It’s interesting how much you think you miss a place based off the experience you once had there. For me, it was the Yaak in Montana. In 2016 I hunted Black Bear for the first time and after some research I chose to go as far North and away from civilization as possible. I had some great memories from that hunt so this year I decided I would forfeit my Wyoming Spring bear tag and head up to the Yaak in hopes to relive the experience as well as stack odds in my favor since I knew some of the terrain up there. After three days this year hunting the thick woods in tree stands while predator calling, attempting to get it done with my bow, I began to crave some open country. I did a quick OnXmaps/Google Earth study and decided to head down and hunt south of Missoula. There was plenty of public land and much more open country that seemed perfect for an opportunity for a long shot.
After driving most of the night, I was hunting in the Biterroot by the next morning. The first road I drove up I was sold. I could see multiple canyon sides from 200 to 1700 yards away, it was like a fairytale land for hunters who enjoy glassing and long shots. So, I put the bow away and busted out the 6.5 PRC. Sighted it in for 150y, chronographed the last shot group, then confirmed at 1250y. All three shots at distance were within 15”. I’m not sponsored by Hornady and I know this will surprise my readers, but the 143g ELD-X factory ammo shocked me. It had an ES of 27 which isn’t awesome by any means but better than expected. I had to go with factory ammo for this hunt as I was still waiting on reloading components so I was happy to see, with that accuracy, I had the ability to make an ethical shot at least to 1K. I also confirmed as much by shooting a tad closer at a 1100y rock and the group was tighter. Now would I be happy with a 15” group at 1250y, not really because that’s a possible wounding shot on big game and to me considered unethical, however I felt confident at making a shot around 1k, conditions permitting.
So, I began glassing. And glassing. The next day I had a brown colored bear in the glass. It was 1500y away and in classic bear fashion walking up the face of a very steep hill at a flat land pace. I jumped in the jeep and bombed up the hill for a quarter mile. I came to a tree that had fallen across blocking the road so I grabbed the rifle and ran up another 300y until the road began looping around the mountain in the opposite direction (see second to last photo). At that point I dropped down off the road into some dark timber looking for the bear between small openings through the trees. After 15 minutes I finally spotted him walking out of a ravine onto a knoll. Now here was the first challenge of the day besides the pack out, finding a spot to shoot from on a hill sloping at 45 degrees. If I had a sitting bipod I would have been a happier man but I had the atlas on the rifle so I had to find a tree with a limb at sitting height to rest the gun on. After no luck I decided to do it the hard way. I found the highest spot I could which was a stack of pine needles under a tree for a bipod rest and then dug the ground away under the buttstock. After a minute of frantic digging I was able to put the bear in the scope. I then looked at vegetation around the bear to get a wind reading, I estimated a 2mph wind and put that into the Kilo 2400, then I ranged and got 1057y. I dialed the elevation and windage into the Kahles and ensured my parallax was solid. After settling in I let the first one fly, the bear was facing to the left as I was looking at it and the bullet impacted 6” in front of him. Elevation was perfect but there was more wind out there than expected. He put his ears back like he had been swatted at and looked around. I quickly chambered another round and held to the right about a quarter mil and squeezed…hit. I saw the flash of the hide where the bullet entered right behind the shoulder. At that point I took a huge sigh of relief as I watched him run downhill and pile up 30yards later. He then rolled another 50y or so until a small tree stopped his decent. The work began. Red dot on the image below is where I shot from.
I drove around to the other side of the canyon and walked back on a logging road about 3 miles, then dropped down the face of the hill another 400yards and found him piled up. After skinning and quartering him down the hill, 2 hours later he was in the pack and I made my ascent back up to the logging road. Overall the experience, like most hunts I go on, was amazing. I enjoy hunting alone because there’re no regrets. The failures are mine and the triumphs are also mine, two items that build character, the prior building the most usually. Along with hunting alone comes the struggle, which on this hunt was real. No one else was there to split the load or take turns carrying the pack. It was on my shoulders and mine alone to respect the bear by getting him off the mountain and on ice as quickly as possible, after all, I was the one that pulled the trigger. I think it’s fitting to deal with the cramping muscles, dehydration, scrapes, and bruises alone as well, in my opinion I believe it builds a bond between you and mother nature. Blood. Sweat. Reward.
LL#1: Hind sight being 20/20, I would have grabbed the shooting sticks from the Jeep and when I bailed with the gun and ran up the road another 300y in order to find a vantage point to shoot. They sure would have come in handy shooting from a steep hill side.
Backcountry Precision
Blood. Sweat. Reward