Terrible weekend. Messed up two shots and lost my bear.

[caddisguy]

Chapter One: It should have ended here

All started about 30 mins after arriving at camp making my rounds when I spotted a bear while about to walk back up there spur we were camped up. Caught a glimpse of a bear through the brush just where the spur curves. Thermals coming down hard in my direction. I'm only 15 yards away as it is but need to get closer for a shooting lane. I "thought" I had a shooting lane, so I go for the double lung from about 12 yards away. Well, just like some guys shoot the roof of their car, I blasted a stump right in front of the bear. The bear startled a bit and I rushed up thinking I might still have a second chance. Well, I would have if I didn't rush up, because he was back to eating grass until my then loud / fast foot steps approached, then bolted.

I walked back up to camp to talk to the wife. I'm confident that stump got the bulk of it, but wanted to fetch caddisgirl so we could check for any sign the bear took a piece of it. After about 10 paces walking down the spur to go check it out, we see a huge bear on the side of the little mountain adjacent to us, about 120 yards away. After what just happened, I didn't want anything to do with it, after all, seems there's bears all over the place that aren't spooking despite us being quite noisy, oh and the gun shot too. I just want to go down and have a closer look at the stump and check for any blood with two sets of eyes. After about a half hour of CSI, concluded there was zero chance that bear got anything other than getting startled, more so by me than the gun shot from 12 yards.

Chapter Two: There should not have been Chapter Two... and it gets bad

So, we walk back up to camp. Sure enough that other large bear is still across the way and appears to be conspiring to head down to feed. caddisgirl films it a little more and I am trying to resist the temptation. I know we're going to see more bears, I don't particularly want a bear that big and it's going to be dark in less than an hour, and we're all ready pretty darn tired after a long work week. Still, I couldn't stop looking at this bear. Then went half way down the steep slope and turned broadside. Okay I can't take it anymore. We'll tough it out tonight, have this bear all packed up, head out in the morning, grind and relax the rest of the weekend.

I check with caddisgirl. Should I do it? It's up to you she says.

I lay down prone in the brush on the top of a little hill while caddisgirl is filming the whole thing. It took a bit of angling to get comfy and a good sight picture. Once I had that, I gently squeeze the trigger... and nothing... dang safety. So, I flick off the safety and repeat this all again. This time it barks. Now, the bear that was half way down this steep slope (more like a cliff) scoots back up to the ridge, hangs a brief right and bolts off to the left.

Omg this did not just happen. At this point, I am reflecting on the shot and will fully admit my mistake. After struggling with the sight picture and the safety, I was getting more and more eager. I'm certain I jerked the trigger. How bad? I don't know, but this is all going to have to wait until tomorrow.

Chapter Three: The blood trail that never ends, until it ends

Woke up (well, "got up" I suppose, hardly slept) to head up there to check for blood. It didn't take too long to find the trail. There was A LOT of blood. I started flagging everything using little bits of shop towel because there was rain in the forecast and it's a good idea anyway. The amount of blood I am seeing, I'm certain I'm going to find a dead bear soon. Even 15 yards into the trail, I'm shocked something can bleed that much and not die. I keep following blood (it's like someone poured an entire cup of blood every 6 - 7 yards, and after 70 yards of "flat" but up and over logs, I'm starting to get worried, because now it really starts to go up hill. Sure enough, the trail goes up. I keep following, bits of shop towel I'm using to flag are getting smaller and smaller... didn't think it would go this far.

I know this little mountain well and I know what's up ahead. It's going from "steep" to "very steep" with some sketchy parts where a misstep on the moss covered shale could go very bad. I don't take these routes. And this bear just keeps going up stuff I struggle with. I'm not the most athletic guy on the planet, but I'm not shot with a 30-06 and still get tired and need breaks / water heading up this route. If I do find the bear, I am sure as heck not heading down the same way, even without a load, forget it.

As it keeps going up and up, the blood is starting to be less and less. It went from patches of blood, to the occasional drop. From drops it went to specs, and from specs it went to nothing, just as the little mountain plateaus.

So now I'm up on this plateau and no direction of where the bear went, let alone logical path of travel. I grid searched for a couple hundred more meters for blood or dead bear, looking down off the ridges, checking every pile of deadfall, rock overhang or anywhere it could have holed up. Nothing.

Saturday night (another mostly sleepless night, but being exhausted helped get me a few winks) I'm scratching my head wondering if the bear backtracked on it's on trail and then diverted elsewhere. Maybe he's not fatally wounded? Blood on the leaves looked dark, but on the moss it looked light, and the big spills every 6 - 7 yards, I really have no idea where it is bleeding from. At first I thought maybe liver, but bouncing back and forth between that and flesh wound.

This morning, on the chance he might have double backed his trail, took a different direction and went back down somewhere, I checked a snow run-off drainage that goes through the old growth timber adjacent to the mini-mountain as I have heard liver shot animals will head to water (and once I did hit a bear and found him there) Nothing. And and give me other angles to look up instead of down and see things I couldn't see before. Nothing.

I was just about to head out and ran into another couple guys. One of them I have been trying to help get a bear and the other from what I understand a fairly seasoned hunter just tagging along but not hunting. I told them what happened and they were both on board with hiking up and checking around as another couple extra sets of eyes. I was so happy for the help. They took time out of their hunt to scurry up there on a hot afternoon into mosquito-tickville. We didn't turn up anything new, but I feel better knowing I didn't miss anything obvious. Big shout outs to some guys I'll just call J and D.

Chapter Four: Reflection

If I had more patience to stalk into that first bear for a better / clear shot rather than through brush / stumps, second one wouldn't have happened and the mistakes wouldn't have cascaded. I thought I was long over target panic, but it seems it can still happen if I'm worked up. It's bad enough not being able to "redo" an event, but I'd settle for "undo". Neither are happening. I feel sick. I deserved the tick bites this time. All I can do is hope it wasn't fatal and suffering is minimal and that it's out eating dandelions and grass. Maybe head up next weekend. If I don't see birds having a party, I might feel slightly better.

Lastly, I would like it if maybe someone could way in on the blood trail. We filmed "almost" everything (caddisgirl was all zoomed in her top notch camera but flinched at the shot, maybe can slow it down to see where it hit) ... filmed the bear several minutes prior to the shot too... and then I filmed a lot of the blood trail... so maybe someone out there might be able to at least suggest to me where it was hit? I'll post of up the footage if anyone thinks they might be able to guess with any level of confidence.