Bear Charge

[Bryan Bondurant]

   

tried to embed the video, ???, anyway, its worth a watch if you never had a bear come after you, yes, traditional archer, but a couple bad words fly, warning to the innocent ears, b.

[R. Graddy]

Look out!      
Thanks for sharing!!

[Sawpilot 75]

I'm not real sure what he was saying but it was urgent.. I don't think he got the shot off. Poor guy. Glad he is ok.

[Draven]

That was close. Going for a bear with trad on foot and nowhere to escape/hide if the bear is at 20m, coming and still not giving you a good shot has all the chances to end like this. I am not a bear hunter, but at one point in time in these conditions you have to decide bow or bear spray (a whistle would not hurt either). He pushed his luck in my opinion. Glad he got just scared from this adventure. If it was a mature one or a grizzly ....

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Saw it on CNN today.

[Sam McMichael]

It looks like the bear bowled him over. Remind me, if I ever go bear hunting, to be sure to take a spare pair of drawers.

[Trenton G.]

When that arrow fell off, I got nervous just watching. Glad the guy was ok. Nice to see all the positive (sarcasm) comments about the video.

[Warden609]

Wow!! Fun stuff there!!
My first thought when the arrow came off the bow was him falling on the arrow. Glad he is okay.

[tomsm44]

I saw this a few days back.  I don't know the story, and could be way off, but here's a few thoughts I had.  I don't think he was hunting bear.  It's hard to tell, but it looked to me like he had either a field tip or judo point on his arrow.  It also seemed like he made a noise at the bear before it was even close to shooting position, almost like he was trying to alert the bear before it got too close.  It apparently had the wrong affect because that's when the bear charged.  As I said, I could be way off.  I was watching it on an iPhone after all.

[Draven]

The frame on second 15 shows a broadhead - looks like a 2 wing broadhead. Even if he was not hunting the bear (the black bear hunting season started on may 21st), not having a bear spray with you in an area already known for too many black bears (40-60 bears per 60 square miles) while wandering around at dusk is quite silly - to not say plain stupid. He saw the bear long time before it was too late - he cleaned his cam instead making noise to alert the bear at 15m, before surprising him. Barking or roaring like an animal to the bear is the last thing I would do too. To end this short, I don't know the whole story, but I am glad he did not became a snack.


 

[tomsm44]

If it was a broadhead, then maybe he was bear hunting.  Like I said, iPhone.  The whole scenario just seemed odd to me though.

[Terry Green]

I hunt them on the ground elusively. I've never been charged ...maybe I never will be.


Every one that's smelter or seen me cause I made a mistake have busted hell wide open.

[Etter]

Ive been bluff charged several times. If you spend enough time around them it will happen but if you see the clear signs of a bluff its not real scary. My guess is this bear was surprised by the encounter and didnt know what the man was until he got a face full (literally) of man smell. Breeding season is peaking right now.

We hunt them on the ground exclusively and have close encounters constantly including many sows with cubs. Dont carry a gun or bear spray. You guys have to realize how many millions of black bear/human encounters there are every day. You are considerably more likely to die from a tree falling on you but I dont see anybody wearing helmets to the woods

[Meflyfisherman]

I have been bowled over walking into a stand before.  The bear was just trying to escape and not attacking.  Amazing that bears are the most powerful animal in the forest but the most timid as well (at least here in Maine)

[Draven]

Originally posted by Etter:
Ive been bluff charged several times. If you spend enough time around them it will happen but if you see the clear signs of a bluff its not real scary. My guess is this bear was surprised by the encounter and didnt know what the man was until he got a face full (literally) of man smell. Breeding season is peaking right now.

We hunt them on the ground exclusively and have close encounters constantly including many sows with cubs. Dont carry a gun or bear spray. You guys have to realize how many millions of black bear/human encounters there are every day. You are considerably more likely to die from a tree falling on you but I dont see anybody wearing helmets to the woods

If bringing bear spray is optional, bringing common sense is not. The guy expected the bear to pass him without noticing and get a good shot on the broadside without having a tree to hide behind? He was holding the bow and arrow ready for a shot until the very last moment.
PS Right after he took the camera of the ground he said: "I should have shot a long time ago"
The proof is in the pudding: it was a bad moment, bad ... everything that ended much better than expected.

[PrestonTaylor]

Like Terry and Etter said, I also hunt and encounter black bears on the ground like this fella in the video did. Usually the bear runs the other way, sometimes they bluff, rarely they make physical contact but it does happen. From my perspective (recognizing hindsight is 20/20 and I'm watching this on a screen), he could've just shot the bear; I'm not sure why he started yelling and that seems to have enticed the charge. I agree with the comment that the bear probably didn't even know he was a person until it got it's nose onto him. It's just something you have to be ready to deal with if you're going to play this game. If you can't take the heat, then get out of the kitchen.

i have been on many canoe trips to Canada and the Bdub,48.  I have been bluff charged by a mama moose, had a fisher walk with me on a no name lake portage, I have had to walk around cubs while mama watched.  We have had bears walk through our camp.  Not once did they ever act like they were anything other than curious. The one that his nose up against the tent and gave a big sniff got his nose punched by my wife.  We are very careful with food handling and scent, but some bears hear and see people and come to check things out.  Too often people have left scraps for them or have been careless with food and have conditioned the bears.  The ones to not trust are the belligerent old males that creep around like cats, hiding in the brush.  Further north where these males have never seen or smelled humans they can be a greater threat.  I did worry about my canoe tripping expert companion, a protective cocker spaniel that knew more about canoe tripping the most canoe trippers. When he came on bears he would growl, but never chase, he would just let me know that there was a really big dog over there.

[Etter]

Blackies are completely different from place to place. The only ones that would give me any sense of nervousness are national park bears and the extremely deep wilderness bears that dont have any hunting pressure. There is a reason that nearly every fatal blacl attack was in an area off limits to hunting.

[Jerry Russell]

Sean is right.  Black bears act and react very differently depending on how much they are hunted.  Our Georgia bears are terrified of hunters and will tear the woods apart at the slightest sight, sound or scent of a human.   In my Canada bear camp it is common for me to walk within 10 yards of  a couple dozen bears each spring and they just step to the side and let me work. Any grumbling is just a bunch of huff and puff talk.   We have hunters every season that have them at less than 5 feet.   One thing is the same, mo matter where I encounter them... in 40 years hunting and guiding I have never had a serious issue with a black bear.  Certainly they are capable of doing you harm but to worry about it is just a waste of time.  

I have been exposed to full on charges by caribou and deer (both wounded) and faced a mad as hell grizzly that ended bad but  black bears , to me, are nothing more than fluffy raccoons.

[PrestonTaylor]

Looking back on the video I think he first grunted to get the bear to turn broadside for a clean shot.

We are approaching the peak of the rut so a boar could act any way.