If I take it as first hunt on earth, not first hunt in general, it doesn't work. It's absolutely moronic to not approach things you're not sure about - especially when they're clearly large and dangerous like a bear - with no caution.
Letting yourself get surrounded, letting yourself gett hacked up, not paying attention to your weaponry, don't speak to an unfamiliar environment but an unfamiliar process. He's done some practice and some training but this is his first hunt out in the wild and he's just f**king up at every step.
Luckily he's bigger, tougher, stronger than everything around him - but that only saves him so much. And it takes him too long to realise he's survived not by his own ability, but by genetic lottery.
And it mirrors the inverse of Naru so well. She's smaller and weaker and more brittle than the things around her so she must adapt and plan or else she'll die. And so she's finally able to succeed.