USA: Kodiak Brown Bear Hunt

[K-man]

Well its time to post a hunt report about my last hunt on Kodiak.
This all started when I met Justin with H&H outfitters last Jan at DSC. He had an auction hunt for brown bear on Kodiak, or if you didn't draw the tag we could go to the penninsula with over the counter tag. I won the auction and waited until June to hear I had drawn the Kodiak tag. The draw odds for non-resident is about 25%, so I besides paying a lot less than list price, I am pretty lucky in the draw. We e-mail back and forth with logistics, gear, etc. and I get the excitement going like most of us do before a hunt. Fly Alaska air from OKC to seattle, to Ancorage, then a combo cargo/passenger to Kodiak. We have a sunny day to get in to camp, another stroke of luck asmost of you know rain on Kodiak is measured in feet not inches. We get camp setup with Justin and John, his assistant guide, and settle in first night. It gets light about 9 am this time of year, and not a good idea to bumble around in the dark, so we are gone from camp at first light hiking up a mountain for a glassing vantage point. We have gained about 900 ft. elevation and get where we can see up the valley without our scent blowing across, and settle in. Within the first two hours we have spotted 6 legal bears and a sow with a cub, but all seem young. Then a bigger bearcomes out with about two hours of daylight left, another thousand feet up and about 2 miles up the valley. I remember saying, " I hope that bear is there tomorrow, so we can put a stalk on it." Careful what you wish for.... The next morning we follow the same route to glass and within the hour the same bear is out not 200 ys from the day before. So we get ready for a long stalk. Justin stays behind to keep the bear in sight and we work out hand signals in case the bear leaves. The wind is now up valley so the stalk means John and I drop down 900ft into the bottom, wade the river 2 1/2 miles up, climb about 1200 ft above the bear, and double back and hopefully drop down on top. Oh yeah, there are three other bears between us to dodge around. Looks like a lot of steep hills and alder busting for a flatlander.

This is the "hill" we climbed to glass, the next is the valley in front

 

[LivingTheDream]

You guys are killing me on here with day by day posts. Look forward to hearing the rest of the story.

 

[BRICKBURN]

You do have to be very careful what you ask for.
I look at that bloody Alder and I start to have nightmares. You gotta want it bad to beat through that crap going up hill.
Incredible hunt.

 

[K-man]

After a solid three hours of hiking, wherre I am down to a rain jacket and a single layer of under-armour, and still sweating at 30 degrees, we get where we think we are above the bear. We glass back to Justin and the signal is all good, but it takes us about 30 minutes to find the bear sleeping on a ledge 100 yds below us. I have brush in the way for a shot, so a quiet shuffle sideways and down gets me into position, but just then the bear looks directly up at us. My .375 browning a-bolt safety comes off, and an off-hand shot at 65 yds breaks the silence of the valley. I know its a hit, but the bear takes off slightly uphill and sideways. I don't even remember loading the next round, but within 10 yds I hit the bear again. This time we can see the steam coming out from its lungs. For those of you who have watched Ron White and his comedy act, you remember his bit about being thrown out of a bar, and saying, "I don't know how many bouncers it was going to take to throw me out, but I know how many they were going to use..." Well, to paraphrase, I didn't know how many bullets it was going to take, but I knew how many I was going to use... I fired again, and the bear launched itself down into the ravine and out of sight, doing its best imitation of a mountain goat roll. Wr recovered or packs, and began to work our way down to where we last saw the bear rolling. 300 ft later, there is s dead bear blocking the creek and ravine below us. When enough water builds up behind the bear, it begins rolling down again. We areslipping and sliding on the steep, wet hillside and trying to stop the bear from rolling again. It takes off one more time, finally stopping where we can roll it outof the creek for pictures. Ther are three holes, two of them two inches apart in the lungs and one further back. We find out later when skinning the 2 exit holes are three inches apart on the opposite side. We have just enough time for a few pics, punch my tag, and begin the hike down as darkness is coming. Next morning, the weather is lousy, wind 40 miles per hour, and raining sideways.

The trip up again is still brutal but no need for silence or caution. We get up and begin the skinning. The bearis so heavy (and wet) that all three of us can't roll Iit, so we skin one side, remove both legs, and then move it to continue. I an so glad for extra legs and profesdional guides, as I find out a brown bear hide alone weighs about 85 lbs. They "let" me carry the skull, and they take turns carrying the hide out. I am the only one who has to stop for breaks, they look like they are made of 1/2 mountain goat.

the next two days are rainy, and we spend them in camp fleshing out the hide and getting it ready for shipment. Both nights are hard to sleep as a couple of whales are in the bay below us blowing every 15 minutes. Hard to complain about such magnificent animals. We have seen Sitka blacktail deer, a cross fox, which had the classic red body, dark feet but a white tail, a single salmon left in the stream, a pair of eagles nesting close by, and a seal checking us out off the beach. The hunt is for ten days but as we have a good clear day for the flight out we break camp and get back to Kodiak. Two flights, one with a 206 float and the other a Beaver, get the job done beautifully.
The nd t day on Kodiak, we go to a store, buy a tote and tape, and fedex my bear and skull direct to Dennis at Artistry. The bear was home before I was, and for only a couple hundred dollars. A lot different than Africa imports. The measurements on the hear two days after harvest were 9ft 4 inches by 8 ft 7 inches, and game and fish estimated the sow was 15 yrs old and past prime.
Justin and John are highly professional, well organized, and hard working, especially as they did the hunt for no income, except tips. If you have a chance to hunt with them, you should. Will add more pics in the next couple of days, been busy with my own deer season.
My report got a little long but its hard to know what to leave out. Thanks

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Well done, congrats!

 

[thi9elsp]

What a great adventure and congratulations on super looking bear. Can't wait to see the other pictures and what Dennis does for you.

 

[K-man]

More pics of camp and mountain goats
Kiliuda bay with camp in the trees
seal watching us load out
the Beaver getting the rest of the load

 

[BRICKBURN]

Amazing countryside.

Congratulations.

 

[Wheels]

Good looking bear k. Congratulations.

Terrain looks kind of steep for us flatlanders.

Great looking whitetail. What is the story on it?

 

[K-man]

That's my son. He had one day to hunt, I pointed to the stand behind the house that I had been seeing the deer go by. He shot him less than 30 minutes after getting in, then took a doe also. Both at 60 yds. I brought the tractor with a loader, took them up to the shop, hung from the forklift, dressed, skinned and quartered them. Hung in the walk-in cooler. If I could do that everytime, could make a living as a guide. Still after mine, there is a bigger one out there, but I wouldn't have let that one walk either.

 

[CAustin]

Man what a great bear and story!

 

[cpr0312]

Wow! Congrats on a great bear and thanks for sharing!

 

[Royal27]

Awesome....

Walking mountains in thick stuff is absolutely brutal. And very rewarding.

Congrats!

 

[Ridgewalker]

Thanks for sharing K-man. I am so jealous! I've been to Kodiak twice (a small fortune IMO) and failed both times. Equipment failure several times the second trip (leaky boat with an old motor which wouldn't start when a great bear was across the bay a couple of times). But the experience of Kodiak island will always be with me.
Congratulations on a great hunt!

 

[K-man]

Thanks for the kind words and for putting up with my typos. Justin has a booth again at DSC and another donation hunt, stop by and see him. This was my second Alaska hunt, first one had not shots fired. No legal moose or dall, so I was willing to go "up" after a good target.

 

[gillettehunter]

Great hunt and bear. Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a good hunt. Bruce

 

[LivingTheDream]

Great hunt and a great bear. Love the Ron White line. Not sure what I would do if my bear kept rolling like that. That would have to be frustrating.

 

[K-man]

P

Great hunt and a great bear. Love the Ron White line. Not sure what I would do if my bear kept rolling like that. That would have to be frustrating.

It was unusual to say the least. At least there aren't any horns or antlers to break off. There is a scar on its head that wasn't there before.

 

[Royal27]

There is a scar on its head that wasn't there before.

Hope your taxidermist is capable of fixing that.

 

[Wheels]

That's my son. He had one day to hunt, I pointed to the stand behind the house that I had been seeing the deer go by. He shot him less than 30 minutes after getting in, then took a doe also. Both at 60 yds. I brought the tractor with a loader, took them up to the shop, hung from the forklift, dressed, skinned and quartered them. Hung in the walk-in cooler. If I could do that everytime, could make a living as a guide. Still after mine, there is a bigger one out there, but I wouldn't have let that one walk either.

Congratulations to your son. Great looking buck.