I almost never watch hunting shows, but I did watch a Shockey program about bear hunting n Vancouver Island, just because I had recently been to the island.
Shockey and his partners are stalking up a salmon stream looking for bears. Shockey gets close to a bear but can't shoot because of position, brush. Then, while 30 yards from the bear, he removes the quiver from the bow. The bear hears the metallic sound and bolts.
Later, supposedly farther up the river, they encounter another bear, and the bear watches while Shockey gets well within bow range. The bear is laying down, or sitting, so Shockey backs out, comes in from another angle, and the bear still watches him. He throws sticks to get the bear to move and finally the bear gives him a good shot and he kills it. Did anybody else see this show? If so, did any of it seem strange?
I never heard an explanation of why he'd remove the quiver from the bow during a stalk, and can't understand why the second bear would let someone approach to within 20 yards or so and remain there for several minutes.

Thanks.

Fred

Fred Ive gone stealth/ninja on a number of bears and never got close to them. A few others literally would have let me lead a brass band up to them, and a couple even came to me wondering what was going on�
They are individuals, like people. Some are more careful than others. As for Shockeys show, I can only guess 'editing for continuity' entered into it someplace�.

Shockeys' show is about the only hunting show I'll watch because it doesn't contain a hillbilly acting like he's getting a nut when he shoots something. I saw that episode but can't answer your questions. I also don't know why a buck would approach to within 5' of my stinkin' carcass from downwind, but it happened. Hard to figure animals.

From what I remember of that show they stated it was an almost undisturbed area as far as human presence went. It may be that the bears were so unaccustomed to humans they were not bothered by them.

Since I don't bow hunt I have no idea why the quiver was removed.

Jim

A well fed bear who has gorged itself on salmon is not going to be concerned with a human walking up the river and is less likely to spook

I watched the show a couple of times and thought that removing the quiver at that particular time, being so close to the bear was a little odd. Best guess is that some hunters don't like to shoot with their quivers on as it changes the balance of the bow and can induce some torque. Also some quivers will introduce some noise and vibration at the shot, giving spooky critters some time to jump the string. As bears are not well known string jumpers, it most likely the bow torque thing. Shockey reportedly started his career as a bowhunter, so he may have been trying to micro aim on that bear, and was worried about the quiver throwing the shot off, through the bear was pretty broadside and the shot didn't appear to be that far. The other thing I can think of is that JS may have done that to show that the quiver he was using was so quiet that he could remove it while being close to an animal without it bothering them, then using the footage later as a promo. JS does a lot of giving back to his sponsors so that could have been his motivation, but it didn�t work as planned. Either way, only JS knows for sure.

As far as the bear holding its ground, I have personally seen this on a number of occasions (similar to a grizz sitting on a carcass). It's a territorial thing, along with probably being really full and not wanting to move much and having little interaction with people not causing the bear to bolt. JS just could not line up the shot he wanted and tried a couple of different angles, as long as the bear wasn't going to bolt. I give him credit for not taking a marginal shot, and he explained why he did it afterward.

Either way, one of these days I would love to go hunt with him on one of his expeditions. Given that Eva now lives close to me, maybe I'll go over and make friends with her and she can introduce me to her Dad : ) or let me hunt with her as she's doing a great job now in her own right.

Craig

Amen, brother.

Shockeys' show is about the only hunting show I'll watch because it doesn't contain a hillbilly acting like he's getting a nut when he shoots something.....


Amen 3 !!!

I like his new one, "Uncharted", too. I will watch Boddington and Spomer, and you have to love Laryssa.

Other than that, I can hardly tell them apart and don't borher to watch.

I have seen bears that would run when they sensed something amiss when I was a 100yds. from them and anothers that would not move off a trail for NO man.... Depends I guess on the bear, its atttitude and it standing as a bear... young bears seem more skittish, females with cubs less so and old boars with a full belly , tend to be even less so. I believe the old boars know in their minds they have little to worry about and could care less about most people most of the time. Even hunted bears ,that see pressure move around a bunch when pushed hard....

Had a coyote standing 6 or 7 feet from me once. I radioed my uncle because it looked like his dog. He radioed back his dog was locked up it's a coyote shoot it. I unslung my gun from my shoulder real slow and it walked away. About a second later I heard a 7RM that was so close I nearly crapped myself. My uncle had been sitting in a tree right above me the whole time. Never knew why that Coyote just stood there looking at me.

Yep. Shockey is the ONLY hunting show I watch. Met him a couple of times. He seems like the real deal and a very nice & humble guy.

If I ever hit the Lotto, I'll be bear hunting with Jim!

Shockey is a worthless SOB living the hunting life we would all aspire to.....

Best hunting shows on TV.

He'd better lock up Eve, too.... except he seems to have done a fine job of raising her.

IIRC Eva is getting married next summer.....thought i saw something bout the moose the shoots this fall will be served to the guests....yeah ild say he did a good job raising her...

he is one of the few i watch for all the same reasons listed....The Professionals and Uncharted are top notch shows....i do watcha few others like Boddington aswell for the same reasons...

actually wish he would get lined up with Boddington and the two of them do an updated version of John Brandt's 'Asian Hunter' like Boddington and Peter Flack did with John Mellon's 'African Hunter'.....Shockey and Boddington prolly have more experiance hunting in the diverse countries in that part of the globe as anyone writing....and if others do im sure they will be included aswell like with the previous books...