Backup Shot at a Black Bear?

[Wild one]

Huh? I have trailed more than a few, always had blood.

Tracked lots of bears that left little to no blood. Wifes bear this spring 270 one shoulder and double lung ran 50yards no blood till we were within 10 feet

I would go as far to say 25% of the bears I have tracked left little to no blood. Actually prefer tracking archery bears because of the better blood trail

Might just be luck of the draw but this has been my experience and tracked lots of bears

[RyoTHC]

I won't get into details. But I was in this exact situation this year. Only mine turned out OK. I was set up with my 6mm with ELDX, as I didn't intend to hunt bear this day, just always take a gun with me.

We find a big boar feeding about 100yards away. Crawl up and set up, partner on bipod . Me on a knee ready for follow-up as soon as I hear the bang..

Seconds later BANG and a bear quickly turning, so I fire into the center of center and the bear vanished into the trees... While waiting I talk to my buddy and he is confident he missed as he saw dirt fly up everywhere to the bears right, so my stomach sank... If he in fact missed the bear, the only thing that hit a 400+lb animal was a 103grain ELDX we wait a few minutes and head in to thankfully find the bruin sprawled out the direction he was running not 10 yards into the trees, turns out my buddy did completely miss with his 165 grain Nosler partition...

Thankfully this turned out well for us, but what was meant to be a follow-up and to put the animal down as fast as possible ended up being a marginal single shot that just happened to take both lungs and the heart out, a few inches either direction and I fear we would have never found that bear... All's well that ends well but I definately learned something, and will not make the same mistake again in the future !!!

[wideopenthrottle]

on the rare occasion when I am with another person (like before we split up or after we meet up again) I would go with back up shooters on say a moose bear or elk but way less likely on a deer....moose yes cuz they are big and often stay put after being shot once giving the backup guy a good shot placement...with Elk or bear I would try to do a 123 shoot and keep shooting till its down (bear)...or in a bad shooting position for elk...

[Piperdown]

Just make sure you both have tags. CO up where i have my cabin nailed a guy for walking up to his buddies moose and put one in the back of it's neck for the put him out of his misery shot. He had shot a bull the day before, CO said he shot 2 animals and took his buddies bull and fined him for harvesting 2 animals.

[KodiakHntr]

Technically it is considered "party hunting", as you are both trying to fill one tag. Illegal in BC....


As for taking the shot at another guy's animal, I'm of a couple different mindsets. Personally, if one of my buddies takes a poke at an animal I've already shot at without me giving the go ahead after my shot, then he's gonna be walking home. That said, I HAVE taken a couple shots over the years to bat clean up. Depends on the animal, and what the situation is going to be if the first shot wasn't ideal.
If there was a poor shot on a grizzly or really big black and I'm the guy who is going to be going in to clean it up anyway, then I'm going to possibly take a shot if I think it will be necessary, depending on the animals reaction to the initial hit. In all circumstances I'm going to be happier if the first shooter manages to make a second hit, rather than a second shooter making a first hit.

Taking a shot just because you are both scared of the aftermath, or scared to lose something because it is the first opportunity you've had, opens you up for a lot of problems. Not the least of which would be an animal wounded because shooter one missed due to being excited or nervous, and shooter two was nervous and shooting at a running animal.

Being able to call your shots will be a big help in the future, knowing that the cross hairs weren't where they were supposed to be when the trigger broke will help make the decision to call for a second shooter, but that will only come with experience and lots of dynamic shooting practice.

In my opinion the OP shouldn't have taken a "backup shot". His buddy missed, and then a low percentage poor angle shot was taken by an excited shooter. Bad deal all around.

Just my opinion though, pay what its worth to you.

[RyoTHC]

[QUOTE=KodiakHntr;2011804]Technically it is considered "party hunting", as you are both trying to fill one tag. Illegal in BC....


Not the case assuming everyone in the group has tags correct ??

[KodiakHntr]

Depends on the CO at that point, from conversations I've had on the subject with CO's.

For me, its not really worth the possibility of having to have that particular discussion with a CO, and hope that he is one of the ones who sees it your way....

[mastercaster]

Always thought the shooter who took the shot that puts the animal down for good SHOULD tag the animal,,,, if you're going by the letter of the law.

[dana]

No where in the regs does it say only 1 hunter can shoot at an animal. Back up shots on bears should be encouraged not discouraged. Walking up on a dead bear with 2 holes in it is much better than walking up on a wounded bear with one hole in it. In the thick $hit, a wounded bear has all the advantages.
To respond to the OP, I have seen bears spin countless times on close misses. If you found the one bullet in a tree, you probably have a good idea how close the bear had the bullet come to him. It takes some nerves but the back up shot should be almost on top of the first shot. Or else it is a Hail Mary. In this situation with a ton of thick surrounding the bear, I probably would have waited for the bear to mosey down into the green again. And then anchor the bear before it hits the thick. Hindsight is always 20/20. Look at it as a learning and don’t get too down on yourself playing what if’s in your head.

[dustycool]

Well bummer about not getting the bear. It's still a really good story though. Thanks for posting it up. Out of curiosity, was this Region 2 and was the ledge he was sitting on covered in moss? And was it a brown phase bear?

Yes, it was region 2 and yes it was a brown phase bear. I wouldn’t say the ledge was particularly mossy though.