create facts, make up stories, and stretch the facts - not to mention putting thier own slant to a story.

[Gusto]

I agree with everything you have said. Many times bloggers are the only accurate source of news about certain issues. I actually wasn't replying to your post I was replying to Scott's just in case he thought we had copied his story.