I had a similar but a bit different experience..

We saw the tracks along a creek coming in from both directions to eat the salmon in one of the deep pools in the creek..SO, we built a tree stand using only ropes vs nails to eliminate noise.. We got into the tree stand around 330PM and around 520 here he come along the creek.. the first time I laid my eyes on him I said HOLY SHIT he is big..

.. when he got broadside I pulled the trigger on the .375H&H.. he dropped and immediately popped back up with a loud roar and biting at the area behind his front let where I hit him.. he started to run off the direction he come.. by then I had another in the chamber and was ready to shoot again when the guide shot with his .458W mag with a muzzle break .. which caused me to loose focus on my shot.. guide missed as he has his scope secured with 2 screws missing but instead was using duct tape

.. just as the bear was entering the timber I was able to get another raking shot off into him.. he was hit good twice..

We waited a bit and started walking into the incredibly thick timber with very high grass and foilage..literally could see no further than 10 to 15 feet.. after a bit in the guide whistled to me and pointed to go back out.. once out he told me his buddy got killed the previous year doing the exact same thing.. he suggested we wait until morning and bring another gun with us..which is what we did..

The following morning the guide, the cook and myself walked 3 abreast into the thick cover.. when we got about 25 feet past where we had quit the previous night we found a bed the bear had been laying in.. based on the blood sign, he was facing us when he was laying there.. SO, good idea we turned around that night or it would have certainly gone very western quicly.. ultimately we found him dead about another 100 yards up the creek.. he was using mud to plug his holes.. he as a 9ft squared bear..NOT a monster but not a cub either..