First Time Bear Hunter looking for help....

MNpurple21

New member
I'll be hunting black bears in MN this fall and am just wondering about my setup and a few other things.

I shoot a Hoyt Razor, 63 pounds, 30 inch goldtip arrow with 100 grain thunderhead. I am assuming this is plenty for bear 20 yards and in, correct?

Also I am looking for some shot placement pictures, I know its a little different than deer, but havent seen and good placement pictures, any links?

Can I expect to shoot through a bears shoulder blade like a whitetail, or dont even think about it?

Thanks guys
MNpurple
 
Don't do it! The shoulder on a bear is lots thicker than a deer. It won't work well.

Your set up is adequate. Hunting over bait your shots will be close. Don't rush the shot. Wait for a quartering away so you can get both lungs.

I've killed bear with a bow and they don't seem to be too hard to kill. But, there's nothing like trailing a wounded one that wasn't hit well. Pucker factor galore!

Another thing you might want to try is a string tracker. Bears don't bleed very well with their long fur and all that fat. Makes tracking very difficult.
 
Some others will probably give you more bow experience but here's one guy's experience. You've got plenty of bow and cutting stick for what you propose. Whether you can shoot through a black bear's shoulder blade depends on the size and age of the bear. Old bones are harder, lots harder. Don't try a front to back angle on the shoulder blade, as the highest probability is that the arrow will slip off the bone and deflect outside of rib bones, under the hide but totally non-vital. If you have a broadside shot, go for the middle of the ribs rather than the shoulder blade. Go for soft, vital tissue with minimal bone. Quartering away is better, as with most critters. Go for the offside shoulder. I have shot a lot more bears with rifle, but got my biggest one with a bow. 55 lb. recurve, hit a little high and a little far back at 30 yards. Arrow zipped through the tenderloin just under the spine and appeared to accelerate as it went on past the bear skittering through the trees. The bear didn't slow it down it looked like. I had to replay the image of yellow fletching disappearing into black fur to be sure I hadn't missed. It cut the large arteries just under the spine. The bear whirled and ran 75 yards downhill, collapsing in mid stride.

Try your best to avoid frontal shots. About the only vital area is in the chest between the shoulders, and the bear's head will probably be covering that. Shooting a bear's head/skull is like hitting a wedge shaped greased anvil. I.e. Three head shot anecdotes:
1. A 30-30 round at point blank range hit a bear skull at low angle and dropped the bear instantly. On skinning, the hunter found that the bullet had skidded along the bone under the hide and over the top of the skull, ending up at the back of the head in the neck, but never penetating into the brain.
2. I saw a large bear skull that had a broadhead imbedded at a 90 degree angle in its sinus, with bone grown over it so it couldn't be removed. The bear had lived a year or two with the broadhead a smidge lower than between the eyes, long enough to grow considerable bone over it.
3. A friend of mine held at full draw on a whopper bear at about 8 or ten feet in a head on postion with a recurve, till he couldn't hold any more. He could see about an inch of chest alongside the bear's neck and tried to slip the arrow along the neck and inside the shoulder. Oops. Arrow hit bone and deflected outside the shoulder and rib cage, sliding along under the hide the full length of the bear to stick out over a foot from his rear end. Lots of pain I'm sure but nothing vital hit. The bear spun, roared and slapped at the end of the arrow sending it spinning high, and ran out of sight before it hit the ground. The bear ran off a short distance into the brush, pulled out the rest of the arrow and went on his way. The hunter wished that he had yelled at the bear or stomped his foot to get it to change position.

If you want to call them close, scout sign and call in a thicket where a bear lives. They will walk the same trails for days, especially if there is an old kill or food nearby. They make pad marks in the dirt, grass or moss, stepping in the same spot with each foot each time they pass, wearing down an oval depression for each step. Just make sure in thick stuff that you can see downwind. Never violate that rule. I face downwind, ready to shoot. The problem with calling is that you seldom get to look over the bear well before the shot so you may not be able to judge size, which is not easy to do on bears anyway. Ideally you want one whose belly drags the ground, with stubby legs not much more than feet on a fur ball. If he is tall and leggy and looks big, he's young, or skinny in the spring. Any bear with a bow is a trophy, and one called is doubly so. Good luck.

Looks like R. Buker gave some excellent words while I was writing this.
 
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The best shot is a double lung shot. Even with a good shot the blood trail will be difficult. My suggestion is that you shoot the bear with a bow and after the shot walk back to your vehicle to bring along shotgun to follow the blood trail. The walk back to the vehicle will give the bear a chance to bleed out. If you clip only one lung and the bear heads into the pucker brush slowly working your way through the brush with just a bow would be way too nerver racking.

One bear I shot (with a rifle) headed into some real thick salmonberry. For every foot you move forward your imagination increases. When I caught up with him I parted a real thick set of branches the bears head was 5 feet away. I did a 5 foot vertical and 10 foot horizontal jump. The bear was dead but it took a few minutes for my heart beat to slow down to that of a hummingbird.

With calling bears I had one come down a hill at full tilt and he sounded like a boulder rolling down the hill. It make for some interesting hunting.
 
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Good luck on the bear. This may help a bit.

Bear shoot placement for archers:
http://members.core.com/E7/62/tintype/hibrass/bearshotplacement.pdf

Bear Vital areas
Bear_vitals.jpg


And

black_bear_004.jpg


Broadside shot placement.

Note the 2 left dots are on the shoulder and joint! This is for a rifle hunter. For archers, go for the right dot. Aim behind the elbow and down about an inch. This will take out both lungs.

black_bear_003.jpg


Quartering away
black_bear_005.jpg


Here are some links regarding bears..
http://members.core.com/E7/62/tintype/hibrass/black_bear_sites2.txt

I would agree with what others have stated. Stay away from the shoulder, go for the lungs. Also, learn how to judge bear size. It is very easy to see a bear come in and think, "Boy is he big!" After you take him, suddenly ground shrinkage sets in! Also be very careful not to shoot a sow with cubs. During a spring hunt this is especially important. The newborns can not survive without their mother. Kill the sow and the newborns will starve, even if they are already browsing greens. They need mama to teach them what is safe. Take a look at Ben Kilham's book where he explains this learning behaviour.

It can help to have something that you have marked at various heights, say 3 foot, 4 foot, etc. This will help in judging the size of a bear.

The most important thing is being very quiet. Bears will run for cover if they hear a twig snap. They take it as another bear coming towards them.

Don't just go in the woods and expect to call a bear. It won't happen. Look for sign.

Enjoy
 
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