Poor bear hit...might he come back to the bait??

[allan f]

I hit a bear poorly high and slightly far back two days ago.  I have been searching high and low.  My friend thinks he spotted him a few miles back.

My question is do you think there is a chance that if I keep the bait active he might hit it again?  I mean there is a chance Bigfoot might hit it, but what are the chances that this bear will stay in the area and if doesn't succumb to his wounds will come back for free eats????

Let me know guys, I don't want to pressure him by tracking him since I think he isn't hit hard enough to die.  My thought is if I back off and keep baiting he might come back.  Let me know what the more experienced think.  I won't shoot another bear but him because in my mind I'm tagged out but I can still sit the bait and wait.

Allan

[wingnut]

Allan,

I had a one a ways back that I hit bad and killed two years later at the same setup.  I doubt he will return to that bait this year.  Or at least very soon.

It was a mission for me to go back and get him, but dang did he get smart.  LOL

Mike

[Bill Carlsen]

My friend, Todd, has a 3 legged sow that shows up at his bait in the Fall. Two years ago he shot it low and actually thought he heart shot her. Never found her and never saw her again until the next season, last year. If your bear survived I think you are going to be a year from seeing him again.

[trapperDave]

would you be in a hurry to go back if you was that bear?  

[FerretWYO]

I have seen a bear that was hit high several years ago. This same bear was taken three days later at the same bait.

I am not sure this is normal but it can happen. Good luck man. I resect your effort to recover the hit bear.

[JimB]

I arrived in a Saskatchewan bear camp the day after a hunter stuck a huge boar exactly like that.A big group of us combed that jungle for quite awhile that day till the outfitter decided that the bear would make it and puled us off.I didn't say anything but I thought he was full of it.

The outfitter decided to give that bait a rest so I'm not sure if the bear came right back.

The following year,another hunter arrowed the same huge bear.They tracked it into the brush,jumped it and the outfitter took a snap shot with his .375,hitting it through one of the hams,going away.He told me that 3 days later,there was a blood smear on the bait barrel,where the bear had come back in to eat.

He told me that those dominant boars own that piece of turf and they aren't leaving.I don't know about lesser bears and who knows if that bear came back in after dark?

A few years later,I ended up in that camp one week as the only hunter and spent quite a bit of time talking with this guy and there were a lot of stories about poorly hit bears surviving and coming back and he had the tanned hide of the giant boar I talked about.

It had been finally taken at the same bait site,but out of a different stand set back farther,by a rifle hunter.He said it was an honest 600 lb bear and as a taxidermist who has measured a few bear skins,I believed him.

They learned that the first hunter hit him under the spine.The second guy hit it quartering away and the arrow skipped across the ribs and under the shoulder but didn't enter the rib cage.The scars were there from the .375 as well as from all his fights.A true giant bear.

I don't know if your bear will be back this year or not but I do believe in perserverance.Try sitting the bait.If one thing doesn't work,try something else.All you have to lose is a little time and I have to think that time spent in the Canadian bush is time well spent.

Good luck.I hope we get to see a picture of you with your bear.

[Whip]

I've sure heard of it happening before.  My guess would be that it is not necessarily common, but you never know.  In good bear areas even if that one doesn't come back another bear very likey will.  If it is an active site I wouldn't hesitate to hunt it again.

[Brian Krebs]

Yes- it could.

Bears get into fights with each other and walk away with wounds that would kill us. I am not sure if it is because; although they are not true hibernators; it seems they can lower their metabolism. While a wounded deer has a constant rate of heart beats and blood pressure- I am not convinced that is true with bears- which can lay down and fall into a deep sleep; with body functions like they are in 'hibernation'.

 Then too; a bullet kills by not only the damage from the bullet itself; but mostly by hydrostatic shock. If you butcher a gun shot deer or bear; you can see the area around the wound is pulverized. That makes it much more prone to infection and complications that can lead to death.

 The arrow shot animal has a clean cut in and out. Unless gut is hit; which can lead to infection- the arrow wound bleeds (which cleans the wound out) and then has a chance to heal- (unless of course-the animal bleeds to death).

 I read the journal of a doctor for the US Army during the 'Indian Wars' he treated one soldier for 18 arrow wounds to the chest. The soldier recovered. In that journal though - every soldier hit in the gut with an arrow: died.

[John3]

I agree Whip.. If it is a hot bait by all means hunt it hard.. I have never seen an injured bear return to a bait (I think if they live they are nocturnal at the baits)but for sure another bear will come in.  Animals are tough as cobs. Do not be surprised to see that bear again in a year or so.

John III

[Curveman]

I too have heard of a bear coming back in a few days. I had a bear come out within 10-15 minutes of arrowing another bear last year. I was startled enough to initially believe that it was the same bear coming back to see what bit it!

So I would hedge my bet: Hunt the site.  If that one shows, great, if not there is no shame in taking another bear then perhaps tagging the one you wounded next year. He's either dead or will show up on a site somewhere.

[northern fisher]

With my limited expience I would have to go with Wingnut.I don't think you will see him again this year but I bet he'll be back.Granted this is only my third year working with bears.
 good luck

[swampbuck]

I can't help ya with the beer thing but I can tell ya that several yrs ago a friend had hit a whitetail in the butt on Fri afternoon which I killed on Sun morning...we looked for the hit since the rack was unique and couldn't find it untill I skun him down and sure enuff there it was.When I cut steaks out of the hindquarter I could see the "X" from the BH going in but I could not sepperate the tissue.Basically it looked to me like nearly a full heal in 1 1/2 days

good luck with your bear

[KSdan]

I was told that bear metabolism- like other predators- is very much different than deer-type critters. The bear apparently can actually produce blood almost as fast as it looses.

If anyone knows this to be a bunch of bunk please do correct me. . . I was informed this many years ago by bear guy who put on seminars along with serious bear physiology, including full-size anatomically correct bear, and the like.  It sure seemed like quite the education.        

Dan

[aroflyte]

I was in the same situation as you a few years back. I would try moving the stand or erecting another on the same bait as he probably has an idea where the shot came from.  Hunt it as much as you can. I finally got the bear, but he was super cautious, and really had a mean attitude.  Guess I would too though.