Brown Bear Alaska Peninsula

[firebird]

I'll get some pics up here and the story to follow when I've got some time to summarize my journal notes.

It was an incredible trip, an awesome adventure, getting a bear was just the cherry on top.

[firebird]

http://i.imgur.com/wyOu83B.jpg

[firebird]

http://i.imgur.com/1HiuGu8.jpg

[firebird]

http://i.imgur.com/4n5nTct.jpg

[firebird]

http://i.imgur.com/Zfen1Gc.jpg

[albravo2]

That is going to make one hell of a rug! Beauty bear!

[Sportster]

Absolutely awesome!! You lived my dream.

[wideopenthrottle]

wow....seeing that hide really shows how big that bear is....

[HarryToolips]

Awesome bear, looks like an incredible hunt, congrats...

[Blainer]

Fantastic Bruin!!
I shall be waiting patiently for the story.
Beautiful Bear

[weatherby_man]

Holy that is cool! That thing is massive! Wow! Congrats must have been an adventure of a lifetime.

[mpotzold]

Well done.

Read that these guys are capable of killing 35+ moose, caribou calves per season.(not counting all of the others)

What rifle?
How many shots?
Did you stay in a tent? If yes did you have an electric fence.

Looking forwards to more detail & photos.

Again CONGRATS!

[RyoTHC]

Wow.. that is a monster.. that makes my biggest bear look like a cuddly little teddy ! I dream of the day I get to do a similar hunt. Hopefully in the Yukon!

[Bear Chaser]

Can’t wait for the story.

[decker9]

Incredible bear!! Congratulations!! Looking forward to the story!!

[firebird]

Well done.

Read that these guys are capable of killing 35+ moose, caribou calves per season.(not counting all of the others)

What rifle?
How many shots?
Did you stay in a tent? If yes did you have an electric fence.

Looking forwards to more detail & photos.

Again CONGRATS!

Bear cubs too. I saw lots of caribou, there were no moose in the valley I hunted. The caribou group up and calf and my guide described it like the sea turtles getting eggs ate. Between the bears, wolves, and eagles.

300 weatherby - 200 grain partition
4 shots- 1st one was a killer, but I emptied the gun
Artic Oven 8x tent

[firebird]

Wow.. that is a monster.. that makes my biggest bear look like a cuddly little teddy ! I dream of the day I get to do a similar hunt. Hopefully in the Yukon!

Unless you are hunting with a relative, or doing a combo, or have an inside deal-- its the same price to go to Alaska for a brown bear, and theres a whole lot more bear

[firebird]

May 7
-- I arrived late in anchorage for a charter flight the next morning

May 8
-- caught a charter flight from anchorage out to Pilot Point and my outfitter picked me up and we flew into his lodge. Finished off some paperwork, met my guide, checked the rifle. The weather was decent so my outfitter wanted to get us out to the spike camp location on the pacific side of the peninsula. We loaded the 180 and took off. He had a 2nd location picked on the north side of the mountain range if we couldn't make it through the pass to the pacific. Clouds were low and it was raining hard but we made it through and landed on the beach.
--Got the tent set up (8x Artic Oven) and got our gear organised, filled our water jugs from a spring, and went over our plan for the hunt. Season opened on the 10th
--The valley I hunted run North-South, beach on the south end.

May 9
--woke up and made a trail up the hill behind the tent. We made had a glassing spot about 200ft off the valley floor. The east side went all the way to 2500ft elevation with saddles around 1500ft. West side (at our back) was a rock face up to 500ft. -The north end tapered from the valley floor up to about 1000ft. There was a small stream in the valley bottom surrounded by beaver ponds, grass, alder and willow.
--We glassed most of the day and at 8pm watched a boar come from the west side down to the beach and feed on kelp then move into the valley bottom at dark. He wad large enough to get after and not rubbed to bad. We were hoping he would be around tomorrow when the season opened!

May 10
--got up to the glassing spot, it was windy and hailing. We found the boar from the night before and bout 500 yards from where we seen him last night. He was moving north in the valley bottom. We paralleled him and made a plan to cut him off in the bottom. It was hailing so hard we couldn't see through our bios and we had our hands over our face peaking through our fingers. We lost the bear in some brush and stayed put awhile. We realised we couldn't stay out in the weather and trying to ambush this boar maybe wasn't a smart idea considering the visibility and his cover. We headed for the tent to lick our wounds.
--after a coffee and warming up we headed back out for the evening and did not see another bear

May 11 -14
--- One day we saw 16 bears, one day 0, but the other days we averaged 2-3
---weather was anywhere from rain, hail, and snow, to sunny and warm.
--- we saw shooter boars but they were way up high, dogging sows, or rubbed bad

[Norwestalta]

Congratulations on a beauty. My rough estimate is that bear is 48 sq ft. Whola. Sure got the heart pumping seeing it doing it’s bear thing I bet. Waiting impatiently for the story. Lol. Congrats again.

[firebird]

On a camp check we learned from the outfitter that the day of the hail storm another camps tent was ripped apart by the wind. It had been blowing 60 mph.
We would get up around 7am, eat breakfast, go sit up until noon, eat a quick lunch and glass again until 11pm. When we went for lunch we could eat and glass right from outside the tent.

May 15
--Woke up to snow, a light dusting down low but a good covering from 1000ft and up. We seen a few sows and cubs early. One set came down to the beach to feed and moved back up high. It warmed up and at one point we were sitting in our long johns with our boots off, sunglasses on, and outer clothes hanging in the brush.
--8pm a spotted a boar crossing the tidal flats about 500 yards off our beach, guide and I looked at each other and bailed down the hill. We were running through the grass and alders just off the beach to stay in cover. We waded the creek and came out on the west beach 300 yards from the bear. He had stopped to check the sow and cub tracks. We closed another 150 yards in the open and i stopped at a beach boulder to rest the gun on. The bear was quartering away and had his neck cranked back looking at us
-- I shot him and he started to spin, fired again and his back end dropped, shot again and he dropped to his stomach with his head still up, I fired again and he dropped his head. I reloaded and the guide was whooping at me.
-- We took a minute to catch our breathes and composure and then walked up to the bear who was stone cold dead

There was absolutely no ground shrinkage, it just kept getting bigger
1st shot was heart, 2nd was through the back hip (recovered bullet), 3rd was front shoulder, 4th was lungs
He died in the initial spot of my first shot, just spun around a few times
Bear was 3/4 mile from our glassing location we covered almost all of it at a jog and barely caught up to this bear who was walking, Got lucky he stopped to checkout the sow/cub tracks

[Norwestalta]

Great write up. Congrats again. What is your taxidermy program?

[RyoTHC]

Unless you are hunting with a relative, or doing a combo, or have an inside deal-- its the same price to go to Alaska for a brown bear, and theres a whole lot more bear

Thanks for the heads up, I have a good friend who lives a few hours outside of Whitehorse and has already got a beautiful grizz rug, I'd be able to stay with him, use his machinery and hunt with him.. I'd obviously have to look into the completely legalities but nhopefully this would leave the trip a bit cheaper than Alaska, plus I'd hope to find a moose or caribou hopefully ^^. We can dream right !? Worst case scenario I'm only 4 years from living up there !

Amazing animal again and I can't stop reading this thread.. I am beyond envious.

[firebird]

Great write up. Congrats again. What is your taxidermy program?

Outfitter works with a shop in anchorage. Actually my guide works at the shop in the winter

[firebird]

Thanks for the heads up, I have a good friend who lives a few hours outside of Whitehorse and has already got a beautiful grizz rug, I'd be able to stay with him, use his machinery and hunt with him.. I'd obviously have to look into the completely legalities but nhopefully this would leave the trip a bit cheaper than Alaska, plus I'd hope to find a moose or caribou hopefully ^^. We can dream right !? Worst case scenario I'm only 4 years from living up there !

Amazing animal again and I can't stop reading this thread.. I am beyond envious.

Sounds good!!

Id been looking at a brown bear trip for many years and this opportunity just fell into my lap and I'm glad I didn't pass it up.

Ive been on only a few outfitted hunts and this outfitter is top notch. Professional, personable, organized, excellent equipment, and has had his guide concessions for decades. His operation impressed me and obviously he's got areas with game (16 bears in one day). He takes minimal hunters and caters to them individually, and is genuinely concerned about you having a good trip/hunt.

[hawk-i]

Nice fricken bear!

[Wild one]

Congrats on a nice bear

[tayleoscar]

Congrats on a great bear!!

[Norwestalta]

Outfitter works with a shop in anchorage. Actually my guide works at the shop in the winter

Just wondering rug or life size? Made the mistake a while back of getting a rug when wife said I could have a mount. Instead I ended up mounting close to the rug. Lol.

[firebird]

Just wondering rug or life size? Made the mistake a while back of getting a rug when wife said I could have a mount. Instead I ended up mounting close to the rug. Lol.

Im in the same situation,price for a lifesize is stupid. Wife says go for it. Half the price of going back up there again

[Norwestalta]

It's a tough decision for sure. In the end I'm glad a rugged my bear. So many colours in its hide to appreciate it all.

[nature girl]

Awesome story and pictures. I would go the lifesize way myself.
If you did a rug would it go on the floor or the wall. And if on the wall do you have enough room for it. On the floor you could trip or spill things on it.

[silvertipp]

Wow that thing is huge
what was the measurements

[firebird]

If it's going to be a rug I'd hang it on the wall.

It squared 9 ft 5 in

25 in skull

[firebird]

https://i.imgur.com/ghhnTHD.jpg

[firebird]

https://i.imgur.com/EsyKrJt.jpg

[firebird]

https://i.imgur.com/n9k4ZKH.jpg

[Norwestalta]

Beautiful country. How did you find the willows?

[todbartell]

thanks for posting and congrats on an awesome hunt

[weatherby_man]

Spectacular pics!

[northof49]

Beauty bear, nice looking area. Looked like perfect spot for glassing....thanks for posting

[Springer]

Cool !! What a trip of a lifetime. Great write up and Adventure..Thanks for sharing..

[Downtown]

Congratulation's to your successful hunt resulting in an very nice Trophy class Grizzly Bear. Just like the not so long ago Good old Days here in BC.

Cheers

[kamloopshunter012]

Whom did you hunt with? Obviously recommend?

[firebird]

Whom did you hunt with? Obviously recommend?

Yes very personalized hunt. He takes a small number of hunters and been doing it in the same concessions for 30+ years.