ALASKA GRIZZLY HUNT
Bears
I have made an attempt to summarize the high points of my recent grizzly hunt to Alaska and will post here with pictures. Ned (loesshillsarcher) was hunting at the same time and in the same area and I hope he will chime in on this thread with pictures and details of his hunt…..
I arrived in Anchorage a few days early and was fortunate to spend time with Frank Noska and his girlfriend Millie Lyerly. Ned Greer would also be hunting with Freelance Outdoor Adventures the same time as me and joined us in Wasilla the day after I arrived. Frank and Millie were great host. We had an awesome time fishing, sight seeing and eating like royalty. Fresh king salmon and sheep tenderloin, cooked on the pit, with all the trimmings was maybe my best meal ever.
Ned and I flew to Unalakleet together on June 2nd and we were both at our respective camps that evening and ready to start hunting the next day. Mark Gutsmiedl is a good friend and would be my guide. For the first 5 days of the hunt, we saw plenty of bears and averaged a stalk opportunity per day. Had we been rifle hunting, we would have been in range on most but the wind wasn’t our friend and we couldn’t close the distance to bow range.
On day 6, Mark and I were flown to the camp where Ned had been successful on taking a whopper of a bear a couple days earlier. I had a chance to visit with Ned on the airstrip for a few minutes and see his bear skull and pictures before he headed back to Unalakleet to go home. Lance Kronberger and James Smith had been hunting with Ned and they stayed in camp with Mark and me. Lance is a master guide and along with his wife Nikki, owners of Freelance Outdoor Adventures. James is a FOA guide and guided Ned. Great guys, pleasure to be around and really made for a fun camp.
On day 8, we made a stalk on a bear but once again the wind didn’t allow us to get within bow range. On the morning of day 10, Mark spotted a boar and sow around 10 am. There were also two wolves hanging close to the breeding pair of bears. We packed up, bailed off the spotting knob and by noon got to a point above where we last saw the bears. The rain and fog set in and only gave us brief views of the valley below. We spotted the wolves but never saw the bears. Everyone was cold and wet after sitting 12 hours so about midnight we decided to head back up the mountain to camp.
On the hike back, Mark spotted a boar meandering around on the tundra. The wind was finally perfect and the chase began that would cover 1 ½ miles. We closed the distance to about 200 yards a few times but couldn’t do any better until the boar reached a large alder thicket and lay down out of the wind. Had he not stopped there and got into the alders, he’d been out of sight and it would have been game over. He was facing directly towards us with his head down and apparently unaware of our presence. I walked up to 42 yards, drew my bow and started easing around to improve the angle. As I did, he saw me and raised his head and gave me a frontal shot. I released the arrow and it appeared to find the target and enter the bear’s chest between the shoulders. I was using a Nockturnal but it did not light up so it was hard to see the flight of the arrow – especially for the guides. I thought it was good and we could see that the bear looked hurt as he ran downhill disappearing into the alders in just a few seconds. Lance and James ran to get to a vantage point while Mark and I went in the direction of the bear staying on the edge of the alder patch. We only traveled a short distance before spotting what looked like the motionless bear in the brush. Sure enough, we walked into the alders and there he lay only about 50 yards from the shot. The arrow entered the front of the chest just inside the left shoulder and after a complete pass through, exited the right hip.
The boar appears to be an old bear based on the tooth wear. He was run down from the rut and no doubt a warrior based on the scars and wounds. The hide squared 8’-1” (just laying in place without stretching) and the skull green scored 24-6/16”.
Thanks to everyone that made this trip so memorable and successful!!
Frank and our transportation to the fishing area.
Frank and dinner - still before…..
Dinner's ready. Sheep tenderloin rounded out the surf and turf…….
Mt. McKinley on the way to a fun evening in Talkeetna….
Hanging out and relaxing with Ned and Frank…..
Looks like a blast Blake, congrats!
Sow with 3 cubs that we saw several days from our first camp area.
2nd camp where Mark and I hooked up with Lance and James…..
Lot of eyes glassing the valley below…..
On the way back up the mountain after an unsuccessful stalk. Picture session just an excuse to catch my breath.
with Mark, James and Lance…….
Doesn't get any better than hunting with these guys.
That's all folks….
Ned please feel free to post at will about your hunt and pics. If not, you need to start another thread.
Heck yea! Congrats and thanks for posting
AWESOME adventure and a great bear!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing... CONGRATULATIONS!
Great bear, and even better hunt, and even better total experience!
Wow!
wow. Thanks much for the write up and pics, taking us along. Congrats on an awesome hunt and trophy!
Somehow, someway, someday.....
What a great adventure. Congrats Blake and Ned.
Wow what a great adventure. Congrats to you and thank you for the write up and pics!
Congrats on a great bear! Thx for sharing the story and nice pics, quite an adventure!
Congrats Blake! I'm booked for a griz hunt in 2017 and these last couple of griz threads are getting me pumped!
Congrats n a great adventure. Hunt
Congratulations Blake and thanks for sharing.
Some great pics there, and congrats on a really nice bear. Sound like a great adventure.
--Jim
Congrats on a great bear and an even better adventure! Thanks for sharing.
great bear, good hunt. scary shot for the guides. Not our favorite for sure but it worked out this time.
Great adventure! Congratulations and thanks for sharing!! Someday.....
Blake, congrats on a memory maker of an adventure and great bear....a frontal no less!!! knew you and Mark would get it done!!!
Mark
I try really hard not to envy, but it ain't workin'. Great story and a great adventure !
Another awesome adventure. Congrats!
I also took a picture of that awesome meal. Has to be the best meal of my life. Millie can cook. It was a highlight of my trip to be able to spend some time with Blake, Frank, and Millie. Fishing and spending an evening in Talkeetna, we were livin' the Alaskan way of life at its finest.
After arriving in Unalkaleet, Blake and I were quickly delivered to respective camps. We boarded a plane piloted by the gentleman whom starred in a TV show about his business. I have never seen it however. lol. He was an awesome pilot making the ride seem smooooth.
Freelance Outdoors Adventures grizzly bear area is inland and not on the coast. It is a beautiful area and not too strenuous to walk. Lance ranks is as a 2 compared to a 9 in his Dall sheep area. I was fat again on this trip. I lagged behind the guide(s) most of the time but its not too bad of a hike most of the time. There are some hill sides that I took my time on in order to climb however. LOL. I was guided by James Smith and he was a good one. He seemed to be able to locate bears easily. He has guided for FOA for quite awhile now and is very knowledgable of bears and loves the Dall sheep hunts. James is pictured here glassing for a bruin.
The flowers were beautiful and I especially liked the blue ones that Blake pictured above. I had never seen that shade of blue before on a flower nor anywhere it seemed. Of course I forgot to take pictures of them. I seem to forget to take pictures on my hunts. I simply have to start taking more to help preserve the memories better. I just get to caught up in the hunt I guess. I will have to get some pics from Blake in order to help me remember the time spent chasing GRIZ.
The temps ranged from 32 to the 70's I would say. Much of the time there was a pesky wind. This wind was a cold wind that cut into me and I was thankful to have that KUIU puffy coat to slip on after hiking. I love those puffy coats and will get the pants for future trips. So light to carry and easy to pull on when needed.
Me in the puffy coat. I spotted a couple of big black bears during the trip and that was about it. My guide James beat me to all of the grizzly bear sightings. I told him anybody can spot the griz but it takes talent to spot blackies.
Will be busy for most of the morning from now on. more later
I believe of the five or six days that I was there, I was able to see in the neighborhood of 25 grizzly bears, 3 musk ox, and a couple of black bears. The caribou move through as the sheds were numerous, but are not there in June. We stumbled across this old den site. It appeared that the roof had collapsed at some point.
The camp was positioned on a great vantage point. On the morning that I killed, my guide spotted 6 bears across the valley and on the other side of a river. One boar appear to be leaving the country, a sow with a couple cubs, and another boar with a sow following it.
The boar and sow were on the distant hillside and appeared to be coming down to the river in our direction. We lost sight of them when they approached the river and nearly an hour later they appeared on our side. We bailed off the perch and made an attempt to get closer.
As we approached to within 150 yards the bears turned away from us so we attempted to call at them with a predator call. It was to no avail. We then lost sight of them in some taller pine trees so we made a move to a bench in an attempt to cut them off. When we arrived at the bench we spotted the bears on the other side of the pines. This time there were three bears. The boar had met up with another sow that he must have been scent trailing. She did not like him much and took off running in the opposite direction from us. The other two bears followed at their own pace.
"So we attempted to call them with a predator call."
Just a slight adrenaline rush!
Put the sandwich down Ned, we need more story here!
Mark
Ned,
You won't starve to death if you skip a meal.....finish the story!!!
I forgot to say that just before we lost sight of them as they entered some taller trees, I was able to observe the boar back up against a tree and mark his territory. The tree looked like it had been worked over in the past. I was able to see the blackie that I shot last year do the same thing just prior to him walking into my set up.
We moved off of our bench intercept position and back in the direction from which we came. We gained elevation and as we did the guides just got a glimpse of a bear about as far as a person could see to the east. We assumed it was a bear from the trio as it was in the direction in which they were heading. We looked back on the bench from which we had just moved from and saw a nice bear. It was a good one but was determined to be a sow. Lance made a comment that I will not soon forget at that point. He said something to the effect that we should continue after the target bear as it was a once in a month opportunity for him and as it turned out, a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. So we made haste and began traversing in the direction of our three bears.
As we moved we gained elevation to enable us to see the valley more easily. We steadily moved along with me, the fat Iowa kid, lagging behind a bit. It must have been a couple hours after deciding to continue after them, that the guides spotted the sow that didn't want to have anything to do with the boar. She was a couple miles distant perhaps but we decided to head her way. As we did the guides spotted the boar with the original sow. They appeared to have broken off the wandering sow and were circling back into our position.
We were positioned uphill from the bears and the bears were steadily walking in a certain direction. In the picture, they were on the down hill side of the "alder" patch. They were walking from right to left. I was able to get down to the area on the left side of the alders where it begins to thin out. I ranged a bushy thing at 35 yards and hoped that the bear would emerge on the edge of trees. I went to my knees as I could hear something big coming through the trees. crunch crunch crunch. I saw brown and came to full draw. It was him and as he emerged and walked by broadside, I released. I knew I hit him but I felt like it wasn't the best hit. He growled and spun around a few times. He then stopped and looked in my direction half standing on his hind feet for a split second. All the while I was trying to knock another arrow and was fumbling for another arrow. I thought he had me pegged but spun and ran downhill of the alders. The guides were positioned behind me uphill so I looked back and they were high fiving. So I assumed that was a good thing. Lance felt like it was over in 15 seconds.
As I think back to the shot, he was closer than 35 and more like 30. So the shot was high. He was walking faster than I thought also, so the shot was back more than I wanted but it took out the lungs. In the pic, the bear had cut through the underside of the alders just above his hump. I was positioned just above my right shoulder. He ran 48 yards and was done. The sow sat on him for a long time before moving on. Blake and I both shot nice boars that are nearly the same score out of the same camp. That was cool! FOA runs a very well organized outfit. The area is full of bears it would seem and the guides and equipment were top notch also. I highly recommend this hunt.
Congrats to both of you!!
Thanks for sharing the stories gentlemen!
CONGRATS to both of you guys on great boars!
Can you do quick run through on your bow/arrow/BH setups?
How far per day were you hiking?
Blake had mentioned about one stalk per day for his first 5 or 6 days (Much higher than I would have anticipated!). How about your situation?
Mark
Exciting and Awesome. Couldn't of happened to a better pair of hunters. Thanks for the post.
Awesome bears and pictures you two! Thanks for sharing and CONGRATS!
One stalk a day approximately which is unbelievable in my mind. Wish I had one stalk a day on my Stones sheep hunts. lol I imagine walking anywhere from 3 to ten miles a day. It could be more or less depending on the situation. I shot a Nocam Mathews at seventy pounds. Use a ACC Prohunter with a 125 grain Silverflame German Kinetic.
The winds were forever present except for when we skinned the bear and packed it back to camp. That's when the bugs came out. Because of a cold wind most of the time, the bugs weren't bad for my hunt. The wind will mess up stalks. Those Griz have noses and know how to use them. lol Just have to get the right situation, multiple stalks help and I liked the wind to dampen sound when approaching.
Sometimes when a guide kills with another hunter, they will come and help another guide and his hunter. This was the case with me. Lance killed and came to help James and I. James and Lance in turn helped Mark and Blake after I was successful.
Ed & Blake - great write-ups and pictures! Congratulations to you both!
Ed - what was the cause of that lump on your previous years blackie? Looks like his face was all scarred up!
>>>>-------->
The blackie appeared to have a lipoma upon disection. Not sure what it was caused from. We assumed from fighting. The above pic is the sow on the dead boar.
She is most likely going through his pockets.....Great story fellows thanks for posting it up!
NED - GREAT JOB ON THE STORY AND PICS!
Mark - Stalks may not be exactly the correct terminology. Some were more like chases or attempts to intercept. With the exception of the boar and sow we saw on day 10 and put a move on, all the others (including the one I shot) were single boars covering ground relatively quickly. Opportunities for sure but we knew going in on some that the chances of success were probably not even 50/50. Mark and I did have a stalk opportunity on day 3 or 4 that we really thought was going to work while it was raining, sleeting and blowing. It was a really nice bear. When we got on final approach, the wind died and changed and we were busted. As he ran off, I think Mark's exact words were "Why can't one of them ever charge us".
I too was shooting the Mathews HTR No Cam at 70#. Easton FMJ 330 Injexion arrows with a 100 grain Solid head with ½" bleeders. I went to that broad head when I couldn't get what I'd been using in Deep Six. Only used them on this hunt and my Polar Bear hunt in April but really like them. Total arrow weight 470 grains.
Here is a picture that Ned will recognize. A nice boar that they encountered after he killed his bear. I think while they were packing it out. Lance took the pic…...
That dude cut our trail from a few hours before, turned inside out, and started running. IN OUR DIRECTION. He was like a freight train headed our way. Lance said UH OH and sent a round in front of him at about 50 to 60 yards. Had he not done that, that bear would have run through us. The shot was enough to stop him in his tracks and turn him away. A cool encounter!
Congrats guys. Great bears and stories!
Great story guys, thanks for sharing
Awesome thread guys. I already congratulated Blake but the same to you Ned. You guys had an awesome hunt thanks for sharing it. Hope the rest of the year is as good to both of you.
Mike
What an amazing experience. Congrats to you guys. Thanks for taking the time to share.
"Why can't one of them ever charge us"
Now that there deserves to become a Bowsite Classic :-)
Huge congratulations on an Amazing hunt!!!
Janez
Ned, Congratulations! Sorry we did not get more time to chat in Reno.
Did you get a chance to hang out with Mark and Frank?
That looks like one heck of a memory and accomplishment.
Thanks Mike and Scott. Scott, not so much..busy, busy. lol time does fly at the conventions. dang it And I am following your lead and will be in the same caribou camp that you were in on Sept 5.
That's awesome, congrats guys!
Blake did you say polar bear. what can you share about that hunt.
Congrats Ned and Blake. Great hunt recaps!!
Congrats to both of you... great job!!!
Great write up and pictures guys. Congratulations!!!
Congrats Blake and Ned - thanks for sharing!!!!
