Follow up your shots on bear eh?

[MontyLake]

Several years ago I was on a moose hunt in a part of Region 5 crawling with black bears. At least it was for the first week we were there then they disappeared.

We met this family when they had their truck stopped in the middle of the road and there was a girl standing there with a rifle and the dad was standing on the bank looking down and saying "Nope, you missed. there's no blood and no hair." They didn't make an effort to look any farther.


One day we were driving along and spotted a black bear at the edge of the road about 90 to 100 yards away. My buddy shot at it and it wheeled and dove for the bush. I'd seen it hunch up on the shot so was certain he'd hit it, but when we got to the spot where we thought the bear was, Gone. No sign. No blood, no cut hair and not even a scuff mark on the ground. We shoved our way through the tangle of second growth and looked downhill where we estimated the bear might have gone and voila, 20 yards down the hill was the dead bear.

To this day I wonder how many "missed" bears ran off and died from that hunt.

[303savage]

the first and only bear I shot with a bow just looked at me when the arrow went right threw it, the bear wandered down the hill about 30 ft and fell over,

[likemaple]

Not sure if the dad's claim of ten bears is from the same hunting trip. If it is, pull the trigger ten times on bear and still did not get one, simply means the dad is a terrible mentor about hunting.
Usually if get hit around vitals will definitely leaves a blood trail, but not sure about furs, thought.

[bigredchev]

Last bear I shot had zero blood. Took out both lungs and piled up 30 yards away. I knew the shot was good.



some people’s children...

[r106]

Without a big exit hole bears don't leak much. Doesn't mean you missed. Shot my first bear with a 30/06 180 gr at 30ish yards not a drop of blood. Saw him fold up good though he went 20 yards

[ElectricDyck]

Yep dad is a horrible mentor lol...I mainly hunt bears in spring and 90% do not leave any blood trail...I've seen 3 that were hit and not found and not by lack of trying...wish we had a good dog with us, I'm sure we would have found a dead bear close by, we just couldn't find it....One we found curled up in a creek covered with dead fall you couldn't see it 2 feet from it, the only reason we found it was the creek water was red....my policy after those experiences is my son and I shoot until it's down..works out good, the last one went 2 feet lol

[Squamch]

The bear I shot last weekend left zero blood until he fell over and died. He also covered a lot of ground with only 1 functional shoulder, before noticing he had holes in both lungs.

[Rattler]

Bear hair soaks up a lot of blood, hence the reason why they don’t leave a lot of blood.

[argyle1]

I shot a bear through the heart with a .338/.375 from 30 yards. The shot knocked it over the bank and out of sight. In seconds it came ripping back up over the bank, and as it ran past me I shot it through the heart again from the other side. It still ran a hundred yards or so out through the fire weeds. There was definitely blood, but not nearly as much as what I would have expected

[Ron.C]

I agree with you Monty that some game animals get left because there was no blood or hair where the animal was standing. That's where having a good mentor for a young/new hunter is so important.

I have nothing against road hunting and those who do it. I do it myself on occassion. But I hate rushed shots and tend to dislike taking shots a running game and I think road hunting does lend itself these situations. And with bears you really need to be patient as a lone bear on or just off the road you come across, jam on the breaks, jump out and shoot may have a cub(s) near by that you haven't seen yet.

Concur with most of what's being said, most bears I've taken dont leave much blood on the ground. And if the bear runs off into the thick stuff, it's extremely challenging and potentially dangerous.

I have a video of my buddy shooting a bear, frontal shot with a 7mm mag at a range of about 60 yards bear walking slowly straight at him. Bear bolts after the shot, like many animals do. No indication (blood, hair, body movement, thump you sometimes hear when a bullet hits. Bear ran downhill (very steep) into a nasty thick spot. Buddy wasn't rushed on the shot, an experienced hunter and an amazing marksman. We wait an hour and start down. Can't find anything except some tracks for about the first 20 yards. We keep looking for tracks, hair, blood and push down hill, Nothing. We were both certain he hit the bear.

I had my late dog Buckley with me (avatar pic). We brought him to the spot the bear went off the road followed him down and sure enough, he picked up the scent. But instead of going down,
hill like we thought it would, the bear hooked left and went crosshill and found the bear within 80 yards of where he was shot. Lacking sign, we assumed he ran downhill and without the dog I dont know if we would have found that bear.

It doesnt happen often, but when someone in our group shoots at an animal and we dont know 100% that it was a clean miss (i.e. clearly saw bullet impact off target) then that's pretty much the day (or more) gone for trying to find something. I often have my dog with me in camp and they are great to have if and when this happens.