So I'm playing through A Daedra's Best Friend when Rufus and I encounter a snow bear on our way to the quest destination.

Rufus and I made quick work of it. But then the dragon soul animation began, and lo and behold, I absorbed a dragon soul.

Is this just some weird coincidence? Is it possible a dragon died nearby at the very moment we killed the snow bear? Which leads me to the question, how near a dragon and how involved in killing it do I need to be to absorb its soul? Or is this really a glitch that other people have experienced? Could I absorb dragon souls from chickens maybe?

could be but dragon soul animation plays when you are relatively close to dragon ( dragon should be in sight ) or it could be you soul trapped bears soul

Well I didn't soul trap the bear, I absorbed a dragon soul from killing it, and there were no dragons in sight!

This has happened to me...it was a dead dragon near by in my case,that I did not kill.

Is it possible the dragon was far away, like on the other side of a hill and I didn't see it? O.o

What's the max distance for absorbing give or take?

no you must be near dragon for animation to start playing but could be a bug skyrim is a funny game where bandits are seen wearing goat hides

I bet a dragon starved to death in a nearby cave

I have had Dragon Souls come from an Area where a wounded Dragon "dissapeared" from the Game World, but this usually happens in Solsthiem. I might try killing another Snowbear to try and see if it was a Dragon dead nearby, or an exploitable Glitch

I've killed a dragon on the East side of the map, somewhat close to Riften (North and West to one of the towers), didn't the soul right away but went away and did a quest for the Queen of Solitude (something involving necromancers reviving a dead queen (or something) back to life). Exit out of the cave and I absorb the dragon soul I had killed probably hours ago (game time) and probably 30+ minutes my time. Strange, eh?

Somewhere on that side of the map I had killed a dragon, didn't absorb the soul, went to do other things (such as that quest) and it eventually got abosrbed. So I slightly doubt it's relative location.

I've had something like that happen a couple of times. First time I was near the Ritual Stone and the "You've killed a dragon!" music started up and I got a soul. Never laid eyes on the dragon. Second time I was near Winterhold, heading into the college from the north and accidentally used Dragonrend instead of Clear Skies. The music immediately started and I got a soul. No idea who killed it or where...

Just think of it as a freebie and move on.

It happened to me once when there was no dragon nearby.

Riding a horse across the Reach when suddenly... "dragon soul absorbed".