Hunter tracking wounded elk attacked by grizzly

slimjim

I don't think this hunter thought through all the posibilities. He definitely wasn't prepared for this situation which should be expected.

www.foxnews.com/scienc...latestnews

Ominivision1

For one thing, the hunter left the Elk out in the woods and it happens and he waited till the next day to track it . Even thou he shot the Elk and then going back into the woods the next day to recover the ELK without a gun!!

I'm sorry but this is a bad decision made by a hunter. As far as I'm concerned the elk is the bears food.

DallanC · Site Admin Joined: Jan 18, 2005 Posts: 3572 Location: Utah

Ouch!

No grizz here... but running across a black bear or cougar isnt out of the realm of possibility. They are lucky this didnt end up worse.

-DallanC

Pumpkinslinger

I guess that goes to show that you can be "experienced" and still not be smart.

MacD

You gotta wonder if the bear considered the elk "Bait" LOL.

slimjim

I thought it interesting that the bear only "warned" the hunter with a bite and then went back to the elk without completely disposing of the hunter. One lucky dude!

Vince

This hunter did the wrong thing on a couple of counts.

1. He didn't follow up a wounded animal and end its suffering immediately
2. He didn't have the commonsense to go back into the scrub armed.

He is extremely lucky that the bear decided he preferred the taste of elk to "long pig" (white man). Its a harsh thing to say, but he almost deserves what he got.

Cheers, Vince

Aloysius

Or maybe the bear just gave 1 bite to get the sh1t out of his meal and wanted to search for it the following day, as he learned from the hunter...

Elvis

Im betting the hunter ran out of light and decided it was safer/better chance of finding the animal next day with some help. yes they were very lucky they didnt get hurt worse. I wouldnt have even considered that possibility as we dont have big toothy critters over here.
if he was bowhunting a trophy he wouldnt want to carry a firearm as it makes his trophy suspect from what I understand.
bet the silly bugger wont do it again, or any member of his hunting club or friends and family either.

Bushmaster

If I came upon the Elk being guarded by a bear I'm not so sure that a rifle would have been that much more help. These critters can move very fast.

Elvis's first statement seems to be a reasonable one.

Ominivision1

Bushmaster wrote:

These critters can move very fast.

Agreed Bushy, my brother sprung for a guided hunt back in 1989 in Alaska and ended up with a Kodiak bear, shooting his 375 H&H mag. Took 2 shots with the 300gr bullets to put him down and he said that dam bear crossed a 1/3 football field before he was able to cycle the 2nd round.

When they opened him up, both shots were centered in the chest cavity and blew up the heart and lungs, but yet the bear still charged the hunting group. The guide said that even thou the shots were both fatal kills, the animal being large had enough blood in it's internal organs to mount a possible last minute attack.

Bushmaster

My understanding is that a dead bear doesn't realize he's dead for 3 minutes.

slimjim

Vince wrote:

This hunter did the wrong thing on a couple of counts.

1. He didn't follow up a wounded animal and end its suffering immediately

I have learned that a hunter shouldn't pursue or push a wounded animal. Its better to let them lay down, rest, and likely fall asleep and expire. If you push them, they get up and run further away, increasing the probablility of lost.

Aloysius

SJ, you're right. Even here with such small game as roedeer it's adviced to smoke a sigaret before you go search it.
And when you don't wait long enough for wild boar, you will soon discover the power of nature... and I can imagine bears are boar's big brothers.

Pumpkinslinger

With a bow, or even a gun, following game too soon can spook it so you never recover it. Common practice, especially with a bow on a large animal, is to give the critter some time to bleed out before starting to track it. Happened to a friend who shot a deer with a handgun (.45 Colt with warm loads) and immediately jumped up and started following it. We never saw it again that season but may have found the bones a few months later.