Hunting Washington Forum

Big Game Hunting => Bear Hunting => Topic started by: Rufous on July 10, 2010, 08:11:22 PM

Title: Brown Bear sighting
Post by: Rufous on July 10, 2010, 08:11:22 PM: My wife and I just got home today from our cruise in SE AK. We flew to Ketchikan and then boarded the David B, a small boat operated by Jeffrey and Christine Smith out of Bellingham, WA www.nwnavigation.com (http://www.nwnavigation.com) is their website. We had an excellent time. The boat had Jeffrey, Christine, one crew member and one other guest besides my wife and I for a total of 6 people. It was a very intimate group, rather than thousands on board one of the major cruise ships. We anchored in a small cove on Admiralty Island (supposedly Admiralty has the highest concentration of brown bears in the world) one night and the next morning we went for a hike on the island. We saw bear trails, beds and scat but no bears. The big pile we found was very fresh.

Truthfully I was a bit concerned, especially since I did not have my Ruger 45 Colt Bisley in hand. Jeffrey did have a can of pepper spray so we did have some protection. Then later in the trip we were coming back from visiting Dawe's Glacier and I spotted a Brown Bear feeding along the shore. We approached a bit closer and slowed down to watch it for several minutes. It was the first time I had ever seen a Brown Bear in the wild and it was quite a thrill for me.

Overall it was just a super trip.
Title: Re: Brown Bear sighting
Post by: Thenewguy on July 10, 2010, 08:13:02 PM: now thats a pile of poo!
Title: Re: Brown Bear sighting
Post by: rb2506 on July 10, 2010, 08:20:42 PM: sounds like a great trip, i would like to do that someday :)
Title: Re: Brown Bear sighting
Post by: saylean on July 10, 2010, 08:29:46 PM: Quote from: Thenewguy on July 10, 2010, 08:13:02 PM
now thats a pile of poo!

Thats the same thing I thought.
Title: Re: Brown Bear sighting
Post by: DOUBLELUNG on July 10, 2010, 08:37:53 PM: Quote from: saylean on July 10, 2010, 08:29:46 PM
Quote from: Thenewguy on July 10, 2010, 08:13:02 PM
now thats a pile of poo!

Thats the same thing I thought.

That's a whole sh*tload of grass and twigs!
Title: Re: Brown Bear sighting
Post by: markts on July 10, 2010, 08:40:52 PM: Great pics. That is a pile of poo that would have me concerned if unarmed too :o
Title: Re: Brown Bear sighting
Post by: seth30 on July 10, 2010, 08:51:52 PM: wow that would be intense
Title: Re: Brown Bear sighting
Post by: no1waterdog on July 11, 2010, 10:04:37 AM: My son and I were on Admiralty island this may, and I removed one nine foot brownie.The bear is going to be a life size mount,its being tanned at this time. John
Title: Re: Brown Bear sighting
Post by: seth30 on July 11, 2010, 11:38:15 AM: John, I was on Auk Beach 2 months ago, and we could see admiritly island from there. Do you have any pics and a story on the success you just had?
Title: Re: Brown Bear sighting
Post by: Rufous on July 12, 2010, 04:36:24 PM: John, tell us all about your hunt up there. Post photos please. Would love to hear the details.
Title: Re: Brown Bear sighting
Post by: ML_Hunter on July 12, 2010, 06:02:30 PM: :yeah: :cue:
Title: Re: Brown Bear sighting
Post by: no1waterdog on July 13, 2010, 07:57:38 AM: I would love to post pictures of my bear but this old man has no ID how to post up. Sorry .My son and I hunted 10 days on the island.I was very lucky to get my bear,but my son had a new guide and I don,t think he knew the island that well..The weather was bad and we only hunted 6 days,I harvested my bear near the town of Angoon on the west side of the island.The first stalk was a bust as the wind shifted and the bear hit the trees. The next bear we saw was just up the beach from the big one,as we stalked him and the big one came out once more . At 8:30 p.m. I got a good double shoulder shot at 210 yardsand down he went.We did not get back to camp until 3.50 A.M. I was using a Ruger 375 with a 300 grain bullet.