James B

He was hunting on his own. I don't think that he feels a backup is required with the 480 Ruger. It packs a punch on its own. I am not overly familar with the 480 but I think bullets over 400 grains are available. Penetration would certainly not be an issue. Hodgdon shows a 405 Grain Gas Checked Cast bullet @ 1337 fps. Its not a feat that I would attempt but for a hardcore hand gun hunter, its been done many times even with the 44 Magnum. He just moved here from Alaska.

ShatoDavis

I seen the best hunting video I've ever seen a couple of weeks ago. It was on OLN I believe. There's this guy who's hunting brownies with a recurve bow. I think its the guy that has Easton's world of bowhunting but I'm not sure. Anyway, They stalk up on this brownie, the bear has no idea he's there. so he nocks an arrow and lets it fly, but he misses. the bear takes a couple of steps and stops. So another arrow is nocked and loused. This time he hits but the bear knows where hes at. The brownie woofs and starts charging the hunter.

At this point the camera man has had enough. He takes off and drops the camera while its still rolling film. You see sky, trees, ground, sky, trees ground etc. Then it come to rest pointing in the grass. But you can still hear the audio. YOu hear the hunter yell: "no!" then Boom, Boom! Then it the guide say: "I had too!" Then it cuts. I guess they get the cameraman back and are talking about what happened. They claim the bear charged to within 10 feet when the guide pops him with the backup rifle. The hunter is all upset because now he can't enter the bear in Pope and Young. Anyway I was pumped and on the edge of my seat, then I started laughing thinking of the cameraman. What he must have been thinking: "screw this i'm OUTA HERE!" still makes me laugh!

ELKampMaster

Shato,

Heh, Heh, Heh...

A classic case of "the rest of the story" that is so frequently left out or simply just not addressed on soooo many of these deals....
Yeah, itcan work; however,whathappens whenthings don't go "just right?" (Murphy's Law & O'Leary's Corollary) What then?
Most don't want to talk about that part... (whether there was a provision for back upin place or not).

Thank goodness for the guide who was well armed enough and savvy enoughto stand his ground and save the day by gitten 'er doine.
Only on the Internet does the assumption ofand the claim of perfectionso consistently reign supreme,
Great Story!

James B

Your right, it can be done as the record books show lots of the Big Bears taken with the bow. Don't think for a nano second that the same story does not apply to many rifle hunters. Bow hunters don't have a corner on missed shots ot things gone astray. There are times when things don't go right regardless of what you hunt with. Thats part of hunting and one can accept it or find a safer sport. Sometimes the bear even wins. Could that be why some game is considered dangerous game?I am not a bow hunter but elephants and every other species of game animal on earth has been harvested with the bow. Long before anyone ever heard of a rifle.

ELKampMaster

I guess perhaps the guide shoulda honored the client's request and just let the bearwork theclient over for a bit(with Inuit type injuries, if he was lucky).... I'm thinking the client would have rather quickly reconsidered his "NO" command to the guide.Probably would have been too late and then instead of Shato and I laughing it up I could be posting it over in the "Bad News"section.

I bet had the charge had not occurred and the guy got his bear, that the footage of the guide with a gun backing everything up would have been conveniently cut out so as to enhance the "nuttin' but me and my bow versus 1000 pounds of fury" drama.... I don't need no stinking firearms.

Elkcrazy8

It is funny that you bring up elephants. One of my associates just came back from africa a couple of weeks ago. You should see the pics of the female lion he shot with his bow, along with the rhino that he took. On his last trip he took a 6000 pound cow elephant and a hippo. Those bows are deadly even on big game. I would not have any problem using mine on a brown bear. That would be my weapon of choice. I don't hunt browns with a bow, but have taken a few blackies. What a rush when you have one standing at 12 yards facing you on the ground. I get a kick out of the bluff charges and the teeth chattering. I carry a back up pistol, but not only for the bears, its the cats that I don't trust. And we have some big cats here in Idaho.............

James B

The guide did just what he should have done. However one failed hunt by one poor shot with his bow does not mean that bow hunters should swear off their sport and it does not mean that that the bow should be used for DG. Just because everyone does not feel that they need a battle tank to hide in and a fighter plane for backup, does not take away from their own chosen method of taking big game. Believe it or not, many bow hunters have no backup at all. From time to time, one will pay the price as you know from writing about it happening over there, where most are using rifles and have a team of backup. It happens in hunting and coverage showing only the good things that happen and omitting the screwups sure is not limited to bow hunters or to the internet. The long range hunting vidios come to mind.

KodiakArcher

Yeah, I could get struck by a car stepping out in the street too. It doesn't mean I'm going to wear an airbag suit around everywear I go. It just means I'm going to look both ways and not step out when there's a vehicle coming. Carrying a big gun as back-up is no substitute for knowing your limitations, knowing your game and using good judgement. The bowhunter in the above example failed on at least two of those three points.

James B

Agreed.

bigcountry

Dadgone Rob, you a heck of a guy taking with a bow. I have taken boar with a bow. And being charged several time. And I didn't like very much and had a 44 mag as backup.