A few years ago I was bowhunting in New Mexico and shot a big 5x5 at dusk. The guide and I tracked him about a hundred yards and the blood stopped. It had gotten dark, the guide said it would be best to return in the morning.

I wasn't ready to quit, but he said we might push him if he wasn't hit good. I felt the shot was good, but I did as he ask.

The next morning we found the elk in a gully not 20 yards from where we stopped tracking the night before.

The hindquarters had been ripped up by a bear. The guide said the meat would be no good after a bear had gotten into the carcass.

I caped out the elk, and hated to leave all that meat for the buzzards and crows.

Was the guide right about the meat?