I was lucky enough to just get back from a 10 day bear hunt in Alaska. I hunted in Unit 16B right on the west side of the Cook Inlet. We spent a total of 10 days in the bush and had one of the best hunts of my life.
We had 2 different camps. The first camp was about 8 miles inland on river. There was some old bear sign but in 5 days and about 35-40 miles we didn't see any fresh sign. We even went far enough that we had to stay out all night to try and be able to catch some bears on the salmon stream. It was cold that night. It was really pretty though. Very hard to sleep hearing the salmon splash through the water all night long, and it was cold trying to nap in the wet grass. We didn't see anything there and found out the next morning when a helicopter landed and dropped people off for fishing best we could tell.
The next day we hiked back and broke down camp and moved to a camp right on the inlet. The next morning I was able to get a good stalk on my 8' brown bear sow and put her down with my 375 ruger. She was really tough and took 4 shots. We were able to anchor her and she didn't run at all. Shot her at 210 yards kneeling with 260 gr accubond over 70 grs H414.
She had some monster claws almost 4 inches long. That is a 375 ruger shell on her foot
She was pretty old, broken canine teeth and really worn front teeth.
The pack out. I just had a lightly framed Cabelas pack that worked great on the hunt. It was just big enough to do what I needed to do but if the pack had been more than a mile I would have wanted a heavier duty frame pack. I'm guessing the hide and head was about 75-80 lbs.
Worked pretty good on the black bear too.
Had a couple of really excited stalks that same day and the next day for a brown bear for my buddy, but the wind kept switching at the wrong time and screwed us every time. It was pretty tough. All worth it though as the thrill was pretty exciting.
The next day though we were lucky enough to get on our black bears. We wear able to get 2 nice 6 1/2' to 7' black bears. I was able to stalk within 175 yard of mine and planted him with 1 high shoulder shot from my 375. It was one of perfect shots where I never lost view in the scope and watched it crumble.
After spending time up there I have come to a few realizations.
1. Alaska is beautiful.
2. Supercubs are awesome, the 4 wheeler of Alaska.
3. A good guide is essential to success. Our guide John Gray did as good of a job as possible. He was a great guy to be around and I will be booking more hunts with him for sure
We had 2 different camps. The first camp was about 8 miles inland on river. There was some old bear sign but in 5 days and about 35-40 miles we didn't see any fresh sign. We even went far enough that we had to stay out all night to try and be able to catch some bears on the salmon stream. It was cold that night. It was really pretty though. Very hard to sleep hearing the salmon splash through the water all night long, and it was cold trying to nap in the wet grass. We didn't see anything there and found out the next morning when a helicopter landed and dropped people off for fishing best we could tell.
The next day we hiked back and broke down camp and moved to a camp right on the inlet. The next morning I was able to get a good stalk on my 8' brown bear sow and put her down with my 375 ruger. She was really tough and took 4 shots. We were able to anchor her and she didn't run at all. Shot her at 210 yards kneeling with 260 gr accubond over 70 grs H414.
She had some monster claws almost 4 inches long. That is a 375 ruger shell on her foot
She was pretty old, broken canine teeth and really worn front teeth.
The pack out. I just had a lightly framed Cabelas pack that worked great on the hunt. It was just big enough to do what I needed to do but if the pack had been more than a mile I would have wanted a heavier duty frame pack. I'm guessing the hide and head was about 75-80 lbs.
Worked pretty good on the black bear too.
Had a couple of really excited stalks that same day and the next day for a brown bear for my buddy, but the wind kept switching at the wrong time and screwed us every time. It was pretty tough. All worth it though as the thrill was pretty exciting.
The next day though we were lucky enough to get on our black bears. We wear able to get 2 nice 6 1/2' to 7' black bears. I was able to stalk within 175 yard of mine and planted him with 1 high shoulder shot from my 375. It was one of perfect shots where I never lost view in the scope and watched it crumble.
After spending time up there I have come to a few realizations.
1. Alaska is beautiful.
2. Supercubs are awesome, the 4 wheeler of Alaska.
3. A good guide is essential to success. Our guide John Gray did as good of a job as possible. He was a great guy to be around and I will be booking more hunts with him for sure
