After growing up on a ranch in Wyoming
where skills were polished with horses, trapping, then guiding big game
hunters, in 1960 Ed packed his guns and gear and headed to
To help understand Ed’s day-to-day lifestyle, following a tough sheep hunt, I spent a couple of days with him at Camp No. 3. Naturally conversations turned toward guns, cartridges and hunting stories. Far too many events were related to share here, but Ed recounted close encounters with bears that occurred in that camp. Some were around the cabin, and at least two were in the cabin! Bears managed to break in while Ed was out accomplishing daily chores or hunting. Upon returning he was confronted by a bear on the kitchen counter, and on another occasion a bear was in his bedroom. Ed summed it up best by stating, “They just seem to show up when you least expect them.”
Moving south to the
On one occasion we hiked
upriver a few miles and settled for the night on a steep hillside
overlooking the river. There were still a couple of hours of daylight
left, so I sat down and began glassing. Bears seemed to be coming from everywhere, and it was clear that some
had been bedded within a few feet of the trails we had just hiked. Within
the next hour or two, eight bears were observed. After night fell and we
settled in our sleeping bags, more bears could be heard as they waded the
river fishing just 140 yards from our open camp. Ed’s coastal bear camp
is picture-perfect country with snow-capped granite mountains, timber,
crystal clear streams loaded with salmon and mountain goats feeding just
below snow line.
Ed stays in his wilderness
camps practically year around and considers Camp No. 5 his home. After the
fall hunting season ends, he may spend a week or two in town to get caught
up on the business
end of things but then heads back to where he is at ease and most
comfortable in what he refers to as “his beloved mountains.” During
the bitter cold Alaskan winter months (where temperatures plummet to -50
degrees and colder), besides accomplishing the daily work required for
wilderness
living, Ed runs a trap line and enjoys hunting wolves. We might say he is
the last of the old sourdoughs.
The
Sourdough’s Rifles
When Ed first traveled to
The Model 70 .375 H&H
was Ed’s next bear rifle, a combination he used for a couple of decades.
He liked the power of the cartridge and considered the Model 70’s action
ultra reliable with its claw extractor, controlled-round feeding, simple
trigger mechanism and solid steel construction. It always functioned even
when dirty, wet or in extreme cold.
While hunting Dall sheep
with Ed at Camp No. 3, he related a story of a bear attack that took place
in the mountains a few miles from the coast in 1968. Ed doesn’t always
go into great detail, and while I understood the basics, the story
didn’t become completely clear until I had the opportunity to hunt brown
bear with him (at a later date) in the
It was May when Ed and a
client, whom he had guided several times previously, had taken a large
brown bear and were headed back down the river toward camp (about 6 miles
inland). It was late in the evening with just enough light to see
reasonably well. As they hung close to the edges of the river where
walking was easiest, a huge bear suddenly broke from the nearby
timber/brush in full charge, only a dozen steps away. Ed instinctively
raised the Model 70 .375 H&H, aimed for the chest and fired (a shot he no longer
uses).
There was only time for
one shot, and seeing the flash from the muzzle of Ed’s rifle, the bear
focused his anger on Ed rather than the hunter. The bear’s momentum
carried Ed into the river, where the bruin held him under water, then
proceeded to tromp him with all four feet and began biting him on the leg.
Being underwater with a bear tromping and biting, Ed couldn’t hear the
shots and wondered why the hunter was taking so long at getting more
bullets into the bear. Just when he was about to run out of air, the bear
whirled and charged the hunter, who landed the last shot from his .375
Weatherby Magnum into the bear’s head killing him at 6 feet.
The bear measured 10 1/2
feet and had considerable cuts on his head and neck from fighting, the
same as the 10-foot bear Ed’s hunter had killed shortly before. Giving
the attack some thought, Ed commented casually, “It took me a little
while to get over that one.” Knowing Ed’s constitution, both mentally
and physically, “a little while” probably meant a couple weeks at
most!
Ed experimented with many
other rifles and cartridges ranging from wildcat 6.5s to various big
bores. In the 1970s, at the recommendation of Elmer Keith, he began using
a .338
When we were skinning the
brown bear I had taken on this particular hunt, pointing to the shoulder
joint, Ed commented he has seen those unusually stout bones stop many
bullets cold, even when hit on the near side. In discu
Ed doesn’t have a great
deal of respect for the .30-caliber magnums on the big bears. (Remember he
started guiding with a .300 Weatherby Magnum in 1960 and has seen them
used in the field many times since.) If one uses a tough bullet and
circumstances are good, such as a broadside lung shot, they will work, but
if a guide has to trail up a wounded bear, he has a different perspective
than a hunter taking a shot at a bruin that is unaware of his or her
presence. If a guide has to finish a fight, something larger than a
.30-caliber magnum is preferable.
Ed has used and is fond
of the .350 Remington Magnum and .35 Whelen but emphasizes the importance
of using heavyweight bullets of proper construction. Additionally, Ed has
used the .348
Today, Ed has settled on
some interesting rifles and cartridges for big bear and everyday living
(as he never leaves the cabin without a gun). While visiting him at Camp
No. 3, I noticed an ancient-looking Winchester Model 1895 levergun over
the doorway. Upon a closer look, it was clearly a Browning Model 1895
(which was produced in 1984). Much of the blueing was gone, particularly
around the receiver and barrel, where it tends to balance in the hand. The
wood finish had long since worn off from many days afield, giving the
rifle much character. The stock had been cracked in the grip area, but had
been repaired.
Naturally I inquired
about the rifle, and Ed promptly pulled it down from the wall, stating
that it had originally been a .30-06 but was now rechambered and bored to
.375 Hawk/Scovill. And he added, with a smile and a twinkle in his eye,
that the rifle belonged to Editor Dave Scovill, who had hunted bears with
him and just “happened” to leave it behind. (I would bet that the
rifle was in good condition when taken to
For those not familiar
with the .375 Hawk/Scovill (invented by Bob Fulton and Dave
Scovill), it
is basically a .30-06 necked up to .375 inch with the Brown-Whelen
shoulder configuration. Dave has put it to work in the field on a variety
of game including Alaskan brown bears. It is capable of driving a
250-grain Barnes X-Bullet 2,700
fps or a 270 grainer 2,500 fps (from a 24-inch barrel). Inquiring
of Ed how well the Hawk worked on bears, he gave a hearty approval and
tends to favor the 270-grain Barnes bullet.
Another interesting
cartridge Ed uses in the Browning Model 1895 levergun is the .411 Hawk,
which is basically a modern version of the .400 Whelen. Both are created
by necking up the .30-06 to accept bullets of .411 inch, but the Hawk has
a more significant (or abrupt) shoulder to headspace on, while the Whelen
had a much more tapered shoulder (depending on source). The .411 Hawk is
about the largest diameter the .30-06 case can be necked up to and
maintain correct headspace on the shoulder. The 411 Hawk is offered
by Z-Hat Custom.
Ed reports that once
cases have been fireformed and the shoulder established, he has
experienced no reliability issues or misfires. Ed’s handloads drive a 360-grain
Ed also uses the
Winchester Model 71 lever action converted
to .450 Alaskan by the late Harold Johnson of Copper’s Landing,
Alaska, the cartridge’s creator. The .450 Alaskan is based on the .348
Another big-bore levergun
that Ed frequently uses is a Browning Model 1886 .45-70, produced in
1992/93. These were first-rate, well-made rifles that are accurate and
reliable. The factory rear sight was removed and an Ashley (now XS Sight
Systems, Inc., 2401 Ludelle Street, Fort Worth TX 76105; toll-free:
1-888-744-4880; or www.x
Like most folks who carry
a rifle in the Alaskan bush, for years Ed kept a piece of electrical tape
on the muzzle to prevent rain from entering
the bore. Nonetheless
, somehow water made its way into the .45-70 barrel and, upon firing, the
last inch or so of the barrel split. (Ed suspected that water came in from
the breech, then ran to the muzzle where tape held it in place, then
froze.) Ed had the barrel (and magazine tube) cut to 201?2
inches, removing the damaged area, and the front sight reinstalled.
Ed’s standard .45-70
handload consists of a heavy dose of Hodgdon H-322 behind the 405-grain
Kodiak bonded softpoint at 1,900 to 2,000 fps. This combination has
proven to be a real hammer on cranky bears. Ed related a
too-close-for-comfort story of a hunter who had wounded a 10-foot brown
bear using a .375 H&H Magnum. The bear was situated on a small rise
and at the shot instantly dropped out of sight and into the brush on the
other side. Judging by the generous blood trail, they didn’t figure he
would go far and immediately began trailing him (which Ed later realized
was a mistake, as they should have given him at least 20 minutes or so to
bleed out and stiffen up).
The bear went several
hundred feet straight up an extremely steep hill that was nearly impo
In looking over the
leverguns and cartridges Ed uses daily, one may wonder if he is stuck in
tradition. Be certain that he is not. His leverguns get used considerably
and are constantly exposed to
the elements, giving a rifle that is only a few years old the appearance
of being nearly a century old. Nonethele
Regardless of whether we agree with Ed’s choices of cartridges or not, the fact remains they have been chosen based on 44 years of continual experience in the Alaskan bush, which is hard to argue with.
Reprinted here by permission of Rifle
Magazine and Wolfe Publishing.
Ed has two 411 Hawk guns, both barreled by Z-Hat Custom.
