Trad Gang

Two questions that have been on my mind. 1. do you consider it ethical in regards to fair chase to shot a bear that is up a tree? and 2. where would you aim? I would assume the classic quatering away shot would not be available

Am I in the same tree as the bear?

you are on the ground if the bear comes up the tree after you then the heck with fair chase

I'm no expert on bear hunting so I'm interested in what others have to say, i did however shoot a bear in a tree once and I didn't then or now question the ethics of it.  The bear was climbing up the trunk which did provide a 1/4 away angle.  I got a pass thru and it was dead within 30 seconds or so.  It was a mature boar which i've since learned would qualify for P&Y if I wanted to enter it.  This was early in my bowhunting career and I was lucky to get the shot, but I feel like I'd take it again today.  Definately interested in what others think.

Dan

A little more background, I was on the ground and watched the bear go up the tree, then snuck in for the shot.

Yes I would and won't think twice about it. But the likelyhood of it happening is slim unless you hunt behind dogs I'd guess.

CJ

Just this last season I made a stalk on a beautiful blonde and black bear.  I wasn't really sure of his size, and even after I moved to within 20 yards I wasn't sure.  He figured out I was there pretty quickly and started to move off and since I wasn't convinced he was a shooter, I "huffed" at him a few times and that sent him straight up the nearest tree.  I was able to walk right up to the tree and look him over pretty good.  2-3 years old and only about 150lbs. I chose not to shoot.
If he would have been a larger and older I would have.  I guess I can't see the difference in dogs running him up a tree or myself chasing him up there?

have never bear hunted, but you can have my opinion anyways  :)
#1.. as long as you alone chased it up the tree, or if it just was up a tree and you found it, or your in the tree and see it coming up your tree or another tree ..... Yes it's ethical
however going to a ranch or game farm and having assistance from other people or dogs to chase it up a tree.... No ( paying your money and picking out your buck or any animal and all your doing is pulling the trigger or string, isn't hunting or ethical in my opinion )( the exception is hunts for those that have special needs )
#2 aim for the vitals, if it's up a tree ...
your on the ground, you should have a quartering away shot
if your in another tree, you should have a broadside shot
if he's coming up your tree, forget ethical... it's him or you  :)

If you hunt anything, you hunt animals where they roam - deer, fish, coyotes, bears, etc.  Bears will roam into a tree.  

And if your concern is they ran there in duress, than that would infer we would not hunt any animals that are feeling hunting pressure and are fleeing in any manner.  Of course hunters do that all the time and use it to our advantage at times.

On the shot placement question, the quartering away isn't the only ethical shot so I would assume you would choose the best shot angle you have and do your best or pass.

sounds like we're reaching consensus here.  Anybody else done it,  how'd it go?

I never thought I would like hunting with dogs whether it be for pheasants, hogs or mountain lion. Then I tried hog hunting with dogs down in florida and i really liked it. These were bay dogs and you work as a team with the dog which does most of the work. This past year I went pheasant hunting with a brittany and loved that too. It wasa blast watchingthe dog work and find the pheasants and getting them to flush. For bear hunting I want to do spot and stalk but i see nothing wrong with hunting bears over bait or with dogs where legal.

Shoot 'em in the trees !  Got my first bear out of a tree almost 25 years ago (other gear), and don't see any problem with it.

Having said that, I don't think I'd shoot an elephant out of a tree.  Just wouldn't feel right.    ;)

Yes I would.  Wether hound hunting or just seeing them in a tree dur to their tendency to climb them.  Here in Washington State we have no shortage of bears and in many places to many and they become a nuisance. For bear, if it is legal in the state, then I don't have a problem doing it.  

Here in Washington the do gooders foolishly banned dog hunting for bears, now fish and game are trying to reimpliment it on limited scale to get rid of far to many problem animals.  So in my state, I am not likely to shoot a bear in a tree.  If I was hunting in Idaho, I would most definately use dogs, and shoot one in a tree.  

This type of hunting allows you to pick and choose.  You can avoid females, young / imature bears, etc...  It allows you to tree multiple animals and pick out an old boar.  This allows the population to stay healthy.

I don't have any problem with the ethics of shooting a treed bear. Consider that if it were treed by dogs, you likely had already decided to hunt with dogs, and if you treed it yourself, you da man!  :notworthy:

:biglaugh:   at lost arrow!

Never been bear hunting. No season here & most Texans (me) don't dwell on the opportunity. Doubtful I'd ever shoot anything treed. Fair chase Grizz would be an ultimate hunt.

I would think if no branches were in the way you would have a great quartering shot. As for fair chase, how did it get in the tree? I use dogs to hunt birds so I don't think it would be any different if they treed a bear or raccoon.

Dave

Thats how I hunt them and without dogs Killed one as he was comin down bot 10 yds away shoot just before he got to ground

The only time I shot a bear in a tree it was with a rifle, but I agree with lt-m-grow, that is where I found it, so it was fair. It was a dead tree and it was pulling off slabs of bark to get the bugs underneath. I have seen other bears doing that since then too.
BTW, the sausage tasted same as the ones I have killed on the ground.  ;)

My son's buddy from Montana had a Griz pull him out of a tree and chew him up pretty bad. If they go after you when treed, I will go after them treed. Turn about is fair play.

Yes if it was big enough ,, often it's the young bears that get scard and climb trees not too often have I seen a large bear up a tree

I'd definitely shoot, but that's just me. Might make for a fun blood trail...bear jumps out of tree, bear climbs down tree, or bear stays in tree.

For the record, I've never been bear hunting.

Lost Arro  that might make it fair chase. .  but who is chasin who ?
ChuckC

I grew up in WV hunting bears with dogs and for the most part I believe it is ethical.  There are some who will carry 2 or 3 truck loads of fresh dogs all wearing tracking collars and drive the backroads switching out the dogs with new ones and not breaking a sweat until the bear is just too darned tired to run anymore and decides to fight or go up a tree; That I believe is unethical.  I prefer to hunt without dogs now, but that's just a personal preference.  All that being said; every bear hunt I've ever been on with dogs has left me bruised, bloody, and exhausted.  Usually the younger will go up a tree pretty quick, but I've seen big boars go into the next county, stop long enough to kill a couple dogs and keep on for another couple of hours.  Try keeping up with that in the laurel thickets and mountains in WV and then tell me it's not fair chase or ethical.  So yeah take the shot; just make sure no limbs are in the way and pick the spot you want the arrow to exit.

QuoteOriginally posted by Lost Arra:
Am I in the same tree as the bear?

My wife thiks I'm losing it when I start laughing at my computer!!! Too funny!

Why would the bear being in a tree make any difference ?  He can come down and whoop on you any time he wants to.  Why is it different if I am up in a tree and he is the one on the ground ?

Sometimes we think too much.
I think. . . . .
ChuckC

I am a bear hunter; and I think what you did is cool.
I have gotten up close on bears; and not gotten a shot; and took off after them barking; and treed them.
Those bears went so far up the tree I could not see them.. but if I had a shot I would have taken it.
I once had a bear try to pull my from my treestand; and shot straight down at it. I hit it; and it got out of the tree and took off. I followed it; and it charged me; and I stepped back; and it ran past me and up a tree.
I shot it. You can still see on the tree the spot the arrow hit after going through the bear.

I am not into hound hunting for bears- but I have zero problems with capitalizing on their weakness in behavior - just like when a bull elk comes in on a run to a cow call.

I have seen several bears in a tree. I have never taken one that way though. I have found that as a general rule if you can huff or just run a bear up a tree it is probably not going to be a really big bear. I am not saying that is always true, but from what I have seen that is the case.

QuoteOriginally posted by FerretWYO:
I have seen several bears in a tree. I have never taken one that way though. I have found that as a general rule if you can huff or just run a bear up a tree it is probably not going to be a really big bear. I am not saying that is always true, but from what I have seen that is the case.

Ferret,  you pretty much hit the nail on the head, but as you said there are exceptions to the rule.  I can't wait to get back into bear country again.  I've never killed one with my bow and I've never killed one by stalking so that is a big goal of mine.

I don't know about other places, but this country is NASTY.  If you chase hounds around and manage to get to the tree while a big enough bear is still there, shoot it!  I watched Fred Eichler hunting mountain lion a little while back with hounds.  He worked his butt off and made a good shot.

Hunting pheasants over a pointer gives me a much needed advantage.  Still not easy to hit them.

It just occured to me how funny this is.  So if somehow a bear in a tree it is borderline unethical (depending on how it got there), what's the deal with the hunter being in tree shooting at deer that can't come up after you?  Hmmmmmmm...

Not unethical at all in my book.  I can imagine senarios where hunters would hardly be worthy of a trophy they might put on the wall, but that is a different debate.

Had a thought in between chomps of popcorn here: If you'd shoot a squirrel out of a tree, why not a bear? I would shoot a squirrel, a turkey, a bobcat, chupacabra or Charles Manson out of a tree with a bow.

Killdeer

killie what the hell is a chupacabra when its at home?

After days and days on stand and still hunting last spring I chanced upon this bear and up he went...

Had he been a little bigger....  :bigsmyl:  

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/Santiam/P1110157.jpg)

The same thing it is when it's at a Starbucks.
Silly question.

Killdeer  

QuoteOriginally posted by oxnam:
I don't know about other places, but this country is NASTY.  If you chase hounds around and manage to get to the tree while a big enough bear is still there, shoot it!  I watched Fred Eichler hunting mountain lion a little while back with hounds.  He worked his butt off and made a good shot.

Hunting pheasants over a pointer gives me a much needed advantage.  Still not easy to hit them.

It just occured to me how funny this is.  So if somehow a bear in a tree it is borderline unethical (depending on how it got there), what's the deal with the hunter being in tree shooting at deer that can't come up after you?  Hmmmmmmm...

Not unethical at all in my book.  I can imagine senarios where hunters would hardly be worthy of a trophy they might put on the wall, but that is a different debate.

oxnam,  the only thing I don't agree with is the guys that spend all of their time in the truck following their dogs with tracking collars; and then putting fresh dogs on the bear every chance they get until the bear is wore out and doesn't have a chance.  

I've heard chasing bears in Idaho was just brutal as WV, leaving you bleeding and breathless under a tree that the bear was in 5 minutes ago but decided it didn't want to stay.   :banghead:    :D    Completely fair chase and ethical when the same dogs are used the entire time and when you have to try and keep up with them with your ears instead of a tracking device.