I shot a black bear in 1987 and really didn't think I wanted to harvest another bear, so this was just about helping my son on the hunt. After being out there with him, I am thinking about putting myself back in the hunt next year. We saw 3 bears the first day which was a sow and twins. Day two = 4 bear. Probably same sow and twins and then another bear by itself. We watched the movement of that bear for over 2.5 hours and it never presented a clear shot. It was on the opposite slope of a big ravine in scrub oak and choke cherries. Day three, my son had a shot but I guess there's just something different about pulling that trigger on a live animal. In prep for this trip he fired lots and lots of rounds at paper targets at 200 and 300 yards. Before we got to the lodge, we visited a Colorado rifle range that provided us with elevation changes to shoot at steel silhouette targets and he was hitting those targets but just missed on the bear. He was disappointed in the miss but now he's more driven to go again. The Colorado bear tag for non-resident is really affordable. It dropped from around $350 but small game hunting license and habitat stamp to right around $100 plus the license and stamp.
Shooting at altitude is a challenge for us flatlanders. I have to rethink everything I know about ballistics when elk hunting in New Mexico at around 8500' to 9000'. Less hold over because the air is thin, no humidity, and other factors like shooting uphill or downhill under those same conditions. It's a whole new ball game.
