Last year we had a Bear around on our land and I found fresh poop in October and saw it on November 27 which was way late I figure. I plan to set up for it this Fall and was wondering about the follow up after the shot. If there is a shot, of course.
Death moan or no, good shot or bad, do you have just your bow or do you have a gun for the tracking job?
Neither, most of our shots have come in the evening and most were short track jobs. If they weren't found within 50 to 75 yards , we wait till morning. We have done all Ontario hunts, and for the most part everyone used bows, so we didn't even have guns with us. May want to check the regs on tracking with a weapon. You hit a bear good and they don't go far, you hit em bad and they go forever, trust me .
My bear hunts have all been in Ontario, so I had no handgun available. Some guys carry a shotgun along and it does give a sense of safety when looking for a hit animal. I agree that bears go down quickly if hit well. I always approach from the front and watch for breathing and touch the eyeball with an arrow tip.( We did have one jump up and run off as we stood over it once, so check for breathing and touch the eyeball!)
If I'm bowhunting ... I'm bowhunting , no guns around.. never had a issue with a dead bear . If you have doubts give it some time and track slowly in the daylight and follow up with another arrow if needed
just a bow
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I had a .44 in my gear. Gave it to the guide and he ran around to approach from above ( I saw where it went down, but couldn't actually see it in the brush).
I carried my bow and tracked the blood trail (VPA heads work well) and we got to the bear at the same time. It was dead. no death moan though.
Funny, the "guide" had not had a trad hunter before and when I loaded up the pistol and handed it to him, keeping my longbow in hand, he gave me a weird look.
ChuckC
I agree with the statement that bears hit well don't go far. Most of the time. But there are exceptions, so like any animal, don't give up hope just because they go more than 100 yards.
My first bear I hit back a little bit and we ended up finding him the next morning a good 600 yards from the shot site shot through the liver.
And just last fall I helped a friend track a huge bear that he had hit the day before. About 200 yards from the shot site we jumped the bear, still very much alive but in rough shape. We backed off and left him for another night. When he was ultimately found we could see the arrow had hit very well maybe 6 inches behind the leg but angling forward and only taking one lung. I would have never thought that bear would be recovered and am still amazed that it lived so long.
My point is don't give up on marginal hits just because they go further than expected. Not all bears follow the rules.
As to the question about guns, yes, in cases like those above I like someone to have a gun if possible. But I will follow up good hits without one for at least the first 100 yards.
Here where I live and hunt, I'm always packin, never know what you're gonna run into.
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No.
The Bears Den in Caramat Ontario has a fair number of broken baseball bats from dispatching wounded bears. If you need a gun, the bear isn't all that hard hit in the first place.
Got my .40 on my belt with 17 in her . Not just for bear though. It is very dangerous in the woods when you have cartels working the national forest.
God bless, Steve
for blackies I don't but there have been a couple of friends bears that should have got a rifle follow up and were ultimately unrecovered, I feel any hit on a animal is enough to justify finishing no matter how it needs to be done. I wouldn't think of risking a failed recovery just for the sake of my bowhunting prowess. as for brown bears I always carry as you are on the ground with them when you send a arrow, and ill be leaving the bow behind when bloodtrailing.
QuoteOriginally posted by elkslayer4x5:
Here where I live and hunt, I'm always packin, never know what you're gonna run into.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/deast-lr/CougarsTuckerCreek_zps19d284e2.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/deast-lr/media/CougarsTuckerCreek_zps19d284e2.jpg.html)
^This. Lots of cougars where I hunt. Also meth heads, bears, coyotes and now wolves.
Some States allow bowhunters to carry, but not all.
Bear spray may be an option for some.
Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. IMHO
Thanks for the comments.
I have a friend here in Nova Scotia who has taken a few bears and says he'd never follow up without a gun.
I'll see how it goes, on the first one (once again, assuming there is one) I'll probably carry a gun, but if the bear hunting is to continue, I may get braver. Not too worried about a bullet hole in my bow shot animal, whatever it takes...
Nothing will bite me in the country I hunt. In Ontario in the 1980's one of my friends carried a 30-30 when tracking a bow-shot bear. Never needed it - bears always quite dead.
I'm legal to carry but the only time I do so is when I'm at the Mall....isn't that a terrible commentary on our society these days!
I don't and won't. Its a good way to calm your fear though.
But not an expert on harvesting bears.
I do carry bear spray when scouting for lions and bear and female moose protecting calfs, and it will stop an animal at least as well as a handgun.
If it can stop a charging female grizz at full throttle it will stop a wounded bear at full throttle- no difference in their objective, which is to take you out.
There are enough true encounters using spray that support the claims that spray works.
But our fear won't let us accept that a can will stop almost certain death coming at 35mph.
Joshua
No, usually don't carry a gun, If anything it's been an 18inch axe. That being said I've been tracking with people who wouldn't track without a gun and have been made to very scared because of their jumpiness and gun handling.
There was a good article about this subject on Traditional bowhuner magazine.
I read Glen St. Charles' book a year or so ago. He made a statement that really got me too thinking. He felt if a back-up (I know the post starter wasn't talking about back-ups)something was lost to the bowhunt.
He felt that even when hunting Kodiak, Grizzly, or Polar bear a back-up rifle or shotgun slug gun would take away from the experience.
I have no idea if I would have the courage to face a Kodiak at under 15 yards without a gun toter behind/beside me?
If you're hunting bears with a partner a small caliber handgun can be mighty handy. When the bear charges you shoot your partner in the knee then run like the dickens... :scared:
:biglaugh:
Very funny Ron! Probably the best strategy I've heard :thumbsup:
I jumped over this thread a few times and wasn't going to say anything, (and I might be sorry) but... oh what the heck...
I earned a living for the major part of my adult life as a guide. One of the things I guided for was black bears (which was primitive weapon only, mostly bows).
I would always try to pick up the bear the same evening it was shot to preserve the quality of the meat and the hide, so I usually went looking for them after dark.
Kind of long to explain the "whys" but I never ever carried or even had access to a firearm. Still don't when I hunt for myself and the few people I take out now.
I don't know how many times I did it, but I must have found at least 500 at night. Most died fairly quickly and didn't have time to run very far before expiring, but there are always exceptions.
Usually: if the hit is not good, you will not be able to catch up to the bear and he will heal (gut shot bears can be an exception), and if you do catch up to the bear, he will not be in any shape to be very dangerous.
Occasionally though I would find, and have to deal with a wounded bear - the spine shot bears are usually the most dangerous because they're feeling very little pain, their vitals are normal, and they are still thinking clearly. A bear's business is all in the front end and a spine wounded bear can sometimes travel as fast as a man can walk just by using his powerful front legs.
Anyway, the most practical, effective, and humane way I dealt with them was by cutting a pole, duct taping my sheath knife to the end, and slipping it between their ribs.
Letting them suffer or letting them die in some isolated swamp a few days later would have been cruel and a waste.
But, I'm definitely not advising anyone to do that. It can be and in fact it is dangerous. You really have to know what you're doing. Better to err on the safe side... if your not sure of the hit wait until daylight, don't track alone, and if you have any doubts (about yourself or the bear), carry an open sight rifle or shotgun.
I'm not a doctor, a lawyer, an electrician, a plumber, a carpenter, or an engineer. In the big scheme of things, I know nothing.
But I know black bears.
Thanks for posting Ken ... Certainly your opinion as a truly "traditional" bowhunter carries weight and I'm glad you responded. Indeed, if there's anyone who knows bears and bear hunting them with a bow, it would be you. :thumbsup:
In my personal bear hunting, and trapping bears for work I have found them, more than any other species I've worked with, to have particularly individual unique personalities. Some bears are smart, others dopey, some inquisitive, others grumpy. It can change depending on the day as well. Some run at the first sign of danger, others stick around and check you out, the wheels turning in their head as they size you up. With that said, I'd say 98% of black bears are significantly more interested in self preservation than challenging you. However, that other 2% is what can get interesting.
How you deal with this potential is up to you. Some enjoy the rush of not having anything but the bow on them. Others demand a rifle or shotgun for follow up.
With grizzlies, all bets are off...I carry protection in grizz country.
Hit 'em good, hear the death moan and you're sitting pretty.
Cheers, Matt
No.
I've been bluff charged, teeth popped, huffed at, etc. They're nothing to worry about. They deserve respect but not fear.
I don't worry about it for hogs and other large game. Bows and arrows have been getting the job done for millennia.
I've been on many bear trails over the years. I never carried a gun and never felt the need for one.
The one exception was some years ago in Ontario on a spring hunt. I arrived in camp late in the afternoon. The weather was warm and I was wearing a T shirt, shorts and moccasins on my feet. I was talking to the outfitter when one of the hunters that had been out on stand that afternoon came into camp all excited saying he had hit a huge bear. He said he hit it in the hind quarters and the bear had dragged it's self off.
Jack, the outfitter jumped in his truck with the hunter to go trail the bear. Not wanting to miss the action I jumped in also not having time to change into something more appropriate for the Canadian bush. When we got to the site, Jack pulled out a shotgun he kept behind the seat of his truck and away we went.
The story that the hunter told was that the beat came in and his first shot him him on top of the back above his back legs. The bear rolled around on the ground growling and popping it's teeth. The hunter tried to put another arrow into the bear bur missed every shot until his quiver was empty.I think he was a little excited.. :scared:
The bear was huge, he later dressed out over 400lb's and remember it was a spring bear. He turned and came at me popping his teeth.. :knothead: I got the hunter to come forward and he started shooting arrows at the pi$$ed off bruin.. :knothead:
Good story, Ron.
That's quite a picture in the mind's eye, you in T-shirt and shorts on the follow-up. A good How Not to...
QuoteA good How Not to..
I agree, that's why I related the story.. :readit:
There can be Grizzlys in most any part of our country so I ALWAYS pack hunting. :dunno: