Big Game Hunting > Other Big Game

I Am Just Sick...

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tlbradford:
This Saturday I jumped up a bruiser bear, big and light brown.  Hind track was 9-1/2 inches in length.  Front track just under 7" wide.  My guess was 275# min with serious ground shrinkage to 400# being a good estimate guess.  Ears were tiny, belly nearly scraped the groud, and the fat was rolling back and forth when it ran.

I pulled up with my .338 win mag, and 210 nosler partitions and let fly at around 100 yards.  I recover from the recoil and the bear is thrashing on the ground in a big cloud of dust.  Much to my surprise, he hops up and disappears into the thick stuff looking like there was nothing wrong.  After 4 hours of searching, nothing could be found.  No blood, no hair, tracking was impossible in the rocky terrain, and the thick stuff was so torn up from bear activity anyway.  I went back the next morning after a rainstorm and could not find any crows or bluejays pecking at a carcass, but there are not very many in the area anyways.

Here are my questions:
1) Has anyone ever seen a bear duck at the sound of a shot and actually trip and fall without being hit? 

1a) When he was down, I did not see him biting at himself, or here him bawl at any point in time.  I could swear that I hit him quartering away, shooting down on him, and entering near his back rib (if I was being asked to call my shot).  I have not shot any running bears before, would this be normal behavior if I hit him where I thought I did?  Also, would you expect to find blood if you did not get through and through penetration on this shot?

2) Does anyone know if it is legal to use a hound to recover an animal?  I read the regs to say that you can't use a hound while hunting, but I am unsure if you could use a hound to recover a dead animal if you were not hunting.  I doubt it, but could not find anything specific saying otherwise.

3) For you houndsman, how old can a trail be and still be followed?

I am almost physically sick about the situation.  I hope to God I just whiffed on this guy and he isn't balled up in some thick stuff that I couldn't track him to.  I would love to hear your thoughts.

Branden:
I have seen a bear shot at across a canyon and roll all the way down until it was out of sight. A couple guys went over to look for the blood to trail it into the thick stuff. While they are searching for blood it pops up fifty yards from them and feeds up the hill. It was never hit with the first shot.

I also read a book that said black bears fall over when shot at sometimes even when they are not hit.
That is the only question I can answer on your list. Branden

billythekidrock:
I have seen bears "duck/flinch/jump" at a shot that missed, but I hate to tell ya, it sounds like you hit him. Lots of times if you hit them in the front shoulder they will tend to spin in circles for a bit before racing off. If he was quartering away and you hit the near shoulder towards the far shoulder your bullet may not exit and with all the fat at this time of year you will not find much blood, if any. If you hit the hind quarter he may spin/bite/bail and again probably no trackable blood. Most big boars won't make much of a sound when hit unless they are double lunged. If you double lunged him you would have some blood and fat, but maybe not trackable depending on how many bones you hit and the amount of fat on the bear.

boneaddict:
Sorry...but Billy is right.

Machias:
Well I would call the Fish and Game about using the dog.  The reg is very clear when it comes to cats and you may be able to use it for this situation.  It states that having a dog on a leash, tracking a cat is NOT considered hound hunting.  But I would ask and make sure your dog does not get off the leash at all while tracking your bear.  Sounds to me like you hit him.

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