Archery Bear Hunting Question

[Bonescreek]

I've been thinking of seriously going after black bear with my bow in
recent years and our bb population has been growing at a pretty good
rate lately.

My biggest concern that I have is in tracking after a shot. We have a
great deal of "open planted pine" but also a lot of thick patches like
adder, mountain larual and rhodadendren sp?.

Is it most common for a hit bear to head for the nearest thickest spot
he can find or would he likely go for water ?

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Howzit this morning ...I have been fourtunate enough to have taken over thirty bears with the bow...I find that they are the easiest animal of all the big game to put down with a well placed shot...their systems shut down quick.

99% of them will go down within sight and mere seconds after the shot...many will use main trails after hit others will head straight out from where they were hit regardless of whats in the way...

With the guiding I have done over the years a marginal shot is never good and if a bear goes quite a distance, even a couple hundred yards, its not a good sign, if you push them out of the first bed its diefinately a real bad sign and can be a lot of work if you ever see that bear again, ...a maginal shot can leave a sparse blood trail if any at all but a pin head here and there.....
...
however many bears will return to the same bait even when wounded at that bait...

There never was a pattern except that a wounded bear would always lay where they would see or hear you coming..

If in doubt and the blood trail was over a hundred yards, I general call it and wait until the next morning...of all the bear hunts I have been on that with a shooter that had a marginal shot I never had an attack situation when trailing...as a matter of fact 99% of the time that bear is never seen again unless its back on a bait station...

If leagal it is wise to carry a back up firearm when trailing a wounded bear, which is used some times to put down the wounded bear also.

They will stay in cover and need water eventially as you stated, but we have found their main objective is get as far away from you as possible using their regular trails.

Neil

[Bonescreek]

Hey Neil, I fine, gettin' ready to go out huntin' this afternoon.
Job huntin' that is. Things are slowww at work these days so I'm
looking around.

Thanks for the info on tracking, makes me feel much more confident
about making it happen. Still have a lot to learn and I don't know
that I'll be ready for it this fall but maybe the 2014 season.

One of the things I need to check out is the best BH to use.
I've been using ThunderHeads for deer and turkey with great success,
but don't know how well they would stay together through a pair of
bear ribs.

[L.O.S.T.Arrow]

Thunderheads Have taken down many a bear..they will work just fine ...bears have small round finger like ribs and are easily penertrated ...pass thrus are even most likely with a ThunderHead...

Neil

[SmokinJoe]

Not sure where you are based on your hunting record, but if your in the Edmonton area, I have been invited to give a tips and tactics lecture at Cabelas as part of their spring great outdoor days. I will be showing video clips I have taken over the years of bears harvested, and talking about topics such as stand selection, bait making, shot placement, recovery, field dressing/ preparing for taxidermy, and many more tips and tactics.

[Bonescreek]

Thanks Neil BHs don't come cheep.
Do you happen to have any skelletal or vitals pictures ?

Smoken Joe, I'm down in Virginia US. sure wish I could have seen
your lecture at Cabellas. Mabe you should put that info in a
seperate post to other's know about it too, if it's not too late already.

I took this photo couple years ago of a black that's been following me around
while I'm deer and turkey hunting. I havn't seen him but a fellow hunt club
member did get him on his phone camera just after I left the spot to take
a different afternoon spot.



I helped another club member who was muzzleloader hunting, I was bow
hunting. I set him up in a spot around the same area of the bear in the
above picture, I located 3 good bucks here within a 1/4 sq. mile earlier
that week. So I set him up as a stander and I did a short drive for him.
He spotted a small black around 250lb. but couldn't get a shot. That
was last Nov.

[SmokinJoe]

Lol well the lecture is actually next weekend, so you have time to make the long flight, haha. If you ever have any questions feel free to pm me, I'd be happy to help. Guided allot of good guys from your neck of the woods before,