The last opportunity for a hunt this spring season came and unsuccessfully went in mid June.
The black bear we were hunting for failed to show up at our bait barrel those two nights we had set aside to hiking up to the spot where bears are frequently sighted by my friend. It was still a great adventure.
As we moved up to thicker timber farther up the trail we started seeing bear activity signs. Droppings on the trail and scratch marks on trees that mark their territory. Even thought the predators are not really interested in humans it’s a good thing to have a friend with you and be armed. You are only an hour or so of hard, fast hike from the closest house but it feels you have entered different world where humans do not necessarily dominate the top of the food chain. Thrilling and adventurous.
Once we got to the barrel we placed the bait in and walked to our blind. Walking up steep trail at 70 degrees will get you hot and sweaty. Sitting in a blind at 8000 feet in mid June as the sun was setting became very cold experience. We waited to the latest possible shooting light, then packed up and started hiking down. The next night was a very similar experience except we got rained and snowed on moving up towards the barrel and the blind. We had good rain gear yet still got very, very cold that night. My first bear hunt was unsuccessful in a sense of getting a trophy but successful in a sense of learning how to bear hunt in Wyoming. I carried my most trusted CZ 550 .308 caliber with me and believe when the same bear shows up in the fall that rifle will put an end to his illustrious life. Stay tuned.
The end of bear season signaled the start of summer, or it should have, but you just never know in Wyoming. I had made plans with few friends to go out and test/try out some of the CZ firearms. It took little longer but the weather finally cooperated.
I would like to mention in a few sentences the feedback I got and also my own experience with these guns. First I’ll start with handguns.
My personal all time favorite handgun ever is CZ 97. I own both versions now. The decocker 97 BD and manual safety equipped 97 B. I have rubber grips on the carry/truck gun BD and beautiful old fashioned wood grips on the B. The latter version is my range gun and I have found that novice shooters are more accurate with that large .45 caliber than any other gun we try. It is larger than most but the weight absorbs the recoil better than any other .45 I and many of my friends (guys and gals alike) have shot. The accuracy is down right shocking when I see them not believing how well they did shooting the gun for the first time. That’s been the case for last few years not just recently. It does not mean they buy the 97 but sure like to shoot it the most. They usually end up buying some sort of version of the 75 or PO series. Those guns are popular for their versatility and practicality. And speaking of the world famous 75 B.
“It’s just so easy to be accurate” is usually the first thing shooters say after emptying the new Urban Grey CZ 75 B with the new Omega trigger system and threaded barrel. All steel construction, amazing out of the box trigger and the proven 75 feel can’t be beat. To add a suppressor you will have yourself the most comfortable handgun and will always look forward to shooting it. I am and I don’t even have suppressor for it, yet. As we all know getting suppressor is harder in this country than emigrate here from some war torn country in the Middle East or northern Africa. (Little jab at our immigration policy. Oh I forgot what immigration policy? I don’t believe we have one)
It has been mentioned many times over the forty plus years of production. “It’s just boringly accurate and easy to shoot”.
