It was a sleepless night for both Jim and Monty.  It’s always difficult to accept that a well-intended shot attempt may have failed to connect in a lethal manner, and now they were equally suffering the distress of knowing that Jim’s bear may not be found.  Undeniably, trailing a marginally-hit animal is a physically and emotionally exhausting endeavor, even for seasoned outdoorsmen and skilled outfitters like Jim and Monty, but I knew without a shred of doubt that they would put their best efforts forth to recover the bear.

The plan was to begin the search at first light.  Nolan, along with Bob and Darrel, would join in on the pursuit while Candis and I would watch over camp and wait for their return.  I would also double check the accuracy of my bow and prepare to hunt later that afternoon.  My fishing tackle was officially retired for this trip.  I was a bow-toting bear hunter once again.

Around noon, a tired and dejected group of trackers pulled their boat up to the shore and relayed the story to us.  Jim’s first shot was slightly off target, resulting in a non-fatal hit.  Because the sign at the suspected impact location indicated a clean miss, they assumed that his second shot most likely glanced off of a sapling or a low-hanging tree branch as he swung and fired at the escaping bruin.        

Jim was decidedly upset, but Monty was beside himself.  It was the first time during his chosen profession as an outfitter that one of his clients failed to recover a wounded bear.  He was completely sick about it, especially with the manner in which the last two weeks were playing out.  As a tight-knit union of dedicated and ethical hunters whose main objective is to harvest animals as quic