I was considering a pack in black bear hunt from the road system north of Wasilla. I was looking to do a spot and stock hunt. What optics will I need? I'm buying a leica crf 900. I have a pair of Steiner predator 8x30s. I don't have a spotting scope. I'm considering either buying a Swarovski spotting scope or Swarovski el 10x42 binos. I will buy both in the future, but only one for now. My question is.....if I buy the Swarovski 10x42s will that be sufficient without a spotting scope for my hunt or would I be better with the spotting scope and my Steiner binos? Thanks.

Brett

It probably depends on how expereinced you are at field judging bears, and how picky you intend to be before shooting. Bears are notoriously hard to judge, even for expereinced hunters.The spotting scope will obviously allow you to "see" the bear better, but if you don't know what you are looking for, so what? I believe the 10x42EL are sufficient for most people on a bear hunt. You are looking for general characteristics, size relationships, etc., but not trying to count inches of horn or see the growth rings on a sheep. Besides, the scope adds additional weight to pack, always a factor on a backback hunt.

Good luck,

Bill

Thanks. I'm not exacly holding out for an 8 foot bear or nothing, but I'm also not going to shoot a 100-150lb bear. I plan on spending time trying to get my age/size judging skills up to snuff. Do you think the 10x42s are enough to make a reasonable estimate of bear sex or size?

quote:

Originally posted by Brett Adam Barringer:
Thanks. I'm not exacly holding out for an 8 foot bear or nothing, but I'm also not going to shoot a 100-150lb bear. I plan on spending time trying to get my age/size judging skills up to snuff. Do you think the 10x42s are enough to make a reasonable estimate of bear sex or size?

10X42's are plenty, stop by the local ADFG & talk to the biologist for the area you wish to hunt.
I sent you a P/M

Thanks for the advice. I have a few leads to follow. I bought a frame pack at Barney's today. I need to pick up the binos and range finder. Need a few other odds and ends too, but they'll come.

Brett

Will I need snowshoes if I'm hunting this spring north of Wasilla?

Well I'll keep this short and sweet as I just typed for ten minutes and when I went to post it nothing came thru, now for the second try.

My opinion is different than others but valuable nonetheless
If it were me I would buy a spotting scope you already have bino's and stepping up from 8 power to 10 power is not going to help that much when judging an animal at long distance.
Spend plenty of time behind your glass and when you find an animal put your spotting scope on it and figure out if it is worth hiking over to the next mountain for. If you see a bear at 800 yards or a mile all you will see is a "bear" with 8 or 10 power bino's, put a spotting scope on it and you will know if it is what you are after.Otherwise you will waste a whole day running down a "bear" only to close the distance and see a 100 pounder.
This method is used not only by me but guides all over the world.

After research and speaking with several knowledgable people I've decided to hunt the road system along unit 7. I did buy the spotting scope and a window mount for it. With the early sightings I've been hearing about I may go down next weekend and look around. That's of course if I can find an apartment and get settled in. I've been exercising and snowshoing to get in shape, so hopefully the snow and mountains won't do me in.

Brett

Brett good luck with the bears. Our season opens in three days but expect it will be a month before we see any bears..So much snow here still.
robbie

Saw sheep, goats, moose, and one set of bear tracks, but no bears. Still a lot of snow on most of the mountains througn the Kenai. I think I'll take next week off and go the following weekend. Should be lots of bears out by then.

Brett

It is amazing what can be seen with top drawer binos . Now a days even 2nd class binos are still awesome . The amount of time you can spend comfortably looking , and seeing thru your binos is how you will spot game up here ... I have done alot of sucessful hunting without binos and havn,t owned a spotting scope in 17 years ........ If you have the gear now , great you won,t need to replace it for a long time ..........

Very good pack choice by the way .... I hope you get a nice one .. But whatever you do , please kill one .or as many as you have tags for ......They all eat fawns , lambs , kids ,and calves .....

Gumboot458,

I love the pack. Barney's just seems to keep bringing me back. I have purchased a few items in there now and just took a part time job there to pay for rent, food, ect while I'm waiting to buy a practice in Anchorage. Bob's a wealth of info and I look forward to learning as much as I can from him in the short time I'll be there. And employee discounts don't hurt either. I fore see my whole hunting wardrobe being revamped. Most of my Ohio gear just doesn't cut it up here. And yes I'll do my part to help keep down the black bear population!

Brett