Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Bear Hunting => Topic started by: nwhunter on November 28, 2011, 09:18:15 PM
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Got some buddies talking about trying to put a spring bear hunt togethor up on POW Island so thought I would check on here to see if anyone has done this. Ideally a self guided hunt where we could just rent a place to stay and a boat or pickup to get around in would work best. Not a big bear hunting fan but if it were affordable and to get to see some new country and I read that steelhead fishing up there in May is pretty darn good so it could be a fun combo trip. Looks like after this spring they are going to a drawing for spring tags so might be the last over the counter year. Any advise? Tks nwhunter
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Thorne Bay has some places to stay and surburbans to rent I believe. Lots of logging roads to hunt in that area. They also have small boats to rent as well. Ive been wanting to do the same for the last 5 years or so. 3 years ago we went to my buddys cabin to work on it and fish, I seen 4 bears going to and from the salmon grounds in the 3 days of fishing. Bummer that they are going to drawing permits, I thought that this year was the last to get over the counter tags? Maybe next spring Ill have to go up as well...
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Any room for another guy?
Let me know the details :drool:
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Any room for another guy?
Let me know the details :drool:
Me to :chuckle:
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Never done the spring hunt but I have been up there in the fall on a DIY archery hunt. We drove up and took the ferry over from Prince Rupert. We took our own camp and just camped up fairly high away from the rivers which is where all the bear were. We hunted the northern part of the island and used all the logging roads to get around. We had a blast got a couple of nice bears with beautiful hides, hunted deer and caught salmon. It was a great trip it was in the 90's when we went but it doesn't sound like much has changed from what I hear. Lots of bear up there and some real dandies.
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NWhunter my brother-in-law and I went up there about 10 years ago. I don't know any direct places where you guys can stay but could suggest a place to rent a truck. We rented a 4 door pick up from Shaub -Ellison in Craig, they're a Les Schwab member dealer. I think we paid around 400.00 for a week with unlimited mileage. I do know there are places to stay in Klawock, Craig, Hollis, and Thorne Bay just don’t know any names or have any suggests (we slept in truck of tented it depending on how big the rain drops were). Also in Thorne Bay there's an outfit that rents a pickup and cabin for 3-4 guys for a week that cost around 3,500-4,000 bucks (little out of my price range for that hunt). If you ride the mail plane to Klawock you can get a ride into Craig with the mail.
I assume if you going in the spring you'll be hunting the mountains, spot and stalk? If your plans are to hunt the shoreline. I would ride the Hollis Ferry, find a place to stay there and rent a boat.
Is POW a draw tag now? :dunno:
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I think it's going to a draw for Fall 2012. Next spring is the last chance to go before it's draw only. My guess is that even with a draw it won't be too hard to get drawn. Sounds like there's going to be a lot of tags, they just want to put a quota on it and get some money from those non-refundable hunting licenses. :)
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Good info I appreciate it. Been doing a little net surfing and seeing what is available. Defenitely a fun sounding trip just have to see how affordable we can make it. Thanks nwhunter
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One other thing you have to plan for is the shipment of your bear hide. You have to have them fleshed and sealed before mailing. Plan to spend around 200-250 for that.
:dunno: you may have other options.
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Let me know what the lowest you can get it nw. Im planning on doing diy sitka BT and BB hunt after I graduate college and have started saving for it already. Ive heard guys say between 4 people theyve got it below the 2k a piece mark for a total cost. I dont know how enjoyable there hunt was for that but they did get their bears. I suppose if the guy brought his own tent (which would suck in the rain) and ate mnt houses every day (which would also suck) could do it for relatively cheap. Im young, dumb and glutton for punishment so I wouldnt care either way :chuckle: The boat based hunts also look like a blast but there a bit spendy
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Let me know what the lowest you can get it nw. Im planning on doing diy sitka BT and BB hunt after I graduate college and have started saving for it already. Ive heard guys say between 4 people theyve got it below the 2k a piece mark for a total cost. I dont know how enjoyable there hunt was for that but they did get their bears. I suppose if the guy brought his own tent (which would suck in the rain) and ate mnt houses every day (which would also suck) could do it for relatively cheap. Im young, dumb and glutton for punishment so I wouldnt care either way :chuckle: The boat based hunts also look like a blast but there a bit spendy
I have done quite a bit of research on the Sitka blacktail hunt, but my choice would be on Kodiak. Just never find a couple of guys who are willing to commit and do it with me, that is one hunt I will not do alone.
As far as prince of wales, thats a trip I've been wanting to do for years. My latest plan is to take the boat up there, use it as a base camp and hunt the shoreline with a dingy. Long run with the boat, but it would be the trip of a lifetime I think.
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If you go in the fall you can hunt both Deer and Bear. POW has some great Blacktails. Also both will repond to a fawn in destess call.
I'm not sure what the wolf regs are now but we also bought tags but never seen or targeted them while we were there.
If and when I again I'll plan to take two weeks and do all three. Also if 2 or 3 guys go I believe you could do a week for less than 2K apiece.
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I agree, we saw some nice bucks on POW. Most all the bucks we saw were up in the alpine above timberline. At that time of year (September) it seemed that all of the bears were down low along the rivers that were full of salmon. We did not see any bear up high when we were deer hunting and only one buck down low along the rivers when bear hunting. A couple of the bucks were pretty nice 4x4's maybe in the 100-110" range which are monster Sitka's. For purely a Sitka trip though I would probably head for Kodiak but you can't beat POW for a combo hunt and fishing.
As I said in my earlier post we drove up and took the ferry over to the island. We took my wall tent and wood stove for a camp. We had a plywood floor for the tent just to have a nice dry floor as it does rain a little up there. I think we were on the island for over two weeks, so we also took a small deep freeze and generator for storing meat, hides etc..
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What my plan was to do, and what ive read others doing, is backacking into the alpine for BTs for 3 days and then moving to the rivers for bears for 3 days. From what ive read theres a really good chance at getting getting both in a trip like this. I just need to find a decent base camp to hunt from thats relatively cheap. planning on 10 to 12 days total.
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I have spent a week on POW island, it is a great place. I was steelhead fishing during the spring bear season up there, I thought about getting a tag since we were seeing allot of bears but decided against it, money was tight at that time.
We stayed at Thorne bay lodge, the guys there are great, and the cabin comes with the use of your own private truck. We had a F-250 superduty all you had to pay for was gas. So you can basically self guide yourself throughout the whole island. I would strongly recomend steelheading while you are there, it is great!
PM me for some more info if you wish. It took all week to dial in the fishing and learn the island, now I would love to go back and use the time seriously fishing and hunting. But I am sure I won't be doing that for years if ever so I might as well share the info.
H&F
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This is a pretty good book on hunting POW, kind of a step by step process. Goes into a little too much detail on some stuff but some pretty good information.
http://www.diizchesafariadventures.com/joyce/BookShawnPOW2009/go
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POW is a good spring bear hunt. Do some searching online, there are alot of places to rent trucks, boats and places to stay. Spend the money for a boat, even a small skiff, it is well worth it as it is easy to spot bears feeding on the beaches. Send me a PM if you want and I'll give you a few spots to try.
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Prince of Wales has some of biggest black bears I have ever seen there. The place is over run with bears. They are much more aggressive than black bears like here in Washington state. I had a bear charge my wife as she sat on the stream side while i fished. I had my shotgun on the shore and picked it up and yelled and waved. He finally stopped at 50 yards thankfully. He finally turned and walked off looking back every 10-15 yards. I had a cub poke his head out of the brush look at me and walk about 20 yards from me into the stream and take a salmon. It would be an awesome place to bear hunt with the idea a lot of caution and respect for bears is needed. One big boar we spotted in the middle of a backcountry gravel road probably went 400-500 lb easily. I would say we saw 10-15 bears a day when we were out not intending to see bears. This was late summer and most had beautifuly shiny black coats. I have no doubt you could get yourself a real trophy to hang on the wall there. It is one of the most beautiful places I have every been. Very remote but worth it. In a two hour period it is not uncommon to have close encounters with eagles, bears, deer, seals, and otters near fishing holes. PM me if you want specific details.
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I stayed at thornebaylodge 2 yrs ago with a buddy, we killed two nice bears. its relatively cheap for what you get out of the deal. This spring is the last time a nonresident can get a spring bear tag over the counter. Great place to stay and brent would bend over backwards to help anybody!
