Alaska Bucket List Hunt #3

[ShaneTyTrey]

September 5th we woke to a cold crisp morning with fog covering the lake.  We ate breakfast and threw on some extra layers, it was going to be a cold first few hours and my waders had sprung a leak the day prior so I added an extra layer of socks to help mop up any remaining water and hoped we wouldn’t have to cross any more knee deep water.  As we made our way to a meadow near camp the enthusiasm was high and within minutes of reaching it we saw a cow.  My guide quickly hit a couple calls and raked the tree, before just standing to listen.  Within about 5 minutes we thought we heard a bull raking a tree so we raked some more and then listened. Again we heard some more raking and moved in that direction.  We raked again and heard an immediate response, the bull was coming closer.  We were pretty sure he was going to walk right out into the meadow from our right.  Within a couple minutes we heard him make a couple calls to confirm he had left the cover and was headed through the meadow.  He appeared and looked massive to my untrained eye, I saw many long and heavy brow tines, Aaron said he was legal and looked pretty good but wanted him to stop to verify.  He hit the call and the bull stopped, I had just chambered a round and as Aaron was describing the bull I had heard enough, BOOM!  From just 110 yards the .300 PRC found its mark just behind the shoulder.  He just absorbed it, shot 2 was a double lung and with the cold morning we saw the air blow out both sides, again the big bull took and moved a few more steps, a 3rd shot brought him down and the bull was mine.  After some fist bumps and a hug, we watched to make sure he wasn’t moving, gathered our stuff and headed over to get our hands on him.  Luckily there was no ground shrinkage and the bull just kept growing as we walked up on him.  My dream of harvesting a giant Alaskan bull was over just 40 minutes into opening morning.  Even with the short trek back to camp it took us 9 hours to get the bull butchered, caped and back to camp.

[jrebel]

Holy smokes.....that's a beautiful bull.  Congrats. 

[ShaneTyTrey]

September 6th, now that we are only bear hunting we will keep later hours and sleep in and just focus on hunting the evenings.  Today we were hit with some rain and significant wind and we’re stuck in the tents the bulk of the day.  We were hopeful it would subside for a few hours this evening as the wind was very favorable for hunting the Moose carcass this evening.  As we we were walking out to check the Moose carcass we saw a bear approaching and stopped to watch unfortunately within seconds we also saw a loan cub.  We posted up about 450 yards from the carcass with a favorable wind and sat there for the next 3 hours until dark hoping a larger bear may run them off but it didn’t happen.  We walked back to camp in the dark and made a delicious spaghetti and meatballs dinner and chatted about the first few days and game plan for the next few before turning in just before midnight.

September 7th was a sleep in day for me, after waking at 8:30 to piss for the second time; I fell back to sleep and didn’t wake until 11:00.  Once up I ate a breakfast burrito and drank some hot chocolate before heading out in the driving rain to check the carcass.  We sat and watched from our exposed viewpoint for about 30 minutes before deciding to head back to camp and hoping the rain would subside.  We sat out in the cold miserable rain for 3 more hours that evening but nothing other than that same sow and cub showed up to visit.  We had Moose tenderloin again for dinner with some mashed potatoes and were in bed just after 11:00 with a game plan to try some new areas for bear in the morning.

[ShaneTyTrey]

September 8th brought the worst weather we had seen.  The huge rain drops and rain blasted our tent all night.  At about 10:30 am it stopped and the sun came out, we quickly got out the goal zero and recharged devices while we could.  The sun was short lived and only stayed for about 90 minutes.  After that we had sustained 40+ mph winds that kept us locked down in the tent.  We hoped it would let up if even for a bit that night so we could get out and hunt.  We were able to get out about 7:30 and immediately saw two different bears on the carcass.  The bigger bear pushed the subordinate bear out of the area, I confirmed this was a bear I would be happy to harvest (7 1/2 - 8 foot square) he was blond with silver tips and although smaller beautiful and vastly different than the other brown bear I harvested the year before.  We were 450 yards away and thought we could upwind and about 200 yards away.  As we got to the spot we couldn’t find the bear, I was bummed the wind was perfect and he seemed happy to be dining on the carcass.  We watched for about 30 minutes and decided to back out to our original glassing spot.  As soon as we arrived we saw the bear was on the carcass so we made a quick plan to try a different path that would be a bit longer and more risky but would put us in the same location I had harvested the moose from, we had to act quick as it was just after 9:00 and light was fading quickly.  We were able to get to the location as the bear was walking away, the vegetation around us was tall and the only tree that gave me a small window to shoot while stabilizing the rifle was the same tree I had shot the moose from.  As I chambered a bullet the bear heard the noise and started taking a few steps toward us to investigate and then started moving left to try and get our wind, it was now or never and the bear was about 150 yards away, I settled in and squeezed the trigger.  Wap, the sound was massive and the bear started growling, pawing and biting and the wound.  I quickly cycled the action for a follow up shot and my scope was covered in fog, I couldn’t see the bear.  Within a second he was slowly running away and out of the window for any rest to shoot, off-hand at 170-310 yards at a running bear is no east task, as the guide fired 3 times and me 2 more into the now near dark, we didn’t believe any of the shots found their mark.  We quickly crossed the creek and went into the meadow with our headlamps on hoping to find the blood trail and follow it.  We found blood, and other stuff on the trail, including what appeared to be organ tissue; as we followed the trail to the thick Alders waiting for us, we could hear the bear gnashing his teeth daring us to enter as a bear who has been mortally wounded often does.  After a quick discussion of our options we decided it best to back out and come back in the morning as no bear was worth risking the lives of Aaron or myself.  Walking back to camp we discussed and replayed the events, the shot and what we could have done differently.  In the end we thought the only other option would have been not shooting and hoping to relocate the bear later in the hunt.  I wasn’t hungry for dinner that night and sleep was hard to come by.  I knew my hunt was over, the only question was would I be doing the unthinkable and harvesting a trophy bull moose and nice brown bear from the same location, after the bear had feasted on the carcass of the Moose as I had dreamed before the hunt started or would I be leaving Alaska with just the memories and no new field photos with the bear and I.  I had the odds of recovery at maybe 25% and Aaron with much more experience thought we were probably at 50%.

[ShaneTyTrey]

September 9th, we woke to a very light rain (thankfully) ate something really quickly and headed off to try and find the bear.  As we passed the Moose carcass that had been completely covered in dirt as we retreated the night before, we noticed it had been hit again between then and now.  We cautiously approached as we didn’t want to surprise any bear that may be in the area.  As we finally reached the edge of the Alders we had stopped shy of the night before, we instantly found more and better sign.  About 30 yards in we found the area the bear had dug in and was ready to fight the previous night, there was blood, chunks of fat and organ tissue everywhere.  We were suddenly optimistic feeling that at any moment we were going to see or trip over the dead bruin.  Our search continued deeper into the thickness of the brush, and sign continued to pile up, we joked saying we could easily fill a quart sandwich bag with the piles of innards the bear had left on the ground, but we couldn’t locate the bear.  At one point the sign just sort of stopped, we ran grids all through every trail and spent the day picking the place apart.  We even decided to spend the last hours that evening sitting and watching the carcass again in case some how this bear was the one that returned to eat on it ( although we knew it was 1/1,000,000.   Nothing showed but a gorgeous full moon in the darkness.  It was a send off to an epic week with the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.  With big weather coming we called for an extraction back to the lodge that next day

[ShaneTyTrey]

September 10th, although we knew it was like finding a needle in a haystack, we woke that next morning and spent a couple more hours looking for new sign, the sound of circling ravens or anything that would help give us one last recovery push but it just didn’t happen, it wasn’t meant to be, not for me, not on this hunt.  Our boat showed up and took us out of that little slice of heaven we were fortunate enough to call home for the last 7 days.  I left with memories that will last a lifetime a new friend in Aaron and mixed feelings about the future.  I don’t know if I will ever return to this portion of Alaska, I don’t know if I will ever chase the mighty brown bear again, I don’t know if I will ever see any of the new faces I met again the lodge.  I do know I will go home and start training for my Dall Sheep hunt next August, I do know I was blessed to take the bull of a lifetime and I do know I will continue taking my iPad on my adventures so I can write about them daily with raw thoughts and emotions in my head.  For those of you who haven’t been to Alaska but have that itch, I encourage you to do whatever it takes to scratch it!

[ShaneTyTrey]

Holy smokes.....that's a beautiful bull.  Congrats.

Thank you!

[LDennis24]

Congratulations! That bull is a pig!

[HillHound]

Congratulations. Awesome bull. And an awesome write up. My brother and I are trying to get the ball rolling to do this in the next 2 to 3 years. Can’t wait

[RB]

Nice Bull!

[ganghis]

Beautiful bull, and thanks for taking us along!  I've lost some animals the way you did with the griz, and it's not a fun feeling but part of hunting.  Congrats!

[pashok23]

Very nice bull, congrats

[ShaneTyTrey]

Thank you all!

[Karl Blanchard]

DUUUUUDE!!!!! Killer bull congrats!!!! Man this has got me chomping at the but to go moose hunting! Thanks for sharing your hunt!

[ShaneTyTrey]

Thanks Karl, I guarantee it wasn't half as cool as your hunt.  Definitely worth experiencing once for sure.  If you start planning, let me know, I can help with some ideas, I would also like some workout pointers for the Dall hunt, take care!