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Indiana hunter scores 614-pound bear in Wisconsin

Mark Smith, of Knox, Indiana, shot this 613-1⁄2-pound bear (live weight) in Sawyer County the evening of Sept. 9, the opening day of the bear season. (Contributed photo)

Opening day of bear season is a busy time at Whiskey Ridge Sport Shop on Hwy. 70 in this normally sleepy Northwoods Wisconsin crossroads community.
Owner Mark Heath sells sporting goods, but he also operates a meat-processing plant that caters to deer and bear hunters. On the afternoon of Sept. 9, hunters started showing up with the first bears of the season. By the end of the night, 32 bears had come through the doors. The biggest bear of the day and, as it turned out, of the season as of Sept. 23 was a 613-1⁄2-pounder shot by Mark Smith, of Knox, Ind.

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