You know, they say a good way to start a podcast is by posing a problem and then leaving your

listeners hanging and coming back to the solution later during the main part of the podcast.

Well, today I have 65 pounds of gear sitting here in front of me and I'm leaving for

a black bear hunt in northwestern Montana and I only want to carry about half

that weight because this doesn't even include my food.

All right, so I want to go through my gear list.

I've had several requests from listeners to go through some gear lists and talk about the items

are in that are in my, geez, my gigantic messy pile here and why I chose them.

It's a overcast day, it's kind of raining, the kids all have new Nerf guns so they're running around

upstairs shrieking with pleasure and pain and the dogs are chasing them and

barking and barking at thunder so good times in the Von Benedict household here.

Let's dive right in. Okay, so this is about a week-long backpack hunt for Black Bear into some pretty rough country. I've never been there.

I'm going with my friend Adam Weatherby and a couple of friends of his and will be hiking hiking in they've told me about three miles

very steep and then hunting avalanche shoot type country for black bears we're

going to be using a new prototype rifle and cartridge that I've never even seen yet.

They're bringing me one. So this is one of those fun experiences where you go into a pretty challenging backcountry hunt with a tool that you haven't used before.

Thankfully we're going to have a chance to stop at a range on our way to the trailhead and I'll get to shoot the rifle a little bit at least and

get somewhat familiar with it.

So, top of my list is my tag and my license. Those go without saying, right?

When you head out, if you don't have those you can't hunt. You can usually find your

way around some other pieces of equipment if you forget them or they

go down on you.

...