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Alaska Black Bear

E5B

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pilot
Super Moderator
This was last years hunt.....just getting it posted.


This trip has been in the making for about 18 months. A buddy of mine from Arizona, Alan (who I've predator hunted with before), did the majority of the planning while I was on my last deployment. He found an Island called Kupreanof Island which is SW of Juneau and about 1000 sq miles in size. The Islands only town is Kake which has a population of 350 or so. Tongass National Forest covers the majority of the island and is inhabited by moose, sitka black tail, black bear, wolf and wolverine. This was a self guided hunt. We did not use a guide or outfitter but we did go through one of Kakes residents for the use of his cabin, vehicles and boats. We had to pay for gas and food (gas was $6.50 a gallon for the cheap stuff) as well.
This was my first time traveling via commercial air with a firearm. When I checked into Raleigh-Durham I was expecting the worse from TSA. Surprisingly, I had no issues with TSA and the entire check-in was quick and painless. After a couple of layovers I finally made it to Seattle where I met Alan and we flew to Juneau that night. We stayed in Juneau for a day and a half before catching our "bush plane" to Kake. The "bush plane" was a Cessna 206 and the pilot was in his late 20's. I hit him with about 15 questions as we were walking to the plane before he finally stopped and asked "why are you asking all these questions" and I reply with "because I'm a pilot too, with the same quals and almost as many hours and I want to make sure you aren't going to fly us in the side of a mountain". I flew in the copilot seat and watched his every move. Visibility was barely three miles and the ceilings were 1500-2000 ft.
During our stay, the weather at Kake was 42-46 for the highs and 36-38 for the lows, constant overcast and it rained all but one day (a constant rain at that). The hunt was spot and stalk, not over bait. As thick as the forests are and the lack of clearings it was more a "stalk and spot" vice spot and stalk. We went out there thinking we would spend most of our time hunting clear cut areas and muskegs but we ended up spending about half of our time walking through the woods and the other half in tidal flats. After three days of hunting we decided to take a break and fish for one day then hit the hunting again on the fifth day. One our way to the docks we stopped at a beach and dug up two five-gallon buckets of clams for supper. In just a matter of 45 minutes the winds picked up from 10-15 mph to 30-35 gusting to 45. So we cancelled the fishing trip and went back to the cabin. We sat around drinking coffee for a couple hours before deciding to take a drive up the mountain. Outside of the town of Kake is nothing but old logging roads. We found a place to park, came up with a game plan, split up and starting hiking in our separate areas. Almost immediately I came across a large muskeg with a black bear feeding on grass and skunk cabbage on the opposite side. This is where the high winds worked in my advantage as he didn't hear me walk up. I lazed him at 265, turned my Kenton turret to the appropriate yardage and shot. He dropped. Thank goodness he did because tracking an animal in the forest would have likely not produced good results. Alan found me in a matter of minutes and we put the bear on a tarp and drug him to the nearest logging road. I hit him just below the right ear which tore up the back of the skull but I didn't have to track him at all. Once back to the cabin I started skinning him. Alan brought me a Havalon knife and said that he swears by it. Let me tell you it makes skinning lots easier. Used to I would have to take a break and sharpen my skinning knife but with this all is needed is a simple blade replacement.
We ate some backstrap that night and I was impressed. Very tasty meat with not a lot of fat. I left the rest of the meat with a butcher in Juneau to be made into Summer Sausage, breakfast sausage and Salami......it was delicious. The hide was overnighted to my taxidermist and took a solid 9 months to get back
Overall it was a great hunt and a dream come true. Like I said this was a self guided, do-it-yourself hunt. The only disappointment was that Alan didn't shoot one. Shooting a wolf would have been nice too.
Lots of firsts for me on this trip. First time:
Stepping foot in the states of Washington, Illinois and Alaska.
Seeing my first Glacier.
Seeing my first Moose.
Seeing my first Sitka Black tail.
Shooting my first bear.
Catching my first halibut (too small to keep).
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E5B

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pilot
Super Moderator
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Flipping the bird was not my intent at all.
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The clams were good eatin!
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The above picture we had a Foxpro set out in the tidal flat calling for wolf and/or bear.
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wink

War Hoover NFO.
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Super Moderator
Contributor
Way cool. Persevering in the weather must have made it all the more sweet. Thanks for sharing.
 
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