Ok, so here is goes. For starters we were staying at GreenRocksLodge.com in Petersburg Alaska. It's a self guided hunt. They provide you with lodging, great food, and the use of skiffs and fishing equip, etc. The were a total of 7 hunters including us. The lodge likes to keep their hunting intimate and small groups, so a group of 3 and a group of two, then my hunting buddy Steve and I.
First day and a half we headed out to hunt and get ourselfs familiar with the land and the navigation of the canals and such. The area we liked the best ended up being and hour and a half boat ride from the lodge. During that time we had to know the tide charts to be able to hunt some of the prime spots as you would literally have 15 foot elevation tides. If you were not careful when you pulled into a bay to hunt you could get stuck on a tidal flat and then have to spend the night to wait out tides. This will come into play later.
So the Bear at this time of year are just waking up and we were the first group so not all the Bear were awake, lol. They like to come to the shoreling to eat the grass and skunk cabbage which will unconstipate them. So shoreline hunting is the way to do it up there.
After a day and a half which happened to be the worst as we did not see any bear yet and had the worst weather we just had to stay confident. End of day two the group of 2 hunters brought a bear back, Very cool. That just made us more stoked.
Day three came, so as we approached an inlet which looked really good, we pulled into it on the left side. We noticed a boat of hunters on the far side so we stuck to the side we were on. Right off the bat my buddy Steve noticed a Bear about four hundred yards away on the shoreline to our left. He then started to take the boat to the shoreline and another Bear came out. We were thinking, this is it. He dropped me off at the point so i could put a stalk on. He stayed with the boat. Right when I got out of the boat we noticed the other boat on the far side was B lining right toward the bear i was stalking. I continued knowing the other boat would see me on the shoreline. I get about 150 yrds away from the Bear and there boat crashed the shoreline as I had about 30 yrds to go for a shot. At that time I looked up and i seen the second, last bear head into the trees. They were gone. Those other hunteres were
and we were pretty pissed off. They were the boat of three from out lodge two. What do you do. lol. Keep hunting. We hunted our way back to the lodge and spotted another bear on the shoreline. He went into the trees before we could get to shore. Bummer. So that day was good as we seen three Bear. We got back to the lodge with what happend and there story on us not getting the bear was they did not see us, We only had our boat on shore and Steve was wearing a yellow rain jacket/ Heck its over keep hunting and try and get along as we all had to eat together and such. It all worked out.
May 6 came and we hunted all day, It came to be about 4pm and the tide was going out fast as we approached a bay and pulled into it to glass. We were in there 5 min and i spotted a Black ball 1000 yrds away. We both studied it and yes it was a black bear. My Buddy Steve headed to shore as we decided to go after it. We made it to land and with the tide going out i had over 400 yrds to get to shore walking through sticky mud, then over 500 more yrds to get to the bear. Once i made it to shore i could not see the bear, so i glassed my partner and he waved me to keep going as he could still see it. Now that i was on the shoreline i decided to walk normal speed as i was tired from the mud and wanted to catch my breath so when it was time i was calm. I got about 350 yrds away from the bear and could only see part of it as it was in a dip. I was walking and noticed a shinny half black ball right in front of me at about 100 yrds. This was another bear. I get excited. The bear was laying down. I continued to get closer so i could lay down and take a shot. I layed down and had my gun on my bipod and the bear got on all fours and started to feed. 5 seconds later i steadied the crosshairs behind the shoulder and fired. The bear turned 180 and headed into the trees with no second chance for another shot. As he went into the wood i heard something i will never forget. The bear made this noise as the lodge people told us later is a death ball. It screamed for about 20 seconds. It was so loud and low roaring i could not believe it. With hearing that and it being really thick in those woods and being alone. I got kinda freaked. lol. Steve was still at the boat about 800 yrds away i decided to head back to him and talk for a bit. Steve heard that bear being that far away also. We made the decision to head back to the lodge so we did not get stuck there over night with the tide going out. Once we got back to the lodge the group of 2 shot one and had to leave it for the same reasons, the tides. I had to get drunk that night to get my mind off things.
We were going back in at high tide to go look for it and then go look for theirs. It ended up being us and the other two hunters helping each other out. We got there alittle bit early with excitment on my end and the tide was not up all the way yet. So one out of 4 of us stayed with the boats and we headed to shore. With the tide coming in the 4th guy had to walk the boats in with the tide.
We made it to where the bear went into the woods. We walked in, i stood up on a log, looked to my right and then to my left. I seen a black thing to my left about 40 yrds in so i glassed it and there was my bear. I was pumped. First time i ever left anything over night. Pictures came as are posted. We then put the bear on a tarp and my buddy steve and I drug it about 500 yrds back to the boat as the third guy carried all the gear. Bear in boat and then a Beer followed. Now it was time to look for the other bear the other group shot. Long story short on that one. We looked for over two hours and could not find that one. What a bummer. He said he hit it.
We hunted for two more days and that ended up being it. So on the last full day of hunting My buddy Steve had the idea of pulling up the group of three that screwed up our first stalks crab pots and taking all the crab and leaving two empty bear cans in there for them to pull up. Very funny. That was the best and nicest thing we could do.
More pics to come.
This was a great hunt and i reccomend it to anyone, I have all the info. My hunting buddy had a great time. Thanks Steve buddy for another Memory in the books and we will go back.
The scull was 17.5 inch and i did not measure the hide yet. Hope you all enjoy the story as its always fun to share the moment with others.
Jason
