RockyMtnMT
Official LRH Sponsor
Yesterday afternoon I went out with a friend to do some long range testing on a nose design that we are working on. I was shooting it side by side with our 213g .338cal Hammer Hunter. The test bullet is the same except for the nose profile modification. While we were taking shots at a 829y rock and an 1098y rock we would take a break every few shots to let the barrel cool. We were shooting a little 2" barrel .357 just for fun. I told my buddy Zac that we should be glassing the hill side for bears just in case. He notices a black spot down in a opening in the timber an says you should look at that spot. I looked at it and proclaimed that it was a great looking stump. Then it moved. I quickly got a range on him at 711 yards. We watched him for a bit to make sure there were no cubs and reset the shooting position in order to acquire the down hill angle. In this time he had moved behind some pine trees so that we could just make out his head. I told Zac that he would have to change direction and move back to the left if were to have a chance at a shot. Sure enough he did just that. The shots previous I had been holding 2moa to the left for wind so I took the same hold and sent the 213g Hammer Hunter. On impact the bear rolled down the hill and out of site. I have to be honest, we were not prepared to go after a bear. No gear, in fact I was in shorts. We were about 2.5hrs from dark at that point. So we flew home and retrieved pack boards and the proper gear to head out to find this bear. Brian met us on the way back up the mountain to come and help. By this time we were now 1hr from dark. Hind sight we should have waited till morning. We dropped down through the clear cut and into the swampy creek bottom and headed up the other side of the canyon. After hiking around for quite a while on very steep terrain we finally found a clearing that we thought looked right. At this point it was too dark to see without headlamps. We scoured around for a while and finally decided that it was futile. We then had to drop down the very steep hill side back into the swamp laden creek bottom. Once across that began the very steep side hill back up to the trucks. We were beat by the time we got to the trucks at 11pm.
Went back up today with Zac and his son to give it another go. Turned out we were in the right clearing even though it just did not look right the night before. We worked our way down the hill in the direction that the bear tumbled. He made it the bottom of the steep hill side about 100y down where he slide to a stop. Turned out I was a bit off the mark with my shot and hit to the right a bit and missed the lung shot that I intended and hit in the liver area. The Hammer Hunter did a superb job with the less than desirable hit and still shut him down quickly. For that I am very thankful.
We then went about the business of posing him for pics and got him skinned and quartered in to game bags and packed him out the bottom. We were smart and left a truck down below so that we would not have to climb that excessively steep trek back to the shooting point. All said and done the meat was still very good and I am looking forward to some cured bear hams.
Next time I go bullet testing during bear season I will be better prepared. Here is a pic of the bear.
Steve
Went back up today with Zac and his son to give it another go. Turned out we were in the right clearing even though it just did not look right the night before. We worked our way down the hill in the direction that the bear tumbled. He made it the bottom of the steep hill side about 100y down where he slide to a stop. Turned out I was a bit off the mark with my shot and hit to the right a bit and missed the lung shot that I intended and hit in the liver area. The Hammer Hunter did a superb job with the less than desirable hit and still shut him down quickly. For that I am very thankful.
We then went about the business of posing him for pics and got him skinned and quartered in to game bags and packed him out the bottom. We were smart and left a truck down below so that we would not have to climb that excessively steep trek back to the shooting point. All said and done the meat was still very good and I am looking forward to some cured bear hams.
Next time I go bullet testing during bear season I will be better prepared. Here is a pic of the bear.
Steve
