Bears - after the shot, do you carry a gun?

[Hopewell Tom]

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?

[agross1]

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 .

[BowMIke]

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!)

[Dave Lay]

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

[Cory Mattson]

just a bow
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[ChuckC]

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

[Whip]

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.

[elkslayer4x5]

Here where I live and hunt, I'm always packin, never know what you're gonna run into.

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[oldbohntr]

No.

[killinstuff]

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.

[Sixby]

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

[jrchambers]

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.

[Bear Heart]

Originally posted by elkslayer4x5:
Here where I live and hunt, I'm always packin, never know what you're gonna run into.

   

^This.  Lots of cougars where I hunt.  Also meth heads, bears, coyotes and now wolves.

[Hud]

Some States allow bowhunters to carry, but not all.
Bear spray may be an option for some.

[Fattony77]

Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. IMHO

[Hopewell Tom]

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...

[Bowwild]

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!

[jhg]

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

[mnbwhtr]

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.

[amicus]

There was a good article about this subject on Traditional bowhuner magazine.