In my last article, I recounted two frustrating and discouraging outings during the last week of bear baiting last September.
The high tech red dot sight topping my Magnum Research BFR .45-70 revolver just wasn’t up to the task of centering a deadly shot on a black bear’s dark body silhouetted against a brushy backdrop during the gloomy dusk just minutes before legal shooting time ended. I couldn’t allow myself to, and didn’t, pull the trigger because I wasn’t positive of a lung hit.
Not wanting to encounter the same situation next season I did a lot of thinking about how to alter one or more variables to assure myself of a lethal shot scenario. There was no sure way to entice the bragging-size bruin to visit the bait site earlier, when shooting light was better. Trophy bear over 300 lbs. are older, smarter and very wary, often prowling and feeding only after dark. To trim and thin the ground level brush and bushes or to remove overhead canopy tree branches to allow more ambient light and less dark background wouldn’t work either. Thick, shady bait sites are more attractive to big, wily black bear, and opening the area up would likely defeat the purpose and I’d have fewer and smaller visiting bear, if any at all.
When handgun hunting for bear, Bill Graves prefers to use open sights as pictured, but an experience last fall led to a change in attitude as well as hunting gear for the upcoming year.
(Courtesy of Bill Graves)
So, if I couldn’t control the animal or alter the location to assure more visibility, in the end only two alternatives offered a possible solution, and as in most big game hunting solutions, neither was guaranteed. The first option was to change nothing — not the tree stand, not the firearm, and not the environment. Just put in the time, cross my fingers and hope that just one time a big bruin arrived early and stood out in the open. Since that was pretty much what I was already doing, as well as every other hopeful hunter, I opted to make a different alteration.
Having tagged a dozen bear during 15 fall seasons, each with a different caliber, style and make of handgun, it seemed this is where I needed to concentrate. Although I’d used various red-dot sights two or three times, most of my shots were accomplished with open sights. It was obvious however that if my new high-tech red dot failed in the dusky, background silhouetted situation, even a white-edged or fluorescent three-dot combat set of sights would not fare any better. I needed more clear visibility — basically more light.
Since setting up a flood light or attaching an intense beam flashlight to my revolver was out of the question, legally and ethically, there was only one solution. I needed a scope; not just any optics, but a low magnification, high light-gathering lenses in a lightweight tube with special handgun eye relief. “Easy-peasy,” I figured, with dozens of top rate manufacturers producing literally thousands of models of scopes. Boy, was I in for a surprise!
Scopes add weight and bulk to any hunting handgun, and with most black bear shots fired less than 40 yards from the bait magnification isn’t really needed. My current situation fell between the cracks, so to speak, and my theory of handgun scopes creating more problems than solutions suddenly fell by the wayside. I began checking regional sporting goods stores, then mail order outdoor catalogs, and finally on the Internet. It was like finding hen’s teeth! When I visited the huge Cabala’s store in Scarborough, of the hundreds of scopes on hand, only two were handgun models and both were variable power rather than the low 1X or 2X single magnification I was seeking.
I began calling companies direct and was shocked to find that many of the most prestigious names in optics — Zeiss, Trijicon, and Swarovski for example — didn’t even manufacture handgun scopes.
Rifle scopes get much higher demand and red-dot sights are the up and coming trend. The few companies that did offer handgun scopes catered more to long range, variable magnification models with bells and whistles for windage, range finding, and bullet drop compensation. Rather than a nice, clean duplex reticle it was like looking through a lattice work fence. All those extras don’t come cheap either.
Finally I found three scopes that seemed to fit my needs and have each currently on hand to try at the range as soon as bare ground appears. There’s a Leupold VX-3, 2.5-8X32 mm, a Nikon Force XR 2X20 mm and a Burris 2- 7 X 32mm, each with a duplex reticle combining thick outer posts and a fine, precise center crosshair. To pass the time until shooting conditions improve, I’m testing each under various conditions at the lowest magnification to see which best fits my single most important requirement — improved lighting and clarity.
Open sights provide the oldest, most dependable method of aiming a handgun, while quick acquisition red dot sights offer the newest technology. I can’t teach that old bear new tricks, like showing up earlier, but this old dog can still learn. I’ve done several dawn and dusk tests with all three scopes and each has proven far superior to either of the other aiming methods. Target details are much easier to visualize as the scope brightens and clarifies details in the lowest light conditions. As soon as I can mount and test fire each on my revolver a final choice will be made for the upcoming bear hunt.
I truly enjoy handgun hunting for the extra skill and challenge involved, but once in awhile too great a challenge occurs. I’m very anxious to see if my smart, trophy bear survived the winter and returns this season, and to find out if a scope and all the effort in finding and fitting it to the revolver makes the difference. Sportsmen are often creatures of habit, much like their quarries, but change is good on occasion. I’ll keep you posted on the final outcome.
