There are a lot of bear in West Virginia, especially east of the Allegheny Plateau, through the coal fields and up along the Virginia—West Virginia border mountains. Our family hunting camp is in a bear-rich region, but I hunted there for almost 40 years before I ever saw a bear on that ground. Oh, I saw their poop, I saw their tracks, and I saw where they marked trees, but I’d never seen West Virginia’s state animal in West Virginia. In fact, the first wild black bear I ever saw was in Montana, and I shot it.

About a quarter century ago when I was trying to find my footing as a writer in the outdoor industry, the great gun and outdoor writer John Barsness offered to kind of mentor me along. John felt part of that mentoring included broadening my hunting experiences beyond the borders of West Virginia. So, he invited me out to Montana to spring bear hunt.

On my first day there John and I worked up a handload for my New Ultra Light Arms Model 20, 358 Winchester rifle using 225-grain Nosler Partitions. Then we went to the range to sight the rifle in. (The old timers used to call this sighting-in/zeroing exercise, ‘targeting,” I guess partly because that’s the only time they shot at targets.) On the first day of the hunt, we didn’t see a bear, but on the second evening we did. John and I had climbed high into the mountains north of Townsend, stepped into a big green meadow, and saw a bear. He ran into a stand of pines, so like smart bear hunters we sat down, ate mule deer sandwich, and waited. Shortly, he came out, and I shot him.

Simple enough.

The next fall John and his wife came to West Virginia to deer hunt with my family. The day before they arrived I was deer hunting high on the mountain behind our camp hidden below a rocky outcropping. I caught a glimpse of movement in the rocks above me and it was a black bear. He meandered around in the rocks for a bit, found a spot he apparently liked, and took a shit. (This is of course proof positive that bears do in fact shit in the woods. Hunters often see bear poop, but how often do hunters see a bear poop?) Then the bruin laid down and went to sleep about 50 yards from me. It was not bear season, so after a bit I slipped down the mountain and left him to his siesta.

After that it became common place for me to see bears. I saw them while driving down the road and at my camp during the spring. (Inexplicably, WV does not have a spring bear season.) Hell, I even saw one in my backyard at home. I also shot a lot of bears in Alberta, on Vancouver Island, in the Frank Church Wilderness of Idaho, and in Newfoundland. Maybe, they’d always been there right in front of me, it was just that I had to kill one to know what they really looked like. In fact, I shot a bear at my West Virginia camp, which I considered a significant achievement given that in the 50 years of its existence and all the hunters who had hunted there, I was the first—and still only—hunter to take one there.

Now, I’m in no way am expert or even a dedicated bear hunter, but there is something sort of special—legendary and frontier—about being out and about in the wild with a rifle and shooting a bear. It’s kind of like the ultimate expression of North American hunting. After all, and as the song goes, Davey Crockett, “kilt him a bar, when he was only three.” In addition to all the advice and guidance John had given me about writing and surviving in the outdoor industry, John also gave me the gift of bear.

John and I don’t talk as often as we used to, and it’s a 2000-mile drive to his house. He says he’s semi-retired, but just from the writing part. He’s still very actively engaged with guns—mostly rifles—and he still hunts—mostly in Montana—but John and his wife Eileen still publish their Rifles and Recipes newsletter where you can enjoy John’s wonderful storytelling and appreciate his rifle wisdom. Evey couple months we’ll catch up by phone, and I learn something during every conversation. The other day I received a package in the mail, and it was another bear related gift from John.

The box contained an old copy of the book, North American Head Hunting, by Grancel Fitz (1894—1963), published in 1957. Fitz successfully hunted every Boone and Crocket Club listed North American animal with a customized Remington Model 30 chambered in 30-06 Springfield. (Fitz was integral in establishing the Boone & Crocket Club’s big game record system, and he and his wife oversaw the records for a long time. Interestingly, Fitz was never a member of the organization.) Some of Fitz’ adventures were published in True, Outdoor Life, and Field & Stream magazines.

Coincidentally, just a few pages into the first chapter which happens to be about bear hunting, Fitz mentions a “code” he learned from Stewart Edward White (1873—1946), who was a hunter, adventurer and writer, and also a man Jeff Cooper described in his book, The Art of the Rifle, as a “Certified Master of the Art” of rifle shooting. In 1915, White wrote the book, Rediscovered Country, about an African adventure with R.J. Cuninghame. Cuninghame guided Roosevelt on his great safari, and Roosevelt agreed with Cooper, writing that White was, “The best man with both pistol and rifle who ever shot.”

Apparently, Fitz ran in the right circles.

But there was something else in the box with the book.

I’m admittedly a bullet geek, particularly when it comes to terminal performance. If you read my latest book, Rifle Cartridges for the Hunter, you’ll remember that in the chapter on the 270 Winchester I described how my bullet infatuation began when I was only 14. John, of course, knows of my obsession with bullets, and wrapped with some newsprint and tucked inside an old 35mm film canister was the 225-grain Nosler Partition bullet we recovered from my first bear—my Montana bear. It was a very special gift, tied to a very special experience, and to a very special man.

About this time of year every year, my anticipation of the upcoming hunting season amplifies. I’ve cut way back on travel hunting, partly because I don’t enjoy the traveling part, but mostly because I find hunting here at home—especially at my camp and with my family—more enjoyable. Last night, after reading the second chapter in Fitz’ book which is about hunting whitetail deer, needless to say my expectancy for the upcoming WV deer hunting season was magnified even more, especially since that season in WV now coincides with the opening of bear season.

The last time I touched the bullet that John sent me was 23 years ago when I loaded it into a little brass 358 Winchester cartridge case. As far as bears go, that bullet changed my life. It’s been a while since I shot a black bear and I’m wondering if receiving the bear bullet from John could be a sign or maybe the bit of luck I need. Was all this bear business just coincidence or can gifts from a friend be that powerful?

I’m going with the latter because it makes a hell of a better story, and it also makes it look like I run in the right circles.

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We all live our lives based on times of the year that appeal to or thrill us. For example, most kids look forward to things like the first and last day of school, Christmas, or their birthday. I was no different, but some of those benchmark days meant other things to me. The first day of school meant hunting season was getting close. Christmas and my birthday meant hunting season was over. I now mostly look forward to my anniversary, especially since I get to add another year to the 30 + years I’ve been married to a wonderful woman who does not throw a shit fit every time I go to the range or the woods. (I feel for those who must deal with someone like that.)

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Post something on social media about terminal bullet performance and the experts come out of the woodwork. I made a post sometime back about the new 6.5 Creedmoor +PEAK ammo and someone commented that the 6.5 Creedmoor was already “too fast” and the bullets don’t have to time to expand inside a deer, which is why the 6.5 Creedmoor wounds so many deer. B…

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For that last several days the only thing you’ve probably seen on your social media feed has probably been stuff about suppressors. The recent ruling that found registration unconstitutional without a tax has everyone as giddy as a teenage girl at an Elvis concert in the late 50s. The common assumption is that since the department of justice did not act…

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Just about 25 years ago I ordered my first custom rifle. It was a New Ultra Light Arms Model 20 chambered for the 35 Remington. With no exaggeration, that rifle changed my life in more ways than one. It introduced me to what I consider to be the best bolt …

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Some folks believe appendix carry is a new thing. It’s not. Back in the day I understand it was common for folks to shove their revolver down behind their belt on the front of their body somewhere between their hip bones. I’ve also read about folks carrying a single action revolver that way while also leaving the loading gate open to keep the revolver f…

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Back before Remington filed for bankruptcy in 2020, I knew Remington-owned Marlin engineers were working on a 10mm Auto lever action carbine, so I was not surprised at all when it was introduced last year. Also, beyond the fact that it was the first lever action rifle chambered for the 10mm Automatic cartridge, I was not all that excited about it. Howev…

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I sat down at my computer this morning to write my weekly Substack article, and for the first time in a long time, I had no idea what to write about. That’s not exactly true. It’s not that I could not think of anything to write about, it’s that I could not think of anything to write about, that I wanted to write about. Given that I write for a living, t…

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I really enjoy predator hunting but I don’t do it all the time. I like to ration the experience so it maintains—pardon the pun—its bite. I hunted jackals during my first African safari, though I’m not sure you could really call it a hunt.

I’d taken a predator call with me like I do on almost every hunt no matter where I go, and I’d asked the professional…

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In 2000 Remington introduced a version of the Model 700 rifle that utilized electronic ignition. It was a commercial failure. In 2023 MDT introduced the Zero Stage Electronic Trigger for a rifle. It was so successful I didn’t even know it existed until I did a web search for electronically activated firearms.

A lot of this smart gun technology has been …

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This is an excerpt—Chapter 41—from my latest book, Rifle Cartridges for the Hunter. It provides a glimpse of what you can expect to find in the other 49 chapters.

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I want to add some details about the test we conducted in the video. The rifle we used was hand built by Walker, and he rifles the barrels one groove at a time just like they did 250 years ago. The test rifle was in 0.45-caliber, was loaded with a patched, 136-grain round ball, and it had a muzzle velocity of about 1750 fps — open sights of course.

The rifle was zeroed at 50 yards and from that distance Walker fired a single shot from the standing offhand position to hit the steel target.

Walker fired a single shot at 100 yards, also from the standing offhand position, while holding an estimated 7 inches above the blue center of the target to get a hit.

At 150 yards Walker had to hold an estimated 25 inches above the blue center of the target, which meant he was holding on air and the rifle’s muzzle was completely obscuring the target. While shooting at this distance from the seated position the wind had picked up a bit so we were seeing about eight inches of drift.

For the 200 yard shot Walker was working with a round ball that was dropping nearly 60 inches below the point of aim, which meant he was holding the sights about five feet above a target he could not see when he pressed the trigger. This single shot that hit the target in the head was fired from the prone position.

Precision was not the issue with these flintlock rifles that had such a reputation for deadliness during the Revolutionary War. The key to their effectiveness was the accuracy and the skill of the men who used them.

I’m glad I was not wearing a red coat back then.

If you find this interesting you will very likely also like an article — link below — I posted two years ago that delves deeper into the ballistics and shooting skill of these rifles and the men who used them to establish America.

I hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day, that you got to go to the range and burn some powder, and that you remember it was an armed citizenry that made this great country possible. I also want to thank all of you for supporting this Substack. Without the paid EmptyCases Substack subscribers it would not be possible.

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All my books which are all now available HERE on Amazon, including my latest book, Rifle Cartridges for the Hunter, and my best seller, The Scout Rifle Study.

With every step the battered old shotgun got heavier. I just couldn’t keep up. My six-year-old legs could not match dad’s steps, even though he had one leg three inches shorter than the other. A communist’s bullet had shattered his femur creating a nasty wound, disfiguring him and leaving him with osteomyelitis. Even twenty years after the bullet crippl…

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For about three months I’ve been testing the new Expedition GMRS radio from RockyTalkie. There’s limited cellular service at my camp and in the surrounding country we hunt. Cell service there pretty much comes and goes with …

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I missed the last fathers’s day that meant anything to me. It was 2018 and I was in Africa. Two weeks later Dad was gone. Since then I’ve only looked at Father’s Day as a bad memory, even though I’ve been a father for a long time.

But Father’s Day was never about me, it was always about my father. Though I never needed a special day to remember or recogn…

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You can buy an aftermarket replacement pistol grip for your AR-style carbine or rifle, or for any carbine or rifle that accepts the same style pistol grip. They come in a variety of configurations and range in price from around $10 to $50, but they’re all just reimagined molded plastic versions of the same thing. What if I told you…

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As part of Gunsite Academy’s 50^th anniversary celebration, they will hold the first ever World Championship Scout Rifle Competition, and I’m honored to be serving as the match director. This event will occur on the 31^st of October 2026, at Gunsite Academy, and is limited to only 30 competitors who must be Gunsite Academy alumni. There will be a fantasti…

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I’ve been talking with a lot of manufactures in the firearms industry to get their reaction to Federal’s introduction of the +PEAK 6.5 Creedmoor ammo. I was a bit astonished at what I learned, and I think you will be too. There are some big changes coming.

One major ammo maker said they are going to discontinue the manufacture of all non-dangerous game c…

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