Zradix! Huntin' topic for ya! Black bear hit low,recovered, learned a lot. With pic..

[YORNOC]

I was reading a thread on low hits, and this came to mind instantly. I hunted the Peace River a few times, and I was still pretty green when this happened. I hit a black bear a bit low once. It went into the back of the left front leg, but pretty low. With all that fur the blackies have its tough to tell from a thick hemlock! I was hoping the arrow made its way into the vitals, so I sat for an excruciating 3 hours without moving. I waited for the guide to arrive, he was picking me up by boat so I waited for him ..did not want to push the bear alone.
 It looked to only have about half of the arrow sticking in, I was nervous. When I started to trail it, there wasn't a drop of blood. The bear had just walked off at a fairly normal pace, no running to pump that blood out. I walked right into him about 45 yards from where he entered the heavy timber. 60 yards from the shot. He was laying down on his belly with his head down under him like he was licking his chest. He was dead and still not a DROP of blood except from the nose where he was laying.
 The arrow did enter the chest cavity, but after gutting him found it hit too low  with the angle of the shot. The broadhead had missed all vitals upon entry and was sitting along the bottom of the cavity just barely into the other side..about 1/4 inch of the tip had been between the ribs on the opposite side!  When he started walking away, the arrow must have backed out a bit, moved around when he moved his leg back and forth and was like a stirring stick in a bucket. Everything was cut in one way or another, but not penetrated from the initial shot. Pretty amazing, the entry hole through the heavy muscled leg and heavy fur did not let any blood out, the chest cavity was totally full.
That was my first treestand mistake I ever made, I shot for the same area I practiced from the ground. You can bet I started shooting off my roof when I got home!
That was 20 years ago, how time flys.
Whoops, cant get into photo bucket, pic added later.

[Manitoba Stickflinger]

That's interesting! Obviously all that cutting without puncturing caused significant hemmorage. Having that hole in the chest cavity likely aided in reducing the amount of negative pressure the diaphragm needs to fill the lungs. Looking forward to the pix...Ryan

[YORNOC]

photobucket is a mess! I can't upload anything!

[Don Stokes]

David, there was a thread recently on how to get the best results using photobucket. Do a search, and don't give up! Once you get properly set up, it will even resize the pics for you automatically when you upload to it. They've made some improvements lately that make it even easier.

[YORNOC]

hi Don, and thanks but I am fine with photobucket usually.
ive been using it for months now. Just this morning the site was not uploading my pics like usual. Then it pretty much crashed and I cant even open my own albums or even sign in for that matter. The rest of my pc is fine, just the "bucket" is not working.

[YORNOC]

Oh well, sorry people, can't download from photobucket. Live help tried, but not working.
I'll try to remember to post this again before bear season next year.

[Don Stokes]

My bad. Maybe too much holiday traffic overloading the site.

[YORNOC]

TTT , this got lost in the threads without much comment, thought Zradix would like it after the hunting post!

[Izzy]

Let me borrow that luck rabbits foot you musta had in your pocket for that to happen.

[chanumpa]

Great story,and good to see that once again somedays its better to be lucky than good.Ill bet that three hour wait was excruciating.Good job,and thanks for sharing.

[twitchstick]

Great story. I wonder if you would have had the same results with some of the expandible heads on the market now?

[badbadleroybrown]

Good story...and even better that you learned from it!

[Birdbow]

David,
  Your post brought to mind a hunt up in Maine some years ago. I too, had a low hit through the near side leg but at brisket level. On contact, the rear of the arrow tipped upward dramatically. Unsure of the hit, my guide and I checked the trail the bear departed on and ended up on the best bear blood trail I've ever had with a bear. We found him about 50 yds. later, literally stepping on him in very thick cover. The interesting point is that the arrow never entered the chest cavity  - it cut the femoral artery. A sharp broadhead really makes the difference. Happened to be shooting a SB head that day.
Thanks for sharing. Todd

[YORNOC]

Love it Todd, and amen on sharp broadheads. I was shooting Zwickey eskimos on that hunt. I remember being all paniky if the broadhead didn't shave the hair off my arm. Glad I did it!

[FerretWYO]

Sounds like sharp paid off.

[Zradix]

Don't know how I missed this one...lol

Thanks for the good story!

I can see the want to have a sharp as heck head in that situation for sure!