What happened?

[inquisitiveram]

I shot this bear at 375 yards with a 7mm Rem Mag 150 grain tipped bullet. He dropped like a sack of potatoes and rolled 100 yards down a draw. From my vantage he rolled behind 2 big pines and I could not see him. My hunting partner yells that he’s up and running, and I spotted him running right, up the wall of the draw, then straight uphill, where we lost him in trees and dense brush.

My partner said he went into a thicket and didn’t come out. Based on the shot and his reaction, it didn’t seem like a heart/lung shot, so we decided to leave him overnight and return the following morning. Unfortunately it rained overnight and continued steadily for several hours in the morning during the search, obliterating any blood trail. Also, the “thicket” from across the canyon actually turned out to be a densely covered ridge with escape routes leading uphill that we could not see from our shooting vantage.

We searched for hours on 2 different occasions and put in several miles gridding but never found the bear. Based on how the bear reacted after the shot and his path, I believe the bear was shot in the withers, temporarily shocking the nervous system but allowing him to eventually recover and run. My guess is he could not have been hit in the heart/lungs and run that far up a steep incline, but I’ve heard of elk running uphill before. But straight up a mountainside for 300-500 yards, or more? We never found him along the escape route up the ridge or in any of the brush along it. And we scoured the “thicket” twice. I looked in every hollow log, brush pile, snarl—I even looked up in the trees in case he climbed one, died, and got hung up in the branches.

We think the bear probably was not fatally hit, but I hate not knowing. Any thoughts on what happened? What would cause the bear to drop and roll for 100 yds but then get back up and run off at full speed without a limp, stumble, or any sign or being injured?

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Inferior useless caliber. Sorry.

 

[BBob]

Any thoughts on what happened?

Ya muffed the shot, end of story.

 

[DawnPatrol]

My guess is you hit it in the shoulder, which rocked its world, but didn’t actually break the bone or do any real damage. Then it got up and ran away. Seems hard to believe, but a bear’s shoulder can take some abuse.

 

[Taudisio]

What tipped bullet?

 

[Rob5589]

Bad shot, lost bear.

 

[mt terry d]

I bet you hit high, shocked the spine. As you said, withers.

Isn't it true that most misses are high?

 

[Team4LongGun]

OP, welcome to the community. Always sucks to lose an animal. Lots of variables and hard to say. The rain really took what little knowledge you could have gleaned.

Maybe you will get an insightful answer instead of snide comments.

 

[2ski]

Bummer man. It sucks you're going to punch your tag without an animal in the freezer.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Being able to run 100 yards full of adrenaline is nothing for a bear in my experience. I’ve absolutely obliterated lungs on a bear, only to have him run 100+ yards into thick cover before dying.

You would have probably been fine to go ahead and follow a blood trail/tracks immediately following the shot.

 

[WY SkunkApe]

Adrenaline is a helluva drug…..

 

[inquisitiveram]

OP, welcome to the community. Always sucks to lose an animal. Lots of variables and hard to say. The rain really took what little knowledge you could have gleaned.

Maybe you will get an insightful answer instead of snide comments.

Thank you. It would’ve been my first bear so it’s a bitter pill to swallow. But I feel worse for the bear. Appreciate your response.

 

[inquisitiveram]

I bet you hit high, shocked the spine. As you said, withers.

Isn't it true that most misses are high?

Thank you for weighing in. I’m hoping it was a withers shot and the bear will live. In addition to gridding, I glassed the hillside for 2 more days after shooting and never saw any bird activity.

 

[inquisitiveram]

My guess is you hit it in the shoulder, which rocked its world, but didn’t actually break the bone or do any real damage. Then it got up and ran away. Seems hard to believe, but a bear’s shoulder can take some abuse.

Hadn’t thought of that possibility. I was thinking the shot must’ve been closer to the spine to make him drop, but maybe a shoulder hit would do the same thing.

Ya muffed the shot, end of story.

What tipped bullet?

I shoot 150 grain Remington core Lokt tipped because it groups well out of my gun. I might try to find something in the 165 gr range that also groups well, but my sense is that it was more about placement than bullet weight in this instance.

 

[Taudisio]

I expected you to say something harder. That bullet should have expanded well and thrown fragments around-a good thing. That’s a tough call. Bears will run wherever (up, down, sidehill) after being fatally wounded. Sounds like you gave it a good effort. Go back after a week and look for ravens. I lost a bear this year too. Still don’t understand what happened, and I never found it.

 

[KenLee]

Adrenaline is a helluva drug…..

Rick James said naaaah, there's much better

 

[inquisitiveram]

I expected you to say something harder. That bullet should have expanded well and thrown fragments around-a good thing. That’s a tough call. Bears will run wherever (up, down, sidehill) after being fatally wounded. Sounds like you gave it a good effort. Go back after a week and look for ravens. I lost a bear this year too. Still don’t understand what happened, and I never found it.

Sorry about your bear. Thanks for the advice. I think I’ll go back and look again after a week like you said.

 

[Taudisio]

Sorry about your bear. Thanks for the advice. I think I’ll go back and look again after a week like you said.

My shot was 51 yards with a 210gr going 3030, but straight down facing away. My only guess is I hit the top of his shoulder and the bullet stayed out of the ribcage. Looked for 3 days. Never saw any ravens on a carcass a week later. Shot a bigger bear, 8 days after the first, that did not get away. I was amazed at how small his vitals were. His heart was about the same size as a deer maybe a little bigger, but his lungs were a bit smaller. For a 300+ pound animal, I expected them to be much larger. Bullet entered the pocket of his inside shoulder/armpit, exited the center of the offside bone. Bullet center punched one lung, hit the other closer to the edge. I don’t understand “shoot for the center of the center” shot placement.

 

[mike.adams.467]

There is a reason why bears should be shot at 100 yards or less; yes, we know you all can shoot like Chris Kyle......

 

[inquisitiveram]

Funny you should mention it. He was initially at 35 yards and I actually backed up to 375 to look cool on IG. Darn. Guess I screwed up. I’ll know for next time!

Surprised by all the negativity here. I was just asking where you think I hit the bear based on his reaction to the shot. I know I made a bad shot. No need to rub it in, but if it makes you feel superior, more power to you, I guess.