Went down to the Kenai today for a little goat/blackie hunting. Skunked on the goat for this year, by the way. Anyway, I decided to pull over at Turnagain Pass to glass for Blackies. Didn't take long to find one. I spotted a really nice Blackie and observed him for about 1/2 an hour. He was a coupla thousand feet up. Definitely do-able. I also noticed another guy spotting this same bear. He was there before me. He didn't appear to be making an effort at going to get this bear. So, I started to get ready. Then I walked over towards him...wanted to make sure he wasn't guiding another hunter up the mountain. He was alone. In a roundabout way he told me that that bear was "his" bear and he was gonna take it. I asked him what he was waiting on. He said he was waiting on his son to come down from the Valley to shoot it. I figured if the guy's son wasn't there in about 15 minutes, I was heading up onto "his" bear. His son did show. I didn't think it would've been a fair fight or even a needed fight. Thought that fightin' over a bear was senseless. I would'nt have minded it so much, but the guy sure was cocky. Anyway...he proceeds to pull out this really nice HIGH DOLLAR rifle. Not sure what it was. He was bragging about how expensive it was (looked like it),something about a .416 chambered in a .338. The scope on it was at least 24 inches long. Never saw anything like that before either. He was bragging that it was a Special Forces sniper rifle from Russia/Germany/England blah....blah...blah...He told me that he could put a 3/4 inch 3 shot group at 1100 yards. Pretty impressive....who is he? Carlos Hathcock? He used a range finder to range the Blackie at almost 800 yards. He said that shot would be no problem at all for him, but he and his son would head up the mountain anyway just to get a little closer.
Anyways.... the "best sniper in the world" and his son(20 something yr.old) head up the mountain after this Blackie. I'm watching thru binos the whole time. They get within 200 yards of this bear and shoot twice. I was shocked when the bear turned and ran away. 2 misses ! The bear runs about 500 yards and it takes another 2 hours for these guys to put another stalk on him. This time, they get within 300 yards. Boom! Boom! The bear turns and just looks at them....then he runs another 500 yards! These guys take another 1 1/2 hours to get a coupla hundred yards from him. This time Dad (Mr. Sniper) takes a crack at it. He shoots at least twice. The bear again turns around, looks at him, and then runs a coupla hundred more yards away. The bear was in a clearing each time it was shot at. I figured that they would again go after the bear. This time, they turned around and came all the way back to the truck. They used all of their ammo. Its kind of ironic that the guy's wife (who stayed in the truck) told him to take plenty of ammo, and Mr. Sniper said "It's only gonna take 1 bullet". He did take 6 with him at his wife's and son's urging. At this point, I was talking to Florida Boy in the parking lot, and apparently he will head down there tomorrow and hopefully finish off what Mr.Sniper couldn't do. At least Florida Boy seems genuine enough. I hope he gets one.
I know that there are people all over like Mr.Sniper, but you realize just how much of an idiot these guys are when you have one-on-one interaction with them. So if anybody heads down toward Kenai, remember that their may be a guy down there claiming a bear as "his", and it would be who of you to go after that bear before he does.
Johnny
Anyways.... the "best sniper in the world" and his son(20 something yr.old) head up the mountain after this Blackie. I'm watching thru binos the whole time. They get within 200 yards of this bear and shoot twice. I was shocked when the bear turned and ran away. 2 misses ! The bear runs about 500 yards and it takes another 2 hours for these guys to put another stalk on him. This time, they get within 300 yards. Boom! Boom! The bear turns and just looks at them....then he runs another 500 yards! These guys take another 1 1/2 hours to get a coupla hundred yards from him. This time Dad (Mr. Sniper) takes a crack at it. He shoots at least twice. The bear again turns around, looks at him, and then runs a coupla hundred more yards away. The bear was in a clearing each time it was shot at. I figured that they would again go after the bear. This time, they turned around and came all the way back to the truck. They used all of their ammo. Its kind of ironic that the guy's wife (who stayed in the truck) told him to take plenty of ammo, and Mr. Sniper said "It's only gonna take 1 bullet". He did take 6 with him at his wife's and son's urging. At this point, I was talking to Florida Boy in the parking lot, and apparently he will head down there tomorrow and hopefully finish off what Mr.Sniper couldn't do. At least Florida Boy seems genuine enough. I hope he gets one.
I know that there are people all over like Mr.Sniper, but you realize just how much of an idiot these guys are when you have one-on-one interaction with them. So if anybody heads down toward Kenai, remember that their may be a guy down there claiming a bear as "his", and it would be who of you to go after that bear before he does.
Johnny
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