Guys,
There are actually alot of places to get shots like this and futher. I am in the St. Joe river area near St. Maries Id. If you could see a cloase up of the cut it is littered with grass patches it is very common to see spring bears feeding on these young grasses and looking for various grubs. It is legal to bait with a permit in Idaho. There are 2 other cuts visible from hide, 1 down below (high angle shooting out to 600+, about .72 on the cosine indicator) the other to the left ranging from 725 to 940 yards. I plan to bait all 3 cuts next year. the cut you see in the picture also has a rub line running the length of it just off on the side you see. These are the kind of LR whitetail setups we guide in the fall down in the Clearwater area. The 1911 is one I built on a ss Colt S80, it pretty much lives with me day in and out.
OK now for the story I would just rather forget. We did in fact spot a jet black bear in the cut to the left, level ,no wind that I could see or detect in any way, 863 yards feeding on a grass patch. I decided after watching it for several minutes and Shay got to see it that it was a shooter. This is the perfect kids hunt if I drop it with in 50 yards it to would be above the access road a short hike and photo secession along with a short down hill drag to the road. This is all very important when your hunting partner is 5. I dial in for 863 yards, check for wind again (I am mentaly already taking pictures of my daughter with the bear, she has not shut up since we spotted it and is way excited) I anchor in bipod front backpack rear, way solid. I launch a 300 gr SMK from a 338 EDGE (of course) and watch the trace in horror as it goes an inch or two behind the front shoulder and low but close enough to leave some hair. I have shot some 6 inches low or so for some reason. We load up and drive/hike over to follow up the shot. We find a tuff of hair and not much else. I am some what baffeled by the miss and can not figure what condition I have missed to cause the low shot. I think about the miss and the mechanics of the shot all the way home and I realize while putting the tent etc away what has happened. I walk past the sight in target I used to confirm the zero @ 100 yards before we left (I had the scope off a week or so earlier). The target quite clearly showed 3 shots about .75 MOA at 6:00. of center, being in a big hurry about something or other I did not make the correction and rezero the knob. That of course put me in the field with a rifle that was zeroed .75 MOA low or about 6-7 inches at 863 yards. Stupid mistake on my part. Lucky stupid mistakes are usually easy to correct. Now here is the best parts of taking the little ones, while discovering this and explaining this to by daughter, she looks me right in the eye as serious as can be says,"don't worry daddy I will still be your huntin partner.
