Somewhat frightning bear encounter

[Glassman]

So juinor takes a whack at a 2 point mulie this morning while the deer was bedded down. 1st shot makes him stand up, 2nd shot makes him jump straight in the air and walk over a little knoll. We wait for a few minutes before we go get him. After a wet walk thru a 200 yard waist deep berry patch walk we get to where the deer was. I crest the knoll and suddenly from 10 yards a small (1.5 yr old) bear is running straight at me. I yelled at him and at 5 yards he swings hard right and takes off. It took a moment or two and I am thinking if their is another (maybe mommy) bear around. As I am backing up I see another another junior and his dad about 200 yards below me at the bottom off the cut block. We shot from the top of the cut block and walked down to the deer. I yelled to them if they saw a deer going towards them. They said no but there is a bear just below me in the berries. Now I thought, great, I just made Momma mad. My son gets beside me and we make more yelling sounds. The hunters below us leave and we back off a few yards. After a few minutes we continue looking for juniors 2 point.
Anyways, I have never seen so many Black and cinamon bears in all my time hunting. After the 1st couple of bears we were saying that it is nice to see some bears, but after seeing 9 bears in a 2 km stretch we thought we would go somewhere else.
All I had was my other juniors .257 Roberts as a back-up and juniors .270 win with only 1 round left. (I forgot his ammo box at home) I should have taken my .338 win mag along as a back-up. (I did bring 3 boxes of that though)
No bear tag for junior because I ran out of cash after licences and deer tags. We saw 12 bear this morning and no tag. 5 of them were definatly shooters being in the 5 to 5.5 foot 300lb range.

[.300WSMImpact!]

I have been in the bush three days a week all summer, and I have yet to see a single bear, last year by this time I was at 60, I was just thinking where did all the bears go, must be where you are, good luck be safe

[Blainer]

And so,did you recover the buck?

[Glassman]

NO. We spent 4 hours looking. There was 3 blood drops and about 6 or 7 hairs at where the deer was 1st shot and then 3 or 4 blood spots every 20 or so feet for about 30 yards. Then nothing. No blood and could not even find tracks, but then again, tracks disapear in tall grass and berry patches. We did a crisscross pattern and looked hard for 4 hours. I am wondering if junior's shot grazed the bottom of the deer. The blood at the hit spot was very light. We felt bad but I think we did all we could.

[500grhollowpoint]

I saw a couple bears too yesterday but had my 45/70 with me. Kid has a 243.
Glassman you have a PM

[elkeater]

the bears will follow the elevation of the berries im thinking, if your around there youll see lots

[moose2]

NO. We spent 4 hours looking. There was 3 blood drops and about 6 or 7 hairs at where the deer was 1st shot and then 3 or 4 blood spots every 20 or so feet for about 30 yards. Then nothing. No blood and could not even find tracks, but then again, tracks disapear in tall grass and berry patches. We did a crisscross pattern and looked hard for 4 hours. I am wondering if junior's shot grazed the bottom of the deer. The blood at the hit spot was very light. We felt bad but I think we did all we could.

Sounds like your right about the low shot. I hit a large mulie buck low in the brisket one time he jumped like a kicking horse and then bounded away apperantly unharmed. I found just a few black hairs on the snow with no blood, the way you discribed the deers action reminded me about that buck.
Mike

[rcar]

Hey Glassman

Glad everything ended up OK and a great lesson for your son too. I have to agree with the bear count this year. My first hunt this year I saw 6 bears the first day and when camping over the Canada day long weekend just north of Hope I ran into 11 bears in 3 days including a huge cinnamon 10 feet off the road who didn't bother even moving when I stopped right beside him with my quad. My bear count this year alone in 6 trips into the woods is over 30. Makes me wonder how many were just out of eyeshot....

[Glassman]

Hey moose2 and other hbc members.
Thank-you for not ragging on my son. I thought after I posted a bunch of guys will crap on my kid for a bad shot or saying we should not have stopped looking. My 16 year old boy has shot lots of game since he was 11. Last year he shot a 6 point elk. The year before that a cow elk on leh, as well as deer. He shoots .270 win in a Tikka m65 with a Limbsaver recoil pad. He uses handloaded 130 grain sierra game kings. We practice in the summer and is good at 200 yards with a "steady stick". We felt horrible but I remember that it has also happened to me and was a lot older and experienced that he is. I would have backed him up with a shot but the buck jumped and was gone over the knoll in one bound.
I am sure it has happened to others as well that they did not retrieve their game.
I am not sure what we could have done better, other than the obvious better shot.

[Glassman]

500grainhollowpoint,I sent you a pm

[Jonas111]

Its hunting and that stuff does happen to most people. Although most people don't admit it.

It happened to me a couple years ago and we tracked a deer down for 11km and found it three days later. It was too late for the meat but we tagged it and brought out the head anyway. My cousin neck shot the deer and it run 11km from where it was first hit. It was brutal tracking it and even worse when we found it half eaten. Moral of the story for me was to never neck shoot a deer unless you are 100% sure of your shooting ability. The vitals is a much easier target and more humane kill.

The fact that you looked for it for that long shows you are a true conservationist and a hunter. Give you son kudo's for trying and he will learn from this experience as well.

Good luck and happy hunting

[Blainer]

Hey moose2 and other hbc members.
Thank-you for not ragging on my son. I thought after I posted a bunch of guys will crap on my kid for a bad shot or saying we should not have stopped looking. My 16 year old boy has shot lots of game since he was 11. Last year he shot a 6 point elk. The year before that a cow elk on leh, as well as deer. He shoots .270 win in a Tikka m65 with a Limbsaver recoil pad. He uses handloaded 130 grain sierra game kings. We practice in the summer and is good at 200 yards with a "steady stick". We felt horrible but I remember that it has also happened to me and was a lot older and experienced that he is. I would have backed him up with a shot but the buck jumped and was gone over the knoll in one bound.
I am sure it has happened to others as well that they did not retrieve their game.
I am not sure what we could have done better, other than the obvious better shot.unfortunately it is a part of the sport we choose to play.

[srupp]

Great read, exellent to hear Father and son out hunting...close encounters with bucks and bears..sounds like a great day to be alive..


cheers
Steven

[Glassman]

Hey Jonas111.
Sorry to here that it happened to you too. Crappy feeling eh.
I was actually thinking of telling junior to go for the neck, but instead I said to aim low for the heart. I am sure the 1st shot missed. Not sure what happened with the 2nd shot. Poop happens.
Oh well, to much discussion on the shot. My point in this post was all the dam bears and the fact that one of them almost made me crap my shorts. When it dawned on me that it was a little thing I was relieved. UNTIL it dawned on me again that Momma is around. Especially after we have seen 8 other bears in the last 5 minutes.

[Jonas111]

Hey Glassman, that would have scared the crap out of me as well. I have been chased by a momma bear once and its not a great feeling.

[M.Dean]

Most of us, at least the ones that have hunted lots have had the same awful experience as your Son. It's bad enough losing a animal that your sure you hit hard, but add the Bears you guys encountered and man, I don't think I'd spent a whole lot of time crawling through that brush looking for blood! I've got a few horror story's that don't get told around the camp fire all that often, and like I said, if you hunt lots, I'm real sure it'll happen to the best! You guys did more than most guys would have to find the Deer, and I'd bet that Buck is licking his wound as we speak, and waiting for his first rutting season!!!

[liambobbi]

if you dont mine me asking were you see all those bears been looking since season opener havent seen one and no sign of any ,thankyou

[hillclimber]

Sounds like you and your son had an experience he will never forget. I believe almost every hunter will experience hitting an animal and not being able to find it. It is not a great feeling but it happens.

[The Silent Stalker]

I just got a shot at a black bear this spring with my bow, and worked hard for several days trying to recover it. I am lucky to have the friends I do, I had lots of help for a few days. Gone. I can't imagine how he got away, I found my arrow 200yrds into the swamp and had meat all over it. I tried as hard as I could and in the end was comfortable with my efforts. If you guys tried hard and feel comfortable with your efforts, than nobody should give you or your son a hard time.

[aj1493]

good story bud. now post pics of the deer

[MATTIAC]

I need a nice cinnamon rug!! where is this certain location. Was up beaver lake area on the weekend and seen nothing

[Glassman]

PM me for info

[Singleshotneeded]

You did everything you could, Glassman, so don't feel bad. We're teaching our kids to hunt, and raising the next
generation of sportsmen. They may get a bit excited and miss, but as long as we teach them to do the right things
and hunt ethically and responsibly, we're giving them a gift that will serve them well all their lives. Good luck!