Sucker punched by Friday the 13th!

[Todd_ID]

Thursday the 12th started out fine.  I loaded the tent and hunting stuff into my truck and drove the 30 or so miles into the Lick Creek unit where I intended to hunt.  I set up my little camp and let my boots do the work.  Not 30 minutes out of camp I spotted a bear at about 1.25 miles in a saddle with a recognizable tree.  I didn't even set up my spotting scope to judge quality; it was A bear, and that's all that mattered; he was digging in a wild onion patch, so I didn't think he'd go far.  I didn't plan on shooting the first thing I saw, but I wanted to try some calling with a cool call that I made from Bearmanric's call blanks.

I covered the 1.25 miles and 1000' of elevation to get close to the saddle in record time.  Somehow I didn't have a heart attack, but I did manage to fall many, many times in the hour or so it took me to scramble up the mountain.

The bear wasn't there by the time I got to the saddle, naturally.  I had approached the saddle with a steady breeze in my face, so I had a good wind advantage.  I set up next to the only bush there and nocked an arrow and set my rifle down; I had both in hopes of using the bow (I am a bowhunter after all) but didn't want to miss an opportunity. 

I hit the call with about a 10-15 second sequence of rabbit distress.  Not 30 seconds later the bear popped out of the thick brush about 100 yards away and came to the edge of the brush at 80 yards.  As he came into the open I saw that it was a huge bright red cinnamon boar with a melon head and a belly that drug in the short grass.  I didn't think he would come any further, so it was a rifle chance.

I threw up the .50 Beowulf on my AR-15 and shot.  I thought it was a decent shot, but with a 350 grain hollow point I expected him to get laid out hard and fast.  Apparently the shot wasn't as good as I'd hoped.  He took off down the mountain.  I gave him a few minutes and called some buddies to calm myself down and share the good news.

I looked for the 30 minutes left before dark and then continued until midnight covering a very steep hillside but found nothing.  I returned to camp a very whipped puppy.  I returned the next day (Friday the 13th) covering the same country again much more thoroughly.  I did find a little blood (shown in the photo below) about 150 yards from the shot and then followed tracks for about a mile down into the steepest and deepest country man can possibly traverse.  I also did find a couple tiny drops of blood here and there along the way for the first 800 yards or so but nothing worthwhile.  He got to the bottom of the next canyon, and I lost his trail among the myriad elk tracks.

I ended up hiking many miles and around 8000' of elevation, and today I can't move my legs!  In hindsight, I should have called more and shot him with my bow.  I'm a bowhunter not a rifle hunter!

Here are some pictures from the couple of days.

Where I saw him from:


The rifle I shot him with:


The canyon he ran down into:


Looking up the terrain I had covered looking for him:


The only real blood I found:


The call I made:

[SkookumHntr]

-Man that sucks! Bears are Tough!

[bucklucky]

Damn that sucks.

[3nails]

 The good news: With that caliber, the distance you covered, the amount of blood= flesh wound. The bad news: I doubt you'll see that bear again. The good news: You still got a tag.

[Todd_ID]

The good news: With that caliber, the distance you covered, the amount of blood= flesh wound. The bad news: I doubt you'll see that bear again. The good news: You still got a tag.

True story on pretty much all that!

I do wish the state would allow using a dog on a leash to follow a wounded animal because I think I could have found that bear and shot him again.

[zackmioli]

sorry to hear that! after putting in all that work for him you should have some good karma coming your way!

[carpsniperg2]

Sorry to hear that todd. Atleast you put in the time to try and find the bear. A lot of guys would have give up long before you stopped.

[agchawk]

I heard about your bad luck Todd! You tried your best and it happens to the best of us, although I doubt that fixes anything.

Good luck bud and if you need an extra set of eyes up there while lookin' for this bear or any other just drop me a line. I can PM ya my cell number if need be. I'd be more than happy to help ya look if I have the free time from work.

[D-Rock425]

That sucks man.  Its tough loosing an animal but it happens.

[brew]

i feel your pain....last august my cousin and i were set up on a unit we'd seen plenty of beer sign and 1/2 hour before dark a took a shot at one broadside at 100 yds.  at the shot he started tumbling downhill and i was sure he was dead.  My cuzin kept telling me to shoot it again but I couldn't get on it as it was summersaulting down the hilll rolling between trees.  we gave him about 10 minutes and went to find him but it got dark in the timber and we backed out thinking he would be there in the morning.  got back there next morning at light and looked for blood.  followed sparse blood down a draw and 80 yards from where i shot the bear found a chunk of bone.  We were hunting out of Humptulips and the brush was thicker than thick...about chest high so my cuzin was tracking on his hands and knees while i kept vigil with my rifle and 44 mag pistol at the ready.  we followed the blood trail down the draw, across the creek, up the hill and over the top before it petered out.  still can't believe we never found it as i was steady on the shooting sticks and the shot looked right...dam bears are tough....

[BOWHUNTER45]

That really sucks... I would never us a hollow point on any big game animal exspecially a bear... Hollow points blow up to fast and most likely expanded on impact ... if the bullet hit bone then for sure it would not kill it ....

[CAMPMEAT]

Too bad. Go back and look for crows, you might find him...damn !!!

[saylean]

Always tough to lose an animal. Never know, he might heal up with and carry on. Good luck on filling the tag.

[724wd]

maybe it's something about them red ones...    i hit a bright red bear years ago with my .270 at about 200 yards.  when i got where i shot him, i found a couple of drops of blood.  then my dad saw the bear zipping out of the canyon at mach 8, 600 yards away!    

[mulehunter]

Too bad. Go back and look for crows, you might find him...damn !!!

That will help.  I wish i could bring my hounds to find it for u.  Very sorry.  Hopefully next shot will be a perfect.

Keep trying.

Mulehunter.   

[Wea300mag]

That's a bummer Todd. Bear a extremely tough critters, very hard to bring down.

[blindpig]

  We have all been there one time or another

[Machias]

It's not illegal to track wounded game with a dog in this state.  Only problem is you cannot be armed and you cannot unsnap the leash.  With this bear it sounds like he is not hit all that hard, I would not recommend following a wounded bear with a dog on a leash with no weapon.  Might get western pretty quick!!

[Hornseeker]

Sounds like the bear will be fine to me Todd... i too question the use of the hollow point?? What was your thought there? Not bustin your balls, just curious. I have never considered using a hollow point for big game..

Sounds like you got some good exercise and exercised your excellent ethics at the same time!

That call is pretty cool man.

[Annette]

Too bad. Go back and look for crows, you might find him...damn !!!

That will help.  I wish i could bring my hounds to find it for u.  Very sorry.  Hopefully next shot will be a perfect.

Keep trying.

Mulehunter.   


Sorry to hear you lost him...Just courious, what kept you going so far? Were there tracks?
My  guess is he died just past the last blood and  rolled down into some brush. Mabe crawled into a hole.
You're a good shot, Don't give up!