Just got back from eight days of backpack spring bear hunting and figured I'd share how it went. This year was strange. Normally we'd expect snow down around 5,000 feet, but we ended up chasing snow all the way up to 7,000. Conditions were nothing like a typical spring hunt.
We hunted hard. Sunrise to sunset, behind the glass every day. Miles and miles of country covered, floorless tents, 70-pound packs on our backs. And bears? We turned up one. One bear the entire week.
When that bear finally showed, I was ready. Sent a 212 Hornady ELDX out of my brand new custom Viking Armament 300 PRC AKA "Warlord" at 330 yards. Bear went down.
We kept hunting another five days after that. Did not lay eyes on a single sow, cub, or another boar. Country felt dead.
Weather was the real story. Pushing 80 degrees most days. Felt more like July than spring. South slopes were burnt off and brown already. Anything green was tucked back in the timber or stuck to the north faces.
The pack out was brutal. Body is wrecked, feet are toast, but we got it done. Some hunts you grind for. This was one of them.
We hunted hard. Sunrise to sunset, behind the glass every day. Miles and miles of country covered, floorless tents, 70-pound packs on our backs. And bears? We turned up one. One bear the entire week.
When that bear finally showed, I was ready. Sent a 212 Hornady ELDX out of my brand new custom Viking Armament 300 PRC AKA "Warlord" at 330 yards. Bear went down.
We kept hunting another five days after that. Did not lay eyes on a single sow, cub, or another boar. Country felt dead.
Weather was the real story. Pushing 80 degrees most days. Felt more like July than spring. South slopes were burnt off and brown already. Anything green was tucked back in the timber or stuck to the north faces.
The pack out was brutal. Body is wrecked, feet are toast, but we got it done. Some hunts you grind for. This was one of them.
