Scott Williams, swilliams@wolfrivermedia.com
Brittany Povolo was hoping to bag a buck, but instead she got the story of a lifetime about her encounter with a black bear in Shawano County.
Povolo and her hunting party were heading out early Sunday morning when a black bear darted in front of their car along state Highway 22 just east of Cecil.
With her father behind the wheel, Povolo, 25, of suburban Milwaukee, spotted the bear from her place in the backseat and did the first thing she thought of: She screamed.
“I was shocked when I saw it coming. It was so unreal,” she said. “But I knew right away what it was. So I screamed, ‘Bear!’”
But it was too late.
The 2000 Chevrolet Impala slammed into the 200- to 300-pound bear at 55 mph, sending the animal’s body flying through the air and causing serious damage to the car.
Although nobody inside the Impala was injured, neither the animal nor the vehicle survived the impact.
The incident occurred about 4:30 a.m. Sunday as the hunting party was heading toward Crivitz for a day of deer hunting, after spending the night with family members in Shawano County.
Povolo’s uncle, John Bauer, had just waved goodbye to everyone when the phone rang a few minutes later and Bauer heard his niece’s voice. “Uncle John,” she shouted, “we hit a bear!”
Bauer, who has lived nearby in the town of Washington for many years, has only heard stories about black bears occasionally turning up in the countryside of eastern Shawano County. He was stunned to see the animal’s crumpled body lying on the roadside.
“I know they’re around, but to have something like this is a rarity,” he said.
Shawano County Sheriff’s Department officials said they generally receive a couple of reports each year of black bear sightings.
Bauer, a hunter who has previously bagged two bears elsewhere in Wisconsin, estimated that the animal was 2 years old and weighed 200 to 250 pounds. Others at the scene thought it could be a 300-pounder.
Agreeing that the bear was quite plump, Bauer speculated that it had been out feeding early Sunday while preparing to hibernate for the winter.
“It was big enough to smash the car — that’s for sure,” he said.
With heavy front-end damage, the Impala was declared a total loss. As the vehicle was towed away, Povolo and her companions realized that their deer-hunting expedition was canceled.
Her father, Brian Povolo, was so distraught that he told sheriff’s deputies to dispose of the bear, passing up the chance for a memorable trophy.
“I was just so disappointed,” he said. “I didn’t really want to deal with it.”
The family headed back to Waukesha County and went shopping for a new car.
Brittany Povolo said she had been confident that this would be the year when she would take home her first buck. But she acknowledged that she did not exactly go home empty-handed.
She said: “I definitely have a story to tell people.”