If I were the uncle and I was hosting my nephew for a bear hunt, I would certainly want him to have the bear.

The guy made a poor shot and was devistated. His uncle was able to follow-up when he had to leave. It ended with the uncle finding the bear.

I'll bet his uncle was happy for his nephew when he found the bear. I doubt he wants to kick his ass. And what is the ass-kicking for? Making the bad shot? Or having to go home?

Some of these comments are stupid. Congrats on getting your first bear. It's too bad that you didn't find it right away, but it's awesome that your uncle is a good guy and a sportsman and helped you recover your bear even though you couldn't be there.

Devastated? Probably a bit too strong of a term here.

If the bear is mounted, will remind the shooter of a great hunt or will it be a bad memory? The thought of the bear living two days with a gut shot in a river unable to move would be too much for me.

It is a shame that the hunt went bad. I feel sorry for all involved, but claiming a "trophy" under these conditions feels wrong.

Is the use of the word "trophy" the root of all the anger towards me? I honestly spent 1 second typing the Title, maybe that was a poor choice of words. Boy, am I getting beat up.

Yeah, I was pretty upset. All of us non perfect hunters do eventually make a bad shot and that is the one crappy part of hunting. So yes, I don't feel good about that.

For all of you stating I shouldn't consider this my first bear, would the situation be different if my uncle had found the bear in the river dead but knew it wasn't there the day before? Is the hang up that I didn't issue the final shot or is the hang up that it wasn't a clean harvest.

Again, I am truly listening to all comments, just curious as to the rationale. Thanks in advance.

My comments are based on my own meager collection of momentos, and what they mean to me. I remember everything about the hunt when I take a long look at a set of horns. It is like being there again. I simply doubt that most people would want to remember every aspect of this hunt every time they saw this mount.
If you want to have a bear to put on the wall go ahead, but I think you might regret it someday.

Perfect hunters don't make bad shots. That's why they're perfect.

Since you like to call some hunters perfect. It's a very condescending comment.

Let's say you traveled 1000 miles to hunt bear. You got a shot but couldn't find the bear. You went back the next day and looked some more, but still couldn't find it. Then you had to travel back home. No uncle, no recovery.

Every time someone shoots a deer but doesn't find it, we should belittle them? The only difference here is that the guy had an uncle who could keep looking.

How many times do we tell guys that it's too bad, get over it, it's part of hunting, at least you tried tracking for two days, you'll get another chance, etc......? If this guy's uncle never found the bear, that's what I would expect. But he did. So you know the outcome. Lots of animals that aren't recovered are dead. A lot are probably still alive. Nobody has a crystal ball.

I think some of you guys must be hitting the bottle early.

I've never saved an animal as a trophy. Let alone one I didn't kill.

It's keeping the so called trophy that got to us. I don't fault him for missing the shot. It's the rest of it.

I told my story, and first you blasted me for not running down my animal like Carl Lewis. Then when you actually read the post you hinted at the way I hunted was unethical. I assume you spot and stalk with a stick you widdled. Then you start saying my uncle is a better tracker. How in the hell would you know. Because some guy told him where a bear was in the river? Then you blast me for implying that you are a perfect hunter. Why would I have to imply that, you have already promoted yourself as such.

Let me boil this down for you chief. I am not trying to claim a "trophy". A bad thing happened and I am trying to feel better about what happened so I turned to what I thought was a community of fellow hunters, not dbags like you and a couple of other know it alls. If you don't think I harvested the animal, why don't you provide something meaningful on how the animal can be honored so its not a complete waste instead of nitpicking every word I say.

I may or may not have harvested the animal. I can live with that. I want that animal not to be wasted and am trying to pull something positive out of this. If you really are a hunter, you should step back and re-read what I have posted instead of looking at ways to insult me.

Don't bother responding, I am not coming back. To the others that stated a respectful opinion whatever that may be, I appreciate it. To you and the couple of the other idiots, stop being so damn bitter.

I never gave you any personal insults. Something you can't say.

Don't ask for opinions if you don't want to hear them. Did you want us to lie, and tell you what a great job you did on your trophy?

An animal should be hunted for meat. Something you lost a long time ago. So, no matter how you want to look at it. The animal has been wasted. Too bad it had to suffer. Maybe a little range work should be in your future plans.

I'm sure you'll read this.

Yeah I din't call anybody any names but U sure did!!!!! And from what I can seeand read is your uncle didn't spend much time lookin fer yer "TROPHY" either till some passersby told him where to find it!! So just lighten up, take yer knocks and move forward, instead of comin back time and time agin callin good folks names!!! U said the guts were hangin out ..........well no animal goes very far with they guts hanging out...ANY so called bear guide worth his salt would have stayed on the bear and found it....................just my two cents worth here....what names are ya gonna call me?????