May 2009: SOLO Alaskan Brown Bear

[Steve H.]

[Steve H.]

My brown bear hunt really stared when I moved to Alaska in 2001.  I didn't obtain my residency until 2002 so May of 2002 was my first year to bowhunt for brown bears.

My quest to arrow a brown bear has gone on for many years now as I semi-patiently await the perfect opportunity.  Here is my long journey filled with sunshine and rain; inactivity and bears as thick-as-ticks; and nature at its finest from lowly invertebrates to THE apex predator of North America!

[Walt Francis]

This is going to be a good one!

[Steve H.]

My great friend Charlie Rock of St. Louis came up in 2002 to keep me from drowning and to keep me from getting eaten by bears.

You know what the first time is like with anticipation, not knowing what to expect and what is going to happen!

Most of my quest occurred on Chichagof Island in Southeast Alaska during May and I had one trip in October on Unimak Island, the first Aleutian Island.

The spring hunts are conducted by using a 10 1/2 foot inflatable AVON with a Yamaha 9.9-4 stroke to motor around and check out bears on beaches.

 

Here's Charlie at the helm in 2002.

[Steve H.]

Walt, you may need to add a few items for your year so dig up some pics!

[Steve H.]

This is the third in my series on play-by-play hunts I did so far during 2009.  My other hunts by topic are listed below with links.

January 2009:  Semi-Live on Kauai’
 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=074385

February 2009: Alaska Muskox
 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=074409

[Steve H.]

Above I mentioned hunting on Unimak Island.  I did a play-by-play on that hunt and three others that are featured in the TradGang (TM) Highlights 2005.  I was accompanied by Charlie on the 2002 and the Unimak Island hunt in 2005 but the other years were solo.

Unimak Island Brown Bear Hunt
 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=52;t=000083

[Steve H.]

Here is a photo of the hunting area on Chichagof Island.


 

[Steve H.]

In 2002 we rented a cabin and had to boat about 4-7 miles to our daily hunting destination.  Was tuff when we ended hunting at O-dark-thirty and the seas were rolling.  Made for a looong ride back in the dark.  Luckily Charlie is a boat person and always got us home safe!

2002 was a late spring and there was a lot of snow on the beaches and bears were slow to wake up but they eventually showed themselves.  I was hunting with my 66# osage selfbow "Yellow Raven", cedar arrows tipped with Damascus tradepoints that Doug Campbell and I made.  (MY avatar black bear photo was taken with the same bow and points)

[Steve H.]

Charlie and I would hit the back bays and glass for bears and we went from seeing zero or a couple per day to several per day.

The weather continued to be difficult and rainy. Here is Charlie's best impression of someone glassing for bears.

 

(Notice binocs about 5 feet away, lol)

[Steve H.]

We brought a couple Dungeness crab pots along and soaked them several days and ate us some bugs!

Here's Charlie with a keeper!


 

[Steve H.]

Late one evening we spotted a lone bear.  We landed the boat and worked down the beachline.  The bear came on.  Charlie had a round stroked into the .375 H&H and I had an arrow nocked.  The bear came on to about, say 18 yards, I had tension on the string.

I decided to hold out for a larger bear at the same time the bear hit my scent stream and skedaddled out of there like a scalded cat.

ANDRENAL Rush!

[Steve H.]

A day or two later Charlie and I were in a similar situation, set up and locked and nocked with a bear working towards us.  That bear also hit our scent stream  before he got broadside.

A very similar theme was to happen on numerous occasions over the next several years even with the wind direction-bear location being favorable.  Some times the wind just calms and when it does it eddys.

I have now spent a considerable time hunting brown bears and the simple logic of get along a section of beach and a bear will travel down it (like in the Fred Bear video) and in front of you is generally flawed.  Yeah, I know they can and will do that but it is rare from what I have experienced.  They generally come out of the woods onto a section of beach and re-enter the woods in the same proximity.  That means the best way is to stalk to a spot in the woods adjacent to where the bear is on the beach.  Exceptions exist but this is a good rule to live by that most bears will follow.

Back to 2002, towards the end of the trip we had another bear coming towards us the same place as the first close encounter but a larger bear.  Darkness was on us.  I peeked around one scalloped wooded edge--no bear.  I stepped out to quick dart to the next wooded point 40 yards away as the bear came around the point!!  Another scalded cat.  Dang.

That bear would have been right in front of us in under a minute had we seen him come around the corner first!

And so ended a great first attempt and set the stage for several more exciting adventures!

[pdk25]

Great stuff.  Keep it coming.

[Chris Surtees]

[GRINCH]

We need more.          

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Good to see this one started, Steve!

[Al Kidner]

Yeh, this is going to be good. Brown bear... one day I tells you.... one day.


ak.

[Curveman]

C'mom, let's go here!   :D    

[Shaun]

Oh yeah...