0 bear club

[jrebel]

Either that is an absolutely HUGE bear....or you are a midget?  Which one is it?      We need more information on that brute.

[jpharcher]

I am 5'11"s and not long arming it....lol
His skull measured 18 14/16ths 3 years after he went on the wall.
It took 6 of us to carry him out of the woods in a litter.

[jpharcher]

last one.....

[RadSav]

Bear ended up piling up about 30 yards from where I shot him, double lung, heart.....lucky shot!

You get heart or both lungs and bear really go down quick with the bow.  But, like elk, make a bad shot or get just one lung and you can be in for some tracking and excitement!  I'd bet every bow shot bear I have had to put down for someone I was told they made a perfect heart lung shot before we started tracking.   All of them were shot either too high or too far back.  It's a good idea for new bear hunters to study bear anatomy whether shooting a gun or a bow.

Bear have small lungs and a rather good sized heart.  They also have a large belly and deceivingly long hair most of the time.  The stomach pushes most everything forward tight to the shoulder.  If you try to place a shot behind the front leg broadside chances are you are going to only get liver.  If you are lucky you will get the diaphragm.  That is why we bowhunters should always let a bear move that front leg forward before taking the shot.

Shots angled toward the hunter are rarely good shots with a bow, but I actually like them a lot with a gun.  Even if slightly angled toward the hunter and you place an arrow tight behind the shoulder you will only get one lung and likely miss the heart completely.  If you feel you must take that shot with the bow it's usually better to try going inside the shoulder rather than outside the shoulder.  That is the shot I took on my monster nuisance bear.  He was seven or eight yards when the arrow hit, tried to make a run at me (or the trail I was on anyway) and he ran out of gas before he made it there.  Died about 8 feet from me!  Talk about exciting

For the best chance at success and a quick kill with a bow there is a simple trick - Never aim for the shoulder closest to you!  Always aim at a broadside or quartering bear by trying to break the opposite shoulder. 

If your arrow, or even bullet, can break that opposite shoulder you are assured of betting both lungs and the aortic arch if not the heart directly.  If your shot is steep down hill try to put the arrow so it is exiting out the front half of the opposite armpit.  No such thing as a bad blood trail if you get that arrow out that armpit from above!  Though likely you won't have to blood trail at all if your broadhead is good and sharp.

I don't normally agree with a lot of the IBEF/NBEF anatomy posters.  But they did a good job with their bear pictures.  Notice how almost all vitals are directly above the front leg.  Not much there behind the leg, is there?

[luvmystang67]

Thanks for the pic.

I feel like after deer and elk hunting all my life I've continuously shot low and back on bear.  You need to aim high and forward compared to where you're used to aiming on deer and elk.  At least, that is the rule I've set for myself.  The hair and lack of shoulder definition often make this sound easier than it is.

[tgomez]

Never harvested a bear, ive missed 5 of em. all 400plus yard shots. But i have watched my father kill 3 right in front of me. And ive had 4 different other hunters get them in our camp while hunting them. I hope to get my first this fall. Im ready to break the curse.

[RadSav]

Never harvested a bear, ive missed 5 of em. all 400plus yard shots. But i have watched my father kill 3 right in front of me. And ive had 4 different other hunters get them in our camp while hunting them. I hope to get my first this fall. Im ready to break the curse.

Getting inside 50 yards is a good way to break the curse

[bearpaw]

left the club at age 12

[rtspring]

Took me 41 years

[pd]

RT he would have been more comfortable on that chaise lounge.

[WA hunter14]

im so deep inside the no bear club its rediculouse, god does not want me to kill a bear !!

[magnumb]

im so deep inside the no bear club its rediculouse, god does not want me to kill a bear !!

If true and you can truly embrace that, just think about all those mornings you can now just sleep in...... .

[RadSav]

im so deep inside the no bear club its rediculouse, god does not want me to kill a bear !!

If true and you can truly embrace that, just think about all those mornings you can now just sleep in...... .

 

One of the reasons I like bear hunting...if you sleep in you haven't lost your advantage at all.  Not exactly sure why it is, but we have never killed a bear over 300# in the morning.  Big boys just seem to love the afternoon!

[Romulus1297]

Right before sunset is the best time to process a hide 

[magnumb]

im so deep inside the no bear club its rediculouse, god does not want me to kill a bear !!

If true and you can truly embrace that, just think about all those mornings you can now just sleep in...... .

 

One of the reasons I like bear hunting...if you sleep in you haven't lost your advantage at all.  Not exactly sure why it is, but we have never killed a bear over 300# in the morning.  Big boys just seem to love the afternoon!

I believe that's more true than not..... .

Having said that, I started my scouting a bit late yesterday and didn't get to the mountain range I hunt until about 1:15PM.  At 1:30 ('cuz I always keep times and locations of game sightings), I hit the '** mile' marker travelin' slowly in my truck and just around the corner about 30 yards in front of my lady friend and myself, the largest, most beautiful, healthy, indigo shiny black bear had just decided that the middle of that loggin' road just wasn't his thing.

I wouldn't say he 'blew out', but he certainly didn't take his time either.  Over 4 decades of huntin' and I've seen probably 25+ bears and none came close to matching the size nor condition that this bear displayed......bar none!  Even though it was a only a full right side viewing of this majestic animal and only for a few seconds, it was enough to truly impress us both (she had spent a great deal of outdoor time in Idaho).  Huge, thick, short legs, his body/hair somewhat moved in waves as he sauntered off the road into the thick undergrowth as if he'd never missed a meal or anyone else's and his hair was a ultra shiny, jet black.  Oh boy.......... .

For my own reasons that I can't explain nor feel the need to do so, I have passed on all five 'coug's that I've seen (4 quite shootable) and all 25+ bears that I've come across (the vast majority also quite shootable) in these last 40+ years of hunting.  Granted, a few of those sightings were not during hunting season for those animals, but many were during season and I had valid tags for both cougar and bear.  I have never had any issue with droppin' the hammer on bucks, bulls and a bunch of other game, waterfowl, predators, varmints, etc., but never really could 'justify' to myself, the taking of something this large that I really knew that I wasn't going to really enjoy eating.......if eaten at all.  If I've talked to 100 guys about eatin' bear, I'll bet 95 of them placed bear dead last on their 'favorite' game meat list.  Not encouraging, but as usual, it's somewhat saving grace was the typical comment, "it makes great jerky or summer sausage!!".  What doesn't if seasoned enough and done right......OK, coots probably don't....... .

Well, since the #'s of bear and cougar sightings has dramatically risen for me these last several years and the deer populations in my usual and accustomed hunting haunts have dramatically declined, my position and or insights on the matter has changed with the realization that this correlation seems pretty darn near......indisputable.

As luck would have it, last year (again during open season for coug's), I saw the largest cat of the five that I have ever seen.  Again.....a truly gorgeous specimen observed, no less, on public lands while scouting for deer.  He looked like an artists rendering of what a cougar looks like after living at and eating deer which have only been residents of Hanford all of their lives.  Funny thing (not ha-ha funny, however), this particular area where I saw this cat, once held large populations of blacktails.  For the last several years, most people who know the area like myself could not figure out what was going on...?  I think that I now know.......ya think?  And truth be told, it would be my guess from seeing that particular cougar last year, that he himself, all alone, has eaten every single deer on that entire mountain range....... .  Again.....Oh boy... .

Sooooo.......off come the gloves and I'm looking forward to more actual huntin' days and opportunities.  Instead of just pre-scoutin' deer for months prior to the season, I can spice things up a bit in August and Sept.  I have taken many bucks that I've 'stayed with' for several weeks before the season opener and truly enjoy the accomplishment.  I have a feelin' however, that 'stayin' with' Mr. Huge Bear won't be nearly as easy and 'stayin' with' Mr. Obese Cougar will be darn near impossible.

But I do like a good challenge.......or two.......