KENT CITY -- Don Corrigan has had a good year in the woods.
Courtey Photo | Corrigan FamilyDon Corrigan and his son, Jake, are shown with the 500-pound black bear Corrigan downed on private property near Woodville in Newaygo County. "It took me nine years to draw the tag and it took me three nights to get him," he said.The Kent City resident trekked to Colorado in September and shot a four-by-four elk with his bow on public land in the Rockies. Days later, he downed what likely is the second-biggest black bear killed in Michigan and possibly the seventh-ranked bruin ever.
"It took me nine years to draw the tag and it took me three nights to get him," Corrigan said of the 500-pound mammoth he killed with his 9-year-old son, Jake, by his side.
"I picked (the location) originally because it's close to home and a lot of people in this area don't know there are bears around here.
"So, I stayed close to home to show people there are bears in Newaygo County," said Corrigan, 38.
With the help of Mike Perrin, owner of Rod Benson Game Calls, Corrigan set up shop about 45 feet off a bait pile on private property Perrin had permission to hunt near Woodville. Perrin kept the bait active while Corrigan was out West. It took about a week for the bear to move in.
"I told Don before he started hunting that he would probably kill this bear. I had like 45 trail camera photos of that bear in one night, so he was real close," Perrin said.
"This bear was just living there, he wasn't going to leave. You could see where he would lay down 30 yards off the bait, then go back to eat."
When Corrigan returned from Colorado, there were only four days left in the weeklong bear season, and he headed to the blind with his son. The two spotted the bear the first night, when it came within 15 yards of the bait pile, sat down, then left without offering a clear shot.
The next night, the bear didn't show, but trail cameras caught him on the bait pile about five minutes after Corrigan left for the night.
Around 8 p.m. Sept. 22, just before dark, the bear came in and Corrigan fired a 270-caliber 150-grain bullet through his shoulders. The bear stumbled about 40 yards into a thicket, where Corrigan and Perrin found him a couple hours later.
"I guess it was the next morning when I started showing him to everyone ... that I realized how big he really was," Corrigan said.
An unofficial green score, or the measure of the bear's skull before the mandatory 60-day drying period, came in at 2214/16 inches.
The Michigan state record black bear was killed in Montmorency County in 1997. It measured 23 inches, although it never has been verified for worldwide ranking by Boone and Crockett officials.
The world's largest black bear, which measured 2310/16 inches, was found in Sanpete County, Utah, in 1975.
A typical bear skull can shrink about one-sixteenth of an inch, said Justin Spring, assistant director of big game records for Boone and Crockett, which tracks the world's largest found or killed animals.
Corrigan's bear likely will "be tied for seventh of all time with two other trophies submitted with that score," Spring said.
