LOST A BEAR

[Okanagan]

Ditto to all above.  If you have them, take a hand pruner and leather gloves when you go back into the blackberries.

[Tiger1358]

Not to be a jerk, but some comments don't make sense saying "you should carry a headlamp" and stuff.It's not the first day,  I have not just one, but 2 plus a flashlight and don't think there's anybody here that can say "I can confidently make a 130-140 yard free hand shot from 300 Win Mag at a vital spot". At the moment, that's your best decision and and we do the best we can. it's easy to say what you could've done better, but we all know that you wouldn't have done any different.
But back to the subject. I'm wondering why till the last moment I left, I could still hear him moving if he was going to die. He was still moving in the bushes for more than 30 mins. The time frame would be more than 30 mins between him getting shot and me leaving, when I left he was still moving.
The meat is probably already spoiled if he died, but I will definitely check again, If I find him dead, i'll notch my tag just to feel better. We win or we learn. 

[Bango skank]

You left while you could still hear him moving? If you could still hear him moving then you knew where he was.  Why wouldnt you have gone to the noise and finished him off?

[ctwiggs1]

Why ask for advice if you don't want to listen?

Were you coming on here looking for people to validate your decision to leave a dying animal on the hillside?

[7mmfan]

Yeah, that's not really a "lost" bear at that point. That's a bear that you walked away from after shooting it. Bears are notorious for living a long time after sub par shots. Some make it, many do not. They crawl off and hole up and die. If you had 2 head lamps and a flashlight, you should have lit that place up like a prison break and headed in to finish the job. It's not something any of us want to do but once you pull the trigger and are confident you hit the animal, it's time to do everything in your power to finish the job.

And note, many people can confidently take a freehand shot at 150 yards. I'm one of them. If i'm not confident in the shot I don't take it. I have in the past and I learned from those mistakes. I would chalk this up to being one of those mistakes and learn from it.

[bornhunter]

 

You left while you could still hear him moving? If you could still hear him moving then you knew where he was.  Why wouldnt you have gone to the noise and finished him off?

[Bango skank]

I'm wondering why till the last moment I left, I could still hear him moving if he was going to die. He was still moving in the bushes for more than 30 mins. The time frame would be more than 30 mins between him getting shot and me leaving, when I left he was still moving.

I lost a bear this year too, as have others.  It happens.  But here you say you left when you could still hear him moving.  So you knew where he was, could have followed the noise to him and finished him off, but decided to leave? Thats absurd.  You abandoned a greivously wounded animal when you could hear him, so you knew where he was.  Why?  Why, if you knew he was wounded, and kbew where he was, would you have walked away?  The only reason i can imagine you would do that would be because you were afraid to approach a wounded bear in the brush.  If youre too scared to follow up on a wounded bear, then you really have no business hunting them.  Sorry dude, but thats just not right.

[Tiger1358]

You left while you could still hear him moving? If you could still hear him moving then you knew where he was.  Why wouldnt you have gone to the noise and finished him off?

The moment he was 15 yards away ,when I say moving I mean walking. I could hear him walking

[Bango skank]

You left while you could still hear him moving? If you could still hear him moving then you knew where he was.  Why wouldnt you have gone to the noise and finished him off?

The moment he was 15 yards away ,when I say moving I mean walking. I could hear him walking

You said you still heard him moving for 30 minutes.  He clearly wasnt covering ground too fast.  You had ample time and opportunity to finish the job.

[WildlifeAssassin]

Rough day in the woods. Always double tap bears, every time.

[ctwiggs1]

You left while you could still hear him moving? If you could still hear him moving then you knew where he was.  Why wouldnt you have gone to the noise and finished him off?

The moment he was 15 yards away ,when I say moving I mean walking. I could hear him walking

This boils down to a few hard rules.  Read carefully:

1) If it's still standing, you're still shooting.  I don't care if it's a bear, an elk, or a duck.  Don't ever think "yeah that one shot is probably fine" if it's still on it's legs.

2) If you are close to it AFTER shooting it, the animal is fatally wounded.  No game animal is going to be within 20 yards of you after being anything but fatally wounded.  Get in there and finish the job.

This was a learning experience.

[bobcat]

What's a "dirty shot?" Never heard that term before.

[X-Force]

Not to be a jerk, but some comments don't make sense saying "you should carry a headlamp" and stuff.It's not the first day,  I have not just one, but 2 plus a flashlight and don't think there's anybody here that can say "I can confidently make a 130-140 yard free hand shot from 300 Win Mag at a vital spot". At the moment, that's your best decision and and we do the best we can. it's easy to say what you could've done better, but we all know that you wouldn't have done any different.
But back to the subject. I'm wondering why till the last moment I left, I could still hear him moving if he was going to die. He was still moving in the bushes for more than 30 mins. The time frame would be more than 30 mins between him getting shot and me leaving, when I left he was still moving.
The meat is probably already spoiled if he died, but I will definitely check again, If I find him dead, i'll notch my tag just to feel better. We win or we learn.

I have been in areas where you shoot a bear and 10 min later another bear is coming through the same area. So who is to say if it was the same bear or a second bear moving and you still didn’t put much effort into retrieving the bear. If he was still moving and you know it was him and you could hear him why not close the distance and see if you can get a finishing shot?

My brother and I have crawled through blackberry bushes for hours knowing we had a bear down. We have found them 10 yards from the shot balled up in a depression under 10 feet of bushes and down the hill 100 yards an going through hell to get them. My guess is your bear is dead and with some effort you can find him.

The meat should still be good. Even if it was a poor shot the shoulders and hams should still be fine. It hasn’t been that long or that hot.

[Ridgeratt]

Why ask for advice if you don't want to listen?

Were you coming on here looking for people to validate your decision to leave a dying animal on the hillside?

Who say's it's dead This person could have very well left a wounded bear on the hillside for the next person with kids schlepping thru the woods to encounter.

[Rainier10]

Go back and look for the bear.

‘Nuf said.