Hey Roksliders! I’m back with another installment of the “1 Thing” theme, this time focused on the rapidly expanding popularity of Bear Hunting. I think most of us make a mistake over and over again. We go on a hunt, but don’t make the effort to think critically about 1 thing we learned and will do different next time.
Think about it, how often do magazines write about a hunt, but fail to single out an action item to change in the future? Just 1 thing, maybe something you learned about elk behavior, your rifle setup, clothing, or camping system. We can consume all the information we want, but if we don’t change anything, did it really do us any good? I’d like to continue the series of discussions to get us in the habit of reviewing our hunt, and share highlights about the 1 thing we learned on a particular topic. To start, 1 thing I learned is about Bear Hunting.
In the Pacific Northwest we have plenty of black bears, but I learned the hard way just how fleeting opportunities can be. After days of glassing old clearcuts, I finally saw a black mass amble out of the creek bottom. By the time I finally unscrewed my spotting scope mount from the window and got my rifle rest ready, it had made its way behind some trees and was gone forever. As a quadriplegic my hands don’t work great so this gear transition took longer than it would for an able-bodied person, but I think we’ve all missed out by not being quick enough before. Now I'm going to use the new Spartan Pro Clamp so switching between optics and my rifle takes just two seconds. In the future I’m going to make a much greater effort to be able to switch between glassing and a rifle ready shooting position as fast as possible!
So what is the 1 thing you have learned about Bear Hunting?
Think about it, how often do magazines write about a hunt, but fail to single out an action item to change in the future? Just 1 thing, maybe something you learned about elk behavior, your rifle setup, clothing, or camping system. We can consume all the information we want, but if we don’t change anything, did it really do us any good? I’d like to continue the series of discussions to get us in the habit of reviewing our hunt, and share highlights about the 1 thing we learned on a particular topic. To start, 1 thing I learned is about Bear Hunting.
In the Pacific Northwest we have plenty of black bears, but I learned the hard way just how fleeting opportunities can be. After days of glassing old clearcuts, I finally saw a black mass amble out of the creek bottom. By the time I finally unscrewed my spotting scope mount from the window and got my rifle rest ready, it had made its way behind some trees and was gone forever. As a quadriplegic my hands don’t work great so this gear transition took longer than it would for an able-bodied person, but I think we’ve all missed out by not being quick enough before. Now I'm going to use the new Spartan Pro Clamp so switching between optics and my rifle takes just two seconds. In the future I’m going to make a much greater effort to be able to switch between glassing and a rifle ready shooting position as fast as possible!
So what is the 1 thing you have learned about Bear Hunting?