Spring Idaho Black Bear

This ended up being my favorite hunt in 2020, it had the highest of highs only because of the my sick glutton for punishment. On the first morning after getting back to the trailhead and sleeping in the truck the night before, I hiked 12 miles back. This included a lot of glassing breaks and catching my breath with a pack full of 4-5 days’ worth of gear. That evening as I was setting up camp on a knife edge ride line 45 minutes before dark, a bear started feeding out onto a green lush patch of grass on the adjacent ridgeline. With the sun setting on the other side of him I could see the glare coming off his brown coat with my naked eye. After double checking this wasn’t Mr. Griz, and getting set up, I took a shot.

Now this was supposed to be a chip shot with my caliber (.338 Lapua Ackley Improved shooting a 300g bullet @ 2911fps, trued out to 1400y).  Here’s the excuse train, and for the record I’m not a Sig Sauer hater, in fact I love the Sig Kilo 2400 that I have. However, at least in my unit, when I change batteries, the kilo will put a 5mph left wind in the unit. Even after this hunt, I didn’t figure this out until preparing for the Fall Idaho deer hunt later in the summer when I was truing at 1800y. I again replaced the batteries and the same thing happened. All summer I thought man I suck, how did I miss that bear with great conditions, no wind, as well as being just 700yds away; not to mentioned with the training I’ve done with this gun and what I know it’s capable of.

Here’s where it gets western. After shooting at him he heads down the face of the steep cliff filled canyon adjacent to me. After dropping down the ridge line a 100’ to get a better view of the other hillside, I couldn’t spot him for about a minute. Then it dawned on me, at this point, if he kept up the sprint he had after I shot, he is either out of sight or coming up my side of the canyon. At that instance I looked down, low and behold there he was loping up the avalanche shoot straight towards me, unaware that I was standing there on a rock out-cropping. I instantly zeroed the ATACR and took a standing 100yd shot aiming for his chest. The 300g Hornady A-tip caught him square in the forehead at the bottom of his lope and he tumbled down hill about 80yds before stopping.

At this point it was dark, in griz country, and being early May the temp was dropping fast, so I had no worries about leaving him there overnight with the meat spoiling. Plus, since I was camped 400yds above him, I could hear any coyotes or a slim but possible chance of a pack of wolves if they found the bear and scare them off if need be. At 4 am I made my way down to the bear and starting working the meat as it was getting light.

This hunt handed me the hardest pack out I’ve had to date. I thought by riding the ridgeline down I could make it to the Salmon River and leapfrog the meat from the bear to the river where the main trail was and then leapfrog that meat from the river back to the truck. In two attempts I got cliffed out 1000’ above the river. At one point I thought I could slide down the shale rock, after figuring out I couldn’t control my speed and the rocks were tearing another hole in my ass, I managed to claw my way back up to safely. I would be lying if a few things hadn’t flashed before me, the most prominent being thoughts of the family and how this might end up being the legacy of me despite the risks involved with my usual job.

After ascending back up 2000’ where I came from I was able to gain access to a snowmelt creek to put the meat in. When I dropped the pack at the edge of this creek I laid there drinking water straight from the sweat cold snowmelt stream. After spending an hour rehydrating and getting rid of the cramps, I headed back up the mountain to my camp. I then packed up camp and headed back to the truck knowing the meat was safe, at least from the heat. After recovering at the truck for a day I headed back in to make two more trips to get the meat out.

Five days after I arrived I was leaving with the meat from a bear I had shot on day one. During the pack out there was several close calls with rattlers all the while being on the verge of collapsing with cramped legs between watering locations. Needless to say before heading into the fall hunts, I purchased an In Reach with an SOS capability to give me a piece of mind.

Backcountry Precision

Blood. Sweat. Reward