Had my hunting partner charged by a blackbear in Utah while he was sitting over an elk wallow. Fortunately he had a sidearm...scary stuff indeed. Thanks for sharing.
Sure don't want my wife seeing this video. Everytime I go bear hunting with my recurve here in Arkansas, I pray I'll get one. My wife prays I won't. She seems to be the better prayer. ;)
Anyone notice the cub run across the road at about 19-22 seconds in when he is waving the bow tip in the air. This is a typical sow being protective of the offspring! If you see cubs, bail out of the stalk ASAP! Speaking of Utah, I had a sow stick her head into the back of my pickup canopy popping her teeth at me when I yelled at her to leave in the pre-dawn dark as she sniffed my cooler. She had a cub up a tree in front of the truck. It was a very tense moment when she tried to get back into the canopy after I closed the door.
Not detracting from the incident. As it'd been a scary one. But, she wasn't attacking him or, he'd been a chewed up lad. She simply wanted him out of there. And, it worked too.
He is lucky she didn't chew on him. But, if that'd been her intent, she'd come a lot harder and faster than that. And, she'd chewed on him.
From my view I think he intended to shoot the bear but it didn't offer him a good angle at all from what I saw? Frontal shot with a recurve is probably not real high percentage?
I didn't see cub either, although there were some dark unidentifiable things that perhaps could have been mistaken for something live.
I too wondered if he was hunting bears. Because to me it appeared like just about the time the bear got within range, and appeared to not be aware of the hunter, he started making noise and prompted the attack. Pretty easy for us to armchair the should of would of stuff as in the heat of the moment things happen pretty fast.
Don't see a cub. Seemed like he was really loud. I feel like the bear knew he was there and was slowly making his was to the guy. The dude wasn't exactly being very stealthy. The attack seemed pretty slow. Clearly the bear wasn't too interested in him since the altercation was very brief. Was interesting to watch. I wish the camera captured more of the contact.
The bear cub is on the other side of the road. You can see it running around the logs. At one point I thought he was using his bow limb to point to it. Guess not. I can't believe how quickly the bear backed off him.
Interesting, I don't think he even has a broad head on that arrow... can anyone else see one? It looks to me like a field point. maybe he was just out stump shooting? it just gave him a little love pat! My friend Ron got smacked by a black bear he snuck up on and shot with a bow, it broke his arm and two ribs. the guy is definitely lucky!
After further review on a larger screen than the phone the cub is at 19-22 sec when the hunter waves his limb tip around. Upper left corner of screen, across the road.
A couple observations; Anyone that has hunted these bears knows they like walking the side of roads for the clover and green grass. So it was no surprise this bear was going to walk the edge of this road.
The bowhunter could have dipped into the slash a little further if he wanted say a 15-20 yd shot. I do think if he would have hunkered down the bear would have walked right past him for a layup quartering away shot. If you are going to be a stickbow guy, close shots are your bread and butter....not everyone is cut out for this.
The other thing I thought was a little strange was his first outburst. It was more of a growl at the bear.....probably the last thing I would want to sound like in that situation.
The "cub" isn't a cub it's the tip of a weed in the foreground. I got charged by a bear on a bait I didn't want to shoot with a stickbow. It was at dark as I was packing out. I was talking to it already for about 30 seconds, saying "hey bear" "get away bear" etc and when he finally charged it was from about 7 yards. Unfortunately I did only slightly better than the guy above. My arrow didn't fall off the rest, but I only got about 12" into my draw cycle before I just plain screamed at it and jumped backward. I swear it's paw brushed my boot on the way by. It really pisses me off that we can't use sidearms. Moral of the story if you're using archery equipment you have to know that this is a possibility. From what I learned earlier I think I'd either shoot faster, or get outta dodge earlier. Cool that he got it on film!
couple years ago, during archery season I had a sow with cubs charge me twice. Second time she came I didn't think she was stopping, but she veered off at the last minute like 10' away. One thing that impressed me was how fast it happens.
I've been guilty of letting them get close as well. I just saw another sow with a bunch of cubs earlier this spring feeding on skunk cabbage...and, yea left one get close so I could have a better look. I'm used to being around them. But I respect them.
This was in Ontario spring bear hunting a clearcut a few weeks ago (not me though). Beendare is right, the bear is out for grass and clover and it's the most fun way to hunt bear. Ontario should have made their spring hunting season no bait IMHO because S&S hunting you get to look the bears over better to be sure there are no cubs. But folks get it in their head the only way to hunt spring bear is over a garbage pile and it's hard to get them to believe they can S&S bear. That's a boar in the video. If there was a second bear (I didn't see one) it would have been a sow cause the boar are hooking up with hot sows right now. I've been in that guys situation a bunch of times sneaking up on bears and running out of cover. When the bear spots you like this guy was that bear doesn't know you're a human, he thinks you're a little bear and why he got roughed up. I've jumped up a chased a number of bears woofing at them in moments like this and they all turn and run, at least a short ways or to a tree they can stand up against and get a look at what's on their tail. It's best to shoot them at that point otherwise they might get the idea they are bigger than you after sizing you up.
As for the the comment on the frontal shot, well sometimes it happens. I was sneaking up on one in Alberta in a reseeded hydroline clover patch three years ago and was about 15 yards away from a big boar ready to slip an arrow into it when he figured out I was there. He turned to look at me as I was drawing my longbow and I went from looking at his ribs to looking at him in the eyes as my arrow flew. I hit him right up the nose. He went berserk. I'm still alive, he's not.