Bear Search

[slovakien_12]

Hi Guys,
Shot a nice good size black bear at 30 yards with my bow this evening. Heard a "thud" noise and the bear tried to climb a tree. After one attempt it gave up and ran off. I found my arrow with blood and hair but there was only 3 tiny specks on blood on the ground within a 10 foot radius. I think he may be bleeding internally. After 2 hours of searching the thick slope it got too dark. Thoughts on next step??

[Whonnock Boy]

Head back in first thing in the morning, and start a grid search. If you have a dog, or any dog for that matter, bring it along. There is a good chance, even if it is untrained, that it will track it successfully. Friends are good too!

[slovakien_12]

Yup I will bring my german shepherd. It was a beautiful bear so I am keeping my hopes up

[cdnshooter13]

Firstly whereabouts are you located someone may have a dog thats proven itself finding wounded game and can help you out. Or ask a friend if you havent got a dog of your own it doesnt have to be a hound a lab or any dog may do, my buddy had a jack russel that lived to find downed game. If you cant get a dog if go back early as you can with a shotgun or rifle if the area allows and just start looking for sign in the last known direction of travel it should be pretty obvious( claw mark on logs, large sluff marks on a slope or a fair sized branch snapped off pretty low to the ground) in my expierience a shot bear usually steam rolls everything in its path, ive seen 4" green logs snapped off. Id also very carefully look under any rotten stumps or logs or any other possible den sites as some bears ive shot and had trouble finding were eventually located in theyre dens a headlamp may be helpful when looking into dark holes that may contain a wounded bear;) good luck hope this helps

[cdnshooter13]

Yup I will bring my german shepherd. It was a beautiful bear so I am keeping my hopes up

Your shepard should do the trick just fine:)

[slovakien_12]

I hope so as well. It was not a gut shot so I am really hoping I can find him. Thanks for the advice

[gutpile]

The rain won't help you much !

[Liptugger]

Take a freind and a gun, leave the bow at home, he may be alive and pissed at you.

[davet]

YA bring your gun, shepard, Did the arrow go through? He cant be that far.
dont forget to tag out.

[Wild one]

It is possible you made a good shot but find little blood. Unfortunately when it comes to bears the hair can really soak the blood up especially on a higher lung hit. Taken a few bears with a bow that left very little blood and most of the tracking was from ground disturbance. They did not go far either.

The dog will help but take it really slow look for scuff marks and broken vegetation. If that fails start a grid search and leave no log unturned.

If you had a pass through with good blood on the arrow the bear should not go too far unless you pushed him too early

Good luck

[G.A.]

good to hear a fellow bow shooter got a hit..hope you find it

[Iron-Head]

YA bring your gun, shepard, Did the arrow go through? He cant be that far.
dont forget to tag out.
No. Read the regs, don't cut your tag untill you have the animal in your possession.

Good luck, if the bear is in good health the large amounts of fat can clog the entrance and exit. The last bear I arrowed went 30yards without spilling a drop on the ground.

[mr7mm]

last bear i shot it was with my 7mm mag and i hit him very hard right behind the shoulder at 60 yards i had some lunch and went to look for him there was no blood at all just a little tore up moss after 15min of a tight grid search i found him piled up just be prepared for anything!!!

[slovakien_12]

Well i took the dog out and found blood about 30 yards from where I hit him. I covered about 4 kilometers squared and it was just a straight up ravine. I have 4 others help with the search and the dog lost trail at about 50 yards. It was a clean pass through. As per the regulations I made an effort to recover the animal and came up dry. Maybe I will get another chance this spring

[Dour]

Well at least you tried to find it bears are tuff animals I hit one with my 300 win mag in Clearwater twoyears ago it's ran off me and a friend looked for it for two days and couldn't find it had to give up after that it was to hot out the meat would have been bad. After that I went and bought a bear gun 500s&w . They don't run after you hit it with that. They fall Fast I'm going for my second bear next Thursday in Squamish . You will get another chance don't worry

[Sofa King]

YA bring your gun, shepard, Did the arrow go through? He cant be that far.
dont forget to tag out.

why would he tag out?
he doesn't have his bear yet.
it may not even be dead.

[davet]

why would he tag out?
he doesn't have his bear yet.
it may not even be dead.
I asked him if his arrow went through. If it did im sure the bear was hit good and will die soon. just my thought ok but if it was me i would look as hard as i could and if i did not find it i would do the ethical thing and tag out. Not much else anyone can do, The bear is not going to find him. You get 2 bear anyways.

[kootenayelkslayer]

Too bad man. Bears are a nightmare to track. Over the years of guiding bowhunters, I've seen more bears get away from a clean pass thru of an arrow than I care to count. Don't be too hard on yourself, it happens a lot and you did your best. Quite possible the bear is still alive.

[Sofa King]

I asked him if his arrow went through. If it did im sure the bear was hit good and will die soon. just my thought ok but if it was me i would look as hard as i could and if i did not find it i would do the ethical thing and tag out. Not much else anyone can do, The bear is not going to find him. You get 2 bear anyways.

that's all fine.
nothing wrong with you cutting your tag if that's how you feel.
but, you shouldn't be telling someone else that they should.

[davet]

that's all fine.
nothing wrong with you cutting your tag if that's how you feel.
but, you shouldn't be telling someone else that they should.
chill out dude. Just because i said something on here doesn't mean he has to do it. he searched the best he could and thats about all he could do.

[t-rexer]

I wouldn't cut my tag,

[Caribou_lou]

Well from what you said about the bears behavior after the shot id say the shot was back and must have done some damage if he couldn't climb the tree. When im tracking bears I look for tracks and scuff marks. If there isn't much blood. Which usually is the case for bears. Especially in the first 30 yards.

Personally I wouldn't cut my tag because there are plenty of them and they are hard on moose calfs!