Shooting treed bears

[TrickleCharger]

I was out hiking the bush looking for a bear the other day and ended up treeing one. I was walking the top of a creek draw when I heard him spook, looked over the edge and he was about 50 feet up a big tree (maybe 20 feet below my level). I watched for 20 minutes to see if he would come down and he didn't. I passed on the easy "in the tree" shot and started making my way down the steep bank to see what he would do. I was watching him again from maybe 20 yards when he realized he was a sitting duck and started climbing down. Long story short that's when I decided to lose my footing and end up with my gun barrel stuck into the dirt, couldn't shoot until I cleaned it so he got away.

So what's the protocol for shooting a treed bear? Surely a 50 foot fall is going to damage some meat and maybe the hide? How about from an ethics / fair chase type of stand point? I'll admit that for whatever reason I felt different about pulling the trigger on that bear trapped in the tree looking at me for 20 minutes than I have taking deer. But thinking about it afterwards I don't see anything wrong with it, and I'm thinking if he's a little lower next time I'll be letting him have it!! Thoughts??

[monasheemountainman]

Totally legal, probably a smaller bear from my experience. Your call you passed him up and you should feel good about that.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Blast away. Houndsmen do it that way although not all bears tree. Some stay on the ground and fight the dogs.

[Fella]

Not illegal, but maybe one of those grey areas where you have to decide if it fits within your own ethics.

[landphil]

Totally legal, probably a smaller bear from my experience. Your call you passed him up and you should feel good about that.

BINGO! Of course, there could be exceptions, but most bears that tree without dogs are quite young, and not a lot of meat on them.

[butcher]

AND you're not going to ruin any meat on that bear. Unless he falls into a wood chipper. Maybe some hair loss though.

[Awishanew]

I would be careful to make sure its not on a big branch in a safe place because if dies right there he stays right there. 50 ft. in the tree. I have seen it happen.

[Fisher-Dude]

Does the bear care if you shoot him in the tree or on the ground? Prolly not.

I've shot cougars from trees. And grouse.

Do what feels okay to you. I'd be at the butcher's by now talking about what kind of smokies he'd be making for me. ;)

[Amphibious]

Totally legal. Not my thing. Once I see a cowering scared animal stuck in a tree the fair chase aspect ends for me. Lots of people have no problem with it though. your choice.

[Big Lew]

Totally legal, probably a smaller bear from my experience. Your call you passed him up and you should feel good about that.

I agree, it's not common to see a large older bear up a tree, especially 50 ft up.

[zippermouth]

I've only seen one very large bear up a tree, 7+ feet. he didn't have a care in the world, just sitting on the limb waiting for us to leave so he could get back to his business. wish I would have had a camera. we used to run bears all the time with a hound, pretty sure we only had a couple bears not tree, one was a sow with cubs, and the other was another big boar.

[Drillbit]

I've seen a few pretty spectacular crashes from treed bears.

Everyone is different, I couldn't/wouldn't shoot a deer over ambush bait, but I wouldn't give a second thought about shooting a treed bear.

[The Hermit]

I would be careful to make sure its not on a big branch in a safe place because if dies right there he stays right there. 50 ft. in the tree. I have seen it happen.

Bear standing up leaning on the tree, zipped an arrow through the boiler room and that damned bear ran 60' straight up the tree in two shakes of a lambs tail, and died right there in about 30 seconds. No limbs to use to climb up a giant ancient coastal Douglas Fir... tried throwing rocks, shooting an arrow with a line attached over the branch (nearly killed myself doing that), tied three 20' aluminum poles together to try nudging him (just resulted in spraying a 20' diameter of blood over everything and everyone), 60km trip to nearest town to try to find a faller (no luck). What a pain in the ass, and what a waste, he was a beauty colour phase too. That was my first bow kill and almost gave up bowhunting right then and there. Many beers and rums that night... I can laugh about it now!

[TrickleCharger]

Ok it looks like I can put my concerns about damaging meat to bed. As far as size goes he looked decent to me and definitely bigger than the other one I saw this year. There were other factors in him not getting shot as well, mainly how steep the creek draw was (wouldn't have been able to get him up in one piece) and concerns with doing a good job of skinning him with a roaring creek beside me (I like to hear whats going on around me in the bush, especially with bears around). Thanks for the input, I don't know many bear hunters so its good to get some opinions!

[tracker]

Blast away. Houndsmen do it that way although not all bears tree. Some stay on the ground and fight the dogs.

Hounds barking at bears in trees and ground fighting the big bruins is the best bush music there is. Up in the tree or on the ground blast away !!!!

[swampthing]

Remember to tape the end of your barrel before you head out next time!

[two-feet]

Morally, i think shooting a treed bear is no different than leaning over the hood of your truck and plunking one as it grazes in the ditch. Which is how i got my little meat bear last year.

[butthead]

would you of not shot him if it were standing in the middle of the road taking a crap

[Daybreak]

Ethically, you should allow him to finish.

[ElectricDyck]

Buddy of mine shot a big bear out of tree, another buddy shot a one a little over 5 feet...go and start slapping the bottom of the tree and see if they are scared and cowering....fight or flight and they already used up the flight...

[.264winmag]

Hounds barking at bears in trees and ground fighting the big bruins is the best bush music there is. Up in the tree or on the ground blast away !!!!

Tracker your inbox is full bro

[GreyDog]

Don't stand under the bear. GD

[Glassman]

My buddy and I shot a bear that was up a tree. Tasted good. He weighed 475 lbs and was 8' 1". By-the-way, if he is shot and stuck up the tree, cut the tree down. Please tell me that I'm not the only guy to think of that! I'm not sure what the difference is between a scared bear up a tree and one running away.

[MB_Boy]

I'm not sure what the difference is between a scared bear up a tree and one running away.

One is likely dead and the other has a bullet in it's ass. :wink:

[SPEYMAN]

I believe leaning on the hood of a motorized vehicle to shoot an animal is illegal.

[Boner]

I believe leaning on the hood of a motorized vehicle to shoot an animal is illegal.
It's not illegal as long as your feet are flat on the ground. That's what a CO said when I asked.

[scretch]

Don't stand under the bear. GD
My brother while timbercruising the northern area of Van. Isle. had a bear hanging around their camp for four days wrecking their gear and stealing cached food so he decided to shoot this guy with a 44caliber pistol he had just for this purpose. The bear was treed and my brother standing next to the tree trunk shot the bear which in turn fell at his feet wounded and alive. Well now the fun began-around the tree they went and finally he was able to almost touch the bear's head when he finally put the bear down. Note: This was the last time he was allowed by law to carry a pistol while on the job in the wild.

[Moose63]

It's not illegal as long as your feet are flat on the ground. That's what a CO said when I asked.

Makes sense to me...