May 2009: SOLO Alaskan Brown Bear

[Tater]

Walt, thanks for taking us along on part of your Bear adventure.
     I am curious what was your equipment, bow, arrow, broadhead, poundage etc.

              Thanks, Pat

[Walt Francis]

Pat,
I used a Robertson Peregrine recurve, 60# @ 27", at my 29 1/2" draw it was around 65#'s.  The arrows were grizzly stick Alaskans with a 125 grain steel adaptor and a 125 grain Wensel Woodsmen.  Total arrow weight, if I remember correctly, was 650-675 grains.  The bow was sending those arrows out at just over to 180 feet per second.

[lone hunter]

Double Feature bear stories. Don't get any better than that. Thanks guys for sharing your adventures.

[Steve O]

Walt--how heartbreaking!  Still, there is valor in a fair chase.  It may not have turned out exactly as you planned, but you did it and you overcame some pretty major obstacles--you're still one of my heroes    

Why can't I get a relative to move up to Alaska!?!

[paleFace]

great thread guys!  thanks for sharing your hunt Walt.  Steve-O I'm with you. Hoping my oldest son will get stationed there with the Coast Guard...

[Steve H.]

Thanks for the patience guys, a lot of photos takes quite a while to load and organize.  I probably won't get back to this tonight but will ASAP, promise!

[bowhunterfrompast]

This is exciting..great hunts

     

[GRINCH]

       

[Jeff D. Holchin]

Excellent adventure with the bonus of Walt's experience included!  Can't wait to see how this plays out.

I'm wondering if there really is any rain gear that can keep you dry in the wet conditions of Alaska?

[nurayb]

Helly Hansen

[Steve H.]

Remember back a few pages when I described all of the noise makers on the beach.  This is bladderrack.  It has little sacks with double "ears" that are filled with a slimy-liquid.  When you step on the little sacks they make a loud "POP".  Some are almost as loud as .22!

 

And then there is the barnacles.  They make this loud crunching sound when you step on them as they are often attached to rocks which amplify the sound.

 

[Steve H.]

Walt described stalking across the tidal flat on the bear he stalked but I can assure you that is generally not the best method and way to consistently get close to these bears.  Walt must be pretty sneaky as most stalks would end at 100 yards with all the noise makers in the intertidal zone.

I have gone to a method where I will close the gap to 100-300 yards and enter the woods and skirt the tide line in the woods.  There is often a good trail a few feet inside and the woods absorbs the crispy eighth inch branches that snap outside 75 yards or so.  Getting into the woods also does the obvious of getting you out of sight!

But, it can be a bit more SPOOKY in the woods, lol!

[Steve H.]

A decent dark brown bear would routinely feed along a one quarter mile stretch so I anchored my boat and did the end around into the trees for the last few hundred yards as I described above.  The ideal situation and one that is reasonable to happen is you stalk into position in the trees and the bears works close to the edge while eating away at sedge and into good shot distance.

I was just getting into position on the bear described above but a few yards shy of where I wanted to be when he wandered back into the woods.

When bears are in the woods they do relax but there is generally not much understory to hide behind, just mature trees so you feel a bit more exposed and vulnerable.

Well the bear entered the woods and angled above me.  Do you think it felt odd to quickly and quietly attempt to get a few yards closer to a brown bear in the naked woods!?

[Steve H.]

Thats right, the answer IS yes.  It did feel odd trying to get closer to that bear!

I was close to getting a good shot but it didn't feel right and he was abut 25 yards off so again I waited.

Now remember this dark brown bear, I think he is going to make another appearance in the future, maybe twice......

[Steve H.]

Oh yeah, when the dark brown bear figured out I was there he ran away, same as always, trees in the way be damned!

[Steve H.]

One day I was standing on the edge in the same area as the photo of me a couple pages up and started counting bears.  There were four sows on the tidal flat at one time albeit up to a mile apart.  Each sow had three cubs except for the one sow only had two cubs.  I don't know about your fuzzy math but my count that is FIFTEEN bears in sight at one time!

[Steve H.]

A couple days after the dark brown bear incident I spotted a different bear in the same area.  The stalk was on and this time I worked my way just shy of where the bear was feeding on the beach.  The bear was coming my way and at 28 yards when a stray breeze swirled and the bear caught my scent and rapidly departed.  My bow is laying where the bear was standing and I was in the brushy alders in the fornt part of the treeline.

 

[Steve H.]

Sometimes you go off on a stalk and just hope and pray that the tide doesn't go WAY out wheile you are on the prowl.  Here is what it looks like when you are waiting for several hours for the tide to come to the rescue.  It really stinks when darkness is coming on!

 

[Steve H.]

Several days I had been seeing a small bear immediately across from Otter Island.  The little brown dot is the bear in the photo below.  It wasn't my dream bear but hey, I had been at this a couple years and I was getting past ready to actually arrow a bear!

 

[Steve H.]

I did my end around into the woods as the bear came into the woods just a few seconds ahead of plan.  

The bear and I met in the woods at, drum roll please, 9 yards.

I started to draw but then had second thoughts as it was a really small bear.