KODIAK BROWN BEAR
- Thread starter VENISONEATR
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OK guys here goes and let me first apologize if it's long winded....
I first hunted brown bears on Kodiak in the fall of 2003. It was a grueling 10 day hunt with absolutely the worst possible conditions. 8 of the 10 days were literally fog to the ground! Some days you could not see more than 50 yards let alone glass for distant bears. My Dad was diagnosed with cancer the summer before I left for that hunt and was darn close to deaths door as the hunt quickly approached. I had already paid for the hunt and couldn't back out of it with out substantial loss. I went on the hunt and was preoccupied the entire time thinking about my Dad. It really makes for a long day of hunting when your couped up in a tent because of weather conditions with something like that weighing on your mind. Needless to say I did not kill a bear on that hunt. My Dad passed a month later.
On a positive note it did strengthen my resolve to return to Kodiak. Which I did on April 28th of this year. Kodiak is having a late spring this year and the day I arrived the island had 18" of snow. Fortunately it quickly melted.
I had a day to kill in Kodiak on the 29th so I split a charter for Halibut with a fellow New Jersyian who was booked with another outfitter.
I was set to fly out with Andrews Air service at 11:00 AM Sunday morning. I got to camp after the 30 min flight and walked into the lodge ...
Which was busy with a camera man and Larry Csonka filming an episode for "North to Alaska".
Larry was a great guy he and his buddy were packing up to leave. I'm sorry to report that Larry did not get a bear but his buddy killed one. Since you are NOT allowed to fly and hunt on the same day I spent the remainder of the day talking with the outfitter/guide Brian, Larry, his buddy George and the camera man. Interesting to note the camera man was the same guy who did alot of the filming for the Discovery channel show "The Deadliest Catch". Their hunt was over and they reported seeing 31 different bears during their hunt. I was sorry to see them leave because I was really starting to enjoy being around celebrities
I checked my gun and was set for the next days hunt.
Talk about a let down :evil: when I awoke Monday morning I was greeted by 50 mph winds and snow. That day was a complete loss as visibility was nil. We beat a hasty path back to the cabin and glassed the surrounding mountains between snow squals from the comfort of the lodge and the wood stove
The next day was huge improvement as it was only blowing 25 mph and raining. The weather stayed like this for the next 3 days.
The name of the game in Kodiak is to get out on the beaches by skiff and glass the surrounding mountain sides looking for bears and or bear tracks in the snow way up high in the mountains. Many times we were glassing bears at higher elevations than the goats!!!! We saw bears every day and in total I saw 12 different bears. Some sows with cubs, some small boars, some bears severely rubbed, and some bears in such hellacious spots you would not even consider a stalk and needless to say you would never be able to get a bear out from one of these spots. Once a bear is spotted you judge size, hide, and stalkability.
The sixth day found us hiking up a river drainage (visible in the 1st pic) and not more than an hour into the hike we saw a bear up on the mtn. side and quickly assessed that he was a godd boar with a relatively good hide. We set out on our stalk and closed the distance to 260 yds. I crunched down into a prone position and touched one off. The bear showed absolutely no sign of being hit. Brian said you missed. I was dumb founded. The bear charge down hill into some really thick brush and we lost sight of him. 10 seconds after the first shot he re-appeared looking down for his intruder and I touched one off as I held for the point of his right shoulder and the base of his neck. The bear went ballistic (pun intended) and started roaring and ripping up brush. He ducked into some cover where I could see him thrashing about and the guide said shoot him again so I threw one more round into the brush. It turns out my first shot was a perfect heart shot and angled sharply upward and exited 2" from his spine on the same side. The second shot traversed the bear diagonally and lodged just under the hide behind the last rib on the opposite side. A devestating shot!! Here's a pic of that Northfork 250 gr. bullet fired from a 358 Norma Mag @ 2850 fps.
The third hail Mary shot entered and exited the bears right forearm. We waited a half hour and intensely glassed the brush where we thought the bear was. Talk about adrenaline. It was the most exciting thing I have ever done. I am now officially hooked on dangerous game!!!!!!!! It took us about 45 min to get to the bear and I am happy to say we walked up on one very dead bear :shock:
The bear measured 8'10" from tip of his nose to the tip of his tail and his skull was 24 13/16"
I can't say enough about the outfitter. Great lodge, great food, great equipt., quality area... you name it, everything was first rate. For those interested his info can be found here www.ugakbay.com.
I can't wait to go back........
Thanks for reading this long winded and delayed post and the oppurtunity to share it.
NEXT TIME WITH A MUZZLELOADER!!!!!
I first hunted brown bears on Kodiak in the fall of 2003. It was a grueling 10 day hunt with absolutely the worst possible conditions. 8 of the 10 days were literally fog to the ground! Some days you could not see more than 50 yards let alone glass for distant bears. My Dad was diagnosed with cancer the summer before I left for that hunt and was darn close to deaths door as the hunt quickly approached. I had already paid for the hunt and couldn't back out of it with out substantial loss. I went on the hunt and was preoccupied the entire time thinking about my Dad. It really makes for a long day of hunting when your couped up in a tent because of weather conditions with something like that weighing on your mind. Needless to say I did not kill a bear on that hunt. My Dad passed a month later.
On a positive note it did strengthen my resolve to return to Kodiak. Which I did on April 28th of this year. Kodiak is having a late spring this year and the day I arrived the island had 18" of snow. Fortunately it quickly melted.
I had a day to kill in Kodiak on the 29th so I split a charter for Halibut with a fellow New Jersyian who was booked with another outfitter.
I was set to fly out with Andrews Air service at 11:00 AM Sunday morning. I got to camp after the 30 min flight and walked into the lodge ...
Larry was a great guy he and his buddy were packing up to leave. I'm sorry to report that Larry did not get a bear but his buddy killed one. Since you are NOT allowed to fly and hunt on the same day I spent the remainder of the day talking with the outfitter/guide Brian, Larry, his buddy George and the camera man. Interesting to note the camera man was the same guy who did alot of the filming for the Discovery channel show "The Deadliest Catch". Their hunt was over and they reported seeing 31 different bears during their hunt. I was sorry to see them leave because I was really starting to enjoy being around celebrities
I checked my gun and was set for the next days hunt.Talk about a let down :evil: when I awoke Monday morning I was greeted by 50 mph winds and snow. That day was a complete loss as visibility was nil. We beat a hasty path back to the cabin and glassed the surrounding mountains between snow squals from the comfort of the lodge and the wood stove
The next day was huge improvement as it was only blowing 25 mph and raining. The weather stayed like this for the next 3 days.
The name of the game in Kodiak is to get out on the beaches by skiff and glass the surrounding mountain sides looking for bears and or bear tracks in the snow way up high in the mountains. Many times we were glassing bears at higher elevations than the goats!!!! We saw bears every day and in total I saw 12 different bears. Some sows with cubs, some small boars, some bears severely rubbed, and some bears in such hellacious spots you would not even consider a stalk and needless to say you would never be able to get a bear out from one of these spots. Once a bear is spotted you judge size, hide, and stalkability.
The sixth day found us hiking up a river drainage (visible in the 1st pic) and not more than an hour into the hike we saw a bear up on the mtn. side and quickly assessed that he was a godd boar with a relatively good hide. We set out on our stalk and closed the distance to 260 yds. I crunched down into a prone position and touched one off. The bear showed absolutely no sign of being hit. Brian said you missed. I was dumb founded. The bear charge down hill into some really thick brush and we lost sight of him. 10 seconds after the first shot he re-appeared looking down for his intruder and I touched one off as I held for the point of his right shoulder and the base of his neck. The bear went ballistic (pun intended) and started roaring and ripping up brush. He ducked into some cover where I could see him thrashing about and the guide said shoot him again so I threw one more round into the brush. It turns out my first shot was a perfect heart shot and angled sharply upward and exited 2" from his spine on the same side. The second shot traversed the bear diagonally and lodged just under the hide behind the last rib on the opposite side. A devestating shot!! Here's a pic of that Northfork 250 gr. bullet fired from a 358 Norma Mag @ 2850 fps.
The third hail Mary shot entered and exited the bears right forearm. We waited a half hour and intensely glassed the brush where we thought the bear was. Talk about adrenaline. It was the most exciting thing I have ever done. I am now officially hooked on dangerous game!!!!!!!! It took us about 45 min to get to the bear and I am happy to say we walked up on one very dead bear :shock:
The bear measured 8'10" from tip of his nose to the tip of his tail and his skull was 24 13/16"
I can't say enough about the outfitter. Great lodge, great food, great equipt., quality area... you name it, everything was first rate. For those interested his info can be found here www.ugakbay.com.
I can't wait to go back........
Thanks for reading this long winded and delayed post and the oppurtunity to share it.
NEXT TIME WITH A MUZZLELOADER!!!!!
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Here's some more scenery shots. Some pics werew taken on other trips at the same lodge.
Awesome Jimmy..just awesome. I can honestly say I read every WORD! What a GREAT hunt! Man you REALLY make me want to go...RIGHT NOW!
It looks like that Northfork bullet performed PERFECTLY! It also seems as if the guy pulling the trigger did pretty dang good too! :yeah:
It looks like that Northfork bullet performed PERFECTLY! It also seems as if the guy pulling the trigger did pretty dang good too! :yeah:
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What has me a little puzzled is the first shot. It's like the bullet went into the chest cavity, destroyed the heart and the turned 90 deg and flew out his back. Picture this... I'm guessing shooting angle 50-60 degrees... bullet enters left side of the bear (low behind the elbow) and exits the same side 2 inches from his spine. The bear showed absolutely no indication of a hit :huh?: :huh?: :huh?: It was a killing shot, but boy you'd sure never know it from where I was looking!
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Wow! What a hunt! Amazing scenery. I just hope that I can make it up to Alaska one day. Congratulations!
A
Anonymous
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GREAT hunt and story! Thanks for sharing Jimmy!
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Man that's a great story and surely a trip full of memories that will last a lifetime.
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Terrific pics and story. Congrats on a successful hunt!
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:yeah: :yeah: rayer: Jim you the man. How long did it take to get the bear down the mountain?
Don
rayer: Jim you the man. How long did it take to get the bear down the mountain?Don
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doggzoe said:
Don it took 3 hours to skin the bear and another 1.5 hours to reach the mouth of the river drainage.
doggzoe said::yeah: :yeah:
Don
As steep as that hill looks...it looks as if one could just nudge it a little and it would ROLL to the bottom!
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Chuck that would be true, BUT there is several hundred yards of dense alders, salmon berry bushes (read thorns) and a wonderful fauna known as DEVILS CLUB :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:big6x6 said:As steep as that hill looks...it looks as if one could just nudge it a little and it would ROLL to the bottom!
Devils club slivers are still festering in my skin as we speak. It is the cactus of the north and it is extremely prevalent on Kodiak. 8)
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Chuck,
Are you talking about... Jim.. or the Bear .... :lol: !
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BOTH
