Bear Bums - Bear Hunting

Today we sighted in the rifles for our black bear hunt in four weeks. Our gun selection was determined by availability, caliber, cost, environment and mostly by the species we’re hunting. Our selection for the four of us includes two .338 win mags, a .300 WSM and a .300 Ultra mag.

I think we’re pretty well gunned but the sighting in part is always important. We got permission from a farmer, neighbor who has a perfect pond bank as a back stop and 500 yards or more of a straight shot leading up to it.

We made a straight up and down target holder and invented a solid bench for shooting.
With my acceptance of mortality I’ve accepted the use of a lead sled for sighting in. The lead sled was anchored on our bench and at the selected distances, 50 yds, 100 yds, and 300 yds, we lined up on the targets.

These target are the best I’ve used. Sticky back and they highlight the spot you just shot so you can see well from quite a distance. The little sticky circles in the corners were also helpful because I could use them to cover up spots that I’d ruined with a shot without have to use an entire new target.

We remembered, this time, to take some binoculars and a range finder and this saved us a lot of walking and time. Our target selection was the self-adhesive Shoot-N-C® Targets. They show up well, highlight the shots and I love them. They don’t stick to a rough surface, like rough lumber, well so a few thumb tacks would still be helpful.

I think none of us are money making good shots but we now feel comfortable out to 300 yards. We can take care of business with the big black bear we plan to see on Prince of Wales Island in Alaska.
We plan on going out one more time before we take off to Ketchikan, Alaska then sighting in the rifles after the airplane flights once we get to the island hunting cabin.