K114’s Grizzly Encounter
Bears
Well, here goes…..I signed up to take K114 on a whitetail hunt with me in 2019, but due to some wires getting crossed, I was unable to receive the knife in time for my hunt. No biggie, so I put in for it again, for an Ontario black bear hunt in 2020, but we all know what happened last year. Yet again, I put my name on the list, this time for my upcoming grizzly hunt in late May of ‘21, in Alaska.
I would be hunting north of the Arctic Circle, along the Haul Road, near Coldfoot. I was hunting with Stan Parkerson & Denali Hunts, out of Fairbanks. Stan’s outfit caters strictly to bowhunters only, so he understands what is needed to get his guys into bow range of their quarry. I had a great moose hunt with him a few years ago, and was looking forward to another great adventure with him, this year.
I got in touch with Scar Finga (Mark) to see about getting the knife, and, as luck would have it, K114 was available, plus I only had to drive about 30 minutes to pick it up. My buddy Jeff (BOWNBIRDHUNTR) still had it in his possession, from his recent successful mountain lion hunt. He wrote a great thread about his adventure with the knife, called “K9’s, K114 and a killer cat”. I met Jeff at his shop and picked up the knife along with the journal. Jeff wished me well and I headed home to finish packing for Alaska.
Finally, the day arrived to head out to Alaska, and off to another one of my bucket list hunts!
I arrived in Fairbanks about 7pm, and thankfully all my luggage did as well. Stan picked me up out in front of the airport in his truck, with what would be camp for the week, in tow. He looked a little like the Beverly Hillbillies when he pulled up, but camp was very comfortable for the hunt.
We drove to Sportsman’s Warehouse to get my license and tag, then headed towards the Arctic Circle and points north.
I hope to add my name to the board this week!
I hope to add my name to the board this week!
We drove through the night, past the Arctic Circle and got to Coldfoot the next morning, before finally crashing for some much needed rest. That’s part of Stan’s plan of kind of acclimating you to the hunting routine of hunting from 5-6pm to around 7am the next morning. The sun sets for only a couple of hours, this far north in late May, and even then, there is still plenty of ambient shooting light to easily see your pins.
Very nice! Will pick this up when I get home from the weekend:)
Coldfoot, Alaska, whodathunkit ? Come on with it Troy !
I'll be checking in to see what goes on. Good luck.
Great start! Can’t wait for the rest.
The Haul Rd, pipeline and the river valley
The Haul Rd, pipeline and the river valley
Looking for cruising bears
Looking for cruising bears
We slept for a few hours and finished the drive to where we would camp for the week. We would be hunting the Haul Road that runs basically parallel with the Trans-Alaska pipeline, and runs from north of Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay. The logistics of this hunt would be to drive the road, stopping to glass the mountainsides as well as down in the river valleys and sand/gravel bars, for bears digging pea vine, ground squirrels, and other roots, etc. We would also occasionally hike up the mountainsides and glass from points, looking for cruising bears. The bear rut is going on, so hopefully we would catch some big boars cruising for receptive sows.
Getting close to old farts bed time, but I’ll check in tomorrow !
Tracks from the boar
Tracks from the boar
Pulling into a gravel pit, roughly in the middle of our hunting area, we got camp all set up for the week, and grabbed a bite to eat. I got my bow put back together with the sights, quiver, etc, and shot a few arrows. Everything seemed to be good to go for the evening hunt. We took another nap, then headed out for the first night’s hunt, which turned out to be pretty uneventful. We saw only one nice boar traveling up a stream bed, but only got to see him for about 30 seconds before he hopped up the stream bank and disappeared into some heavy timber, too thick to go after him.
The second night started out slowly, with no sightings, however, around midnight, we spotted a nice boar and a sow, down on a sandbar, digging pea vine. The boar continually trailed behind the sow, but always stayed several yards behind her. We studied the situation for awhile, then determined our plan of attack. Donning our hip boots, we worked our way down to the river, slipping in from the south to keep the NW wind in our favor. Crossing several braids of the river, and using the small amount of wispy cover available, we found ourselves less than 30 yards behind the pair. They were intently digging up the tubors and hadn’t seen us……yet. Eventually, the boar turned to our left and was basically broadside to me, but there was one small willow bush blocking any shot at his vitals. Finally, he spotted us knelt down on the bar, and took a couple of steps towards us, then stood up on his hind legs to get a better look at the two out of place blobs that weren’t there a moment ago. I drew my bow as he stood up. As quickly as he had risen, he dropped back on all fours, broadside, and I took the shot, but much too hurriedly, and only grazed his back. I had blown a great opportunity, and cursed myself as we watched the pair take off across the bar, the opposite direction (thankfully). We watched them run up into the brush on the mountainside and disappear momentarily. Soon, the sow reappeared partway up the mountain, slowly working across a big opening. She finally slowed, then stopped and lay down. She had no clue what had just happened.
The boar never reappeared, and, although certain that my shot had only creased his back, we went up several hours later, and searched for the better part of the morning, for any sign of a fatal hit or the boar. Finding very little sign at first, then none, we eventually abandoned the search. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. Normally, if you draw blood, your hunt is over, however Stan was certain that the bear was barely grazed, and he graciously allowed me to keep hunting. I can’t thank him enough for that!
Hey Troy, I looked in the mail box every day for my invitation to come along but it never showed up. What gives? :). K114 will bring you luck so treat the knife with respect as I know you will. Looking forward to the rest of the story. My best, Paul
Muskox. He seemed kinda lonely
Muskox. He seemed kinda lonely
A young bear digging roots
A young bear digging roots
Quill pig
Quill pig
We went back to camp after searching for the boar, and crashed for the day, however, I didn’t get much sleep, playing the sequence of events over and over in my head, thinking about what I could or should have done differently. I vowed not to screw up my next opportunity.
Over the next several days, we saw a good number of bears, but mostly sows and cubs. Late one evening, we spotted a boar headed up a mountainside and quickly took off after him, but we didn’t stand a chance of catching up to him. Seemingly effortlessly, he crested the top of the ridge and disappeared. A few nights later, we spotted another nice blonde colored lone bear on the same gravel bar as where I had blown the opportunity several nights earlier. We watched him for an hour, before he worked his way behind a small island of thicker brush on the bar, and disappeared. He never reappeared and we assumed he was just behind the brush or bedded in it. Using the same approach, we again ended up on the downwind side of the bar and slowly worked our way to the other end. We covered almost the entire bar, but we could never relocate the bear. Not sure if he slipped out the backside or was still bedded up in the thickest stuff. We stayed downwind of the thick stuff, but we didn’t go wading in through it, either!
Over those past several days, we saw quite a few other critters, including porcupines, several moose, including a couple of cows with calves at their sides, a lone muskox, which we saw several days in a row, always another mile or two down the road from the previous day. I also got to see a beautiful white wolf, only 150 yards away, for several moments.
Musta got lost in the mail, Paul! You know the dang postal system these days!
The Haul Road consists of portions of both gravel as well as other sections that are paved. On average, the graveled parts are in much better shape than the paved portions. The permafrost wreaks havoc on the paving, buckling and heaving it up. The traffic that we encountered during our hunt was very minimal, IMO. Mostly semi’s hauling fuel, equipment, food, etc. to Prudhoe Bay. We would also see pipeline personnel trucks, mostly during the day. There were also tourist/vacationers occasionally. We saw very little traffic while we were hunting during the nighttime hours, sometimes only 2-3 vehicles a night.
After hunting most of the night on day 8 of the hunt, we ended up on the north end of our hunting area. Glassing the mountainside, we spotted what looked to be a very nice sized bear, bedded down, about 300-400 yds away. Eventually, the bear got up and, what we thought to be a big single bear, turned into a sow and a 2yr old cub laying beside her. Well, dang it!!
It was now about 7am, so we decided to call it quits for the night, and work our way back towards camp, keeping an eye peeled for bears on our way back. We had gone a few miles south, before spotting a car pulled off to the side of the road, studying something up the mountainside. Sure enough, we spotted the grizzly they were watching, up on the hillside. We had seen a young bear in this same area a couple nights earlier, so we assumed it was the same bear. The bear finally noticed the vehicles, became nervous of our presence, and worked his way up into a little more heavy brush. The car eventually pulled out and continued northward, toward Prudhoe Bay. We studied the bear a bit more and determined it was a different bear than the young one seen earlier in this same area.
As we watched, he began to slowly work his way back down the hillside, towards the road. Stan decided that he was a bigger bear than we first thought, and we decided to at least, get a closer look at him. We grabbed our gear and headed towards where we had last seen him. He had gone down over a small rise, but as we worked our way through the cover, we finally got another visual on him. They ran fiber optic cable up to Prudhoe bay a few years back, so there is somewhat of a path where the cable had been run, that parallels the road. Between that path and the road, there was a 20-30 yd wide swath of willow brush and scattered pine trees. This is where we spied the bear, digging roots. Closing to about 100 yds, Stan said he’d stay where he was and encouraged me to try and slip in close enough for a shot.
Again, I had minimal cover to work with, but the bear was intently digging roots, so I slowly worked forward and stopped each time the bear would quit digging. Eventually, I got to within 50 yards without getting busted. Getting from 50 to 40 was going to be tuff, with lots of small, short bushes to maneuver around. I gained another 5 yards, but, while sliding past a small bush, I snapped the smallest of twigs, that I gave little thought to. Amazingly to me, the bear whipped his head up, surveying his surroundings for the possible source, then nervously snuck out onto the road and stopped, seemingly contemplating whether he had actually heard something or not. He finally decided that it was nothing, and worked his way back to where he had left off digging. After he settled in a bit, I cautiously gained a couple more yards, then snapped yet another twig! Dammit!! The bear did the exact same thing again, eventually ending up back in the same spot again! I was amazed at how incredible their hearing is.
I finally made it to where I wanted to get, and settled in, waiting for him to possibly give me a shot. Eventually, he worked his way out from behind the willows and stopped broadside next to a single scraggly pine tree. I ranged it exactly 40 yards to the tree. Studying his vitals through the binos, I determined that there were no obstructions between us. I decided to take the shot.
Lowering my rangefinder, and as I began to clip my release to the bowstring, I heard something in the distance. It was an engine and it was getting closer. The bear had heard it as well, and was staring back to the south…..Motorcycles!! Here comes 2 friggen motorcycles, one a short distance behind the other, headed north on the Haul Road at about 30mph! I figured the bear would freeze and stay put and just watch them go by…….I was wrong:-( Just as they were nearing us, the bear decides to run across the road, 20’ in front of the first rider! I couldn’t believe it!
After they motored out of sight, I eased up through the ditch to see if I could spot the bear again. Fortunately for me, he hadn’t gone far across the road, and was, in fact, headed back my way! I was pinned down in the ditch and didn’t dare move…. for several reasons! The boar slowly lumbered back across the road, 30 yards from me, and ended up right in the exact same spot. Those must have been some tasty roots! As quietly as possible, I eased my way back into the brush and tried to position myself for another possible shot at the bear, who was now only 35-40 yards from me, but in too much cover. As I knelt in the cover, waiting for the bear to give me a shot, again I hear an engine! Are you friggen kidding me??!! From the north, here comes a service pickup, and as he drives past, the damn bear runs out across the road, right in front of him! We hadn’t seen a vehicle in 4-5 hrs (other than the car parked along the road) and I have two different ones drive by in a span of 15-20 minutes! As the guy drives by, he sees us and gives us an almost apologetic shrug, as he drives on.
As I stand there in disbelief, Stan eases up beside me, and together, we slip up to the edge of the ditch, but the bear is now nowhere to be seen. We watch and glass for 10-15 minutes before we decide to go across the road to continue our search. The pipeline and the river are on that side of the road, and there is a service lane along the pipeline, for the pipeline personnel to be able to inspect and maintain it. There is quite a bit of pea vine that grows along this lane, and we thought that he might be somewhere along it. Working our way through the sparse pines, we got to the edge of the cover, and there he was, about 50 yards from the river. Back in the game!
The boar is again digging roots and is now facing directly away from us at about 125 yards. We quietly close to within 75-80 yards of his position, before stopping. Stan stays back, filming, and again I slowly work my way towards the bear. As before, I have very little cover to utilize. Fortunately, the bear is still facing away from me, and is pretty intently digging away. I slowly ease to within 30 yards, and knelt down, but still no shot. It looks like if I move a little to my left, I might have a bit of a lane, if the bear turns. Standing back up while drawing my bow, I ease just a bit to the left, and slowly begin sidestepping towards the boar, eventually closing to within 20 yards of the bruin. After seemingly forever, the bear finally turns, giving me a shot.
Settling the pin this time, I triggered the release, sending the arrow on it’s way. Upon impact of the arrow, a few inches back of the near shoulder, the boar wheeled around, roaring, trying to figure out what had just stung him. The arrow passed most of the way through him, but was still sticking out, behind his off shoulder. He snaps at the arrow with his teeth, grabbing it in his mouth, and pulls it out, takes two or three steps……and tips over DEAD! He was dead in less than 4-5 seconds! I’ve NEVER seen an animal die that fast, nor had Stan.
The pipeline runs both above ground, as well as places where it is buried underground. It just so happened that I was standing directly on top of the buried Trans-Alaska pipeline when I shot my bear. I’ll bet not too many guys can make that claim! ;-)
Stan filmed everything, up to, and including the shot, then it’s “Blair Witch Project” footage while he’s getting his pistol at the ready. He can’t see the bear very well, as I’m directly between him and the beast. He told me later that he was thinking to himself for me to shoot again! I didn’t have enough time to nock another arrow, let alone shoot! I think the bear made it about 5 yards before tipping over.
What an intense experience!
K114 getting some work in.
K114 getting some work in.
K114 is on a bit of a roll, especially on apex predators!
Stan working his magic
Stan working his magic
After tagging him, some handshakes and a few backslaps (no bro hugs), plus some photos, Stan and I (mostly Stan) set about to get my bear skinned out and packed back to the truck.
Obligatory “boots” pic (entry)
Obligatory “boots” pic (entry)
Exit hole
Exit hole
Before the hunt, I discussed with Stan what broadhead he recommends on bears. He told me that bears aren’t overly tough critters, skeleton wise, other than the shoulders. Their ribs are somewhat similar in size to deer. He recommended for me to consider shooting a Rage b-head.I also spoke with Nick Muche and a couple other guys who have had experience with using Rages on grizzlies, and they were in agreement with Stan’s assessment of them. I used a Trypan, and needless to say, I was impressed!
My arrow passed completely through the bear, but was hanging out of the far side. The broadhead almost completely severed the aorta from the top of the heart.
EDIT: I didn’t pay any attention to it while skinning him out, but looking at the entry and exit holes now, it looks like the broadhead may have passed between the ribs, and not blown through them. I wish I had paid more attention to those details…..but I was a little bit geeked at the time ;-)
Damn Nice!!
Congrats Young Fella,
Robb
Wow! What a great story. Congrats on a great looking interior. Man that shot was perfect. Nothing goes far with the Aorta severed. Another great K114 story.
Great job. That brings back a lot of memories.
Stan is great. What a heartbreaker it would have been to have been done on night 2 with a trophy fee due, and no chance at redemption. He did the right thing and you really made it count. Thanks for the story and details.
Troy
Congrats an awesome bear and exciting story. The pics were great as well.
Congrats
What a great adventure congrats!
Awesome t-roy!!! Great write up and thanks for sharing your story. Congratulations!! Bro hugs would have been acceptable :)
Congrats! Great story and pictures. Will we get to see the video sometime?
Well done and thx for posting.
WOW! "I was a little geeked at the time", you state. I guess! That was exciting Troy and what a great hunt, pics and story. You and K114 did good. PS.. Damn Postal Service. my best, Paul
Awesome job! Thanks for sharing that story.
Congrats on a great adventure! Fun story. Thanks.
Big Congrats, perfect shot too, look like there is a good number of bear on the area
Awesome story T-Roy! My dream hunt!! What did he weigh/measure?? Trophy still none the less!
Congrats!! Looking at all the blood and quick kill....I suspected a Rage might be involved. Thanks for taking the time to tell the story and for the pics. Is there a video to go with it??
Great story! What an awesome hunt and memories. Congrats Troy!
Great hunt and read, Troy! You did K114 proud.
Matt
Sounds like quite the adventure. Glad you were able to go and experience that hunt.
Big congratulations Troy! Beautiful bear, great shot on him, all around perfect trip....even got the practice shot in! Spot and stalk bears are just about the perfect bow hunt.
Awesome adventure and a great grizzly to top it off!! On the ground with grizzlies is as real as it gets and you held it together. Huge congrats Troy, you earned it!
You must have went to Kodiak with the brown bears so this interior grizzly would seem less intimidating. Good strategy.
What a beautiful bear Troy! Amazing hunt and story well told. Awesome pics. Thankyou.
Awesome Troy! We’re missing those great patriotic packing out pics. Great thread buddy!
WOW,,,,,,,,, ZIP, 5 seconds and it's done, great shot. Are you going to have a shoulder mount, rug, skull....? Can you post a video link?
Nice job man!!! And you have a moose tag in your pocket! Epic hunt recap, thanks for taking the time to do such a detailed write up.
Congratulations & a great recap on the hunt
What an adventure, you get to make multiple stalks with heart pounding adrenaline pumping through your vanes. Ya geeked out is the proper term for that. Congrats man
Congrats! Very interested in the skull- what did it measure? When you had it sealed?
Sounds like a awesome hunt and congrats on a great trophy!
Excellent write-up, what an adventure!! Good shooting.
I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!!
I LOVE THIS COUNTRY!!
Thanks for the kind words, guys! Stan has the video on his camera. He tries to video most of his client’s grizzly hunts, when feasible. He’s going to try and put together a short video for me when he gets a little down time. He’s got clients coming in this week to hunt some baits in another area that he guides in.
My bow/arrow/broadhead setup for this hunt was: Mathews Vertix set at 70lbs, CX Maxima Red arrows, Rage Trypan 2” cut broadheads. Stan estimated the bear’s weight at around 325-350 lbs. There was zero fat on him. Rough measurement on the skull was around 20.5”—21”. I can’t remember the exact measurement when they sealed it. He thinks the hide would possibly square somewhere over 7’. I plan on just doing a rug and a euro on the skull.
Before Jake (medicineman) asks……No, I didn’t try any of the meat! ;-)
On Memorial Day, we were glassing for bears, when a BLM officer stopped to visit and check our licenses. As he was leaving, he gave us each a small American flag. It was a neat gesture and a great reminder of what a wonderful country we still live in, in spite of many of the crazy things happening, and people doing their best to destroy it. Made me think for a bit, about the sacrifices so many have made, and are currently making, to protect the freedoms that we, too often, take for granted every day. A huge THANK YOU to those people! That little flag also made me think about Lou (city hunter) and a few of the other bowsiters that we’ve lost in the past few years. It seemed fitting that I was carrying K114 with me, in remembrance of Kelly. Of course Big Dan and others, as well. They are a solemn reminder for us to never take each day for granted. “Tomorrow is promised to no man”
Mission accomplished! Not sure how long it stayed on the board, though.
Mission accomplished! Not sure how long it stayed on the board, though.
Ricky Bobby
Ricky Bobby
Gobbler’s Knob at sunrise
Gobbler’s Knob at sunrise
We finished skinning my bear and packed him back to the truck, then headed back to camp for a celebratory drink (or 2) and a long nap. Later that afternoon, we broke camp and headed south to Coldfoot, for a burger, then towards Fairbanks. After crossing the Yukon River, we drove a little further south, then pulled into a camping area, for a few hours of sleep, before finishing up the drive to Fairbanks. We only had one flat tire on the trip, and we got it changed out relatively quickly. With his impact driver in his hand, Stan stated that he used to work in NASCAR. I told him “evidently, not for very long!” ;-)
The “Flower” moon breaking over the horizon
The “Flower” moon breaking over the horizon
Sukakpak Mountain
Sukakpak Mountain
It’s certainly beautiful country up there. Here’s a few random pics of my trip.
Looks a bit like a Bob Ross painting.
Looks a bit like a Bob Ross painting.
Gorgeous sunrise…or sunset. Maybe both, that far north!
Gorgeous sunrise…or sunset. Maybe both, that far north!
Congrats Troy! Hell of adventure. Just because you crossed one off the bucket list doesn’t mean you can’t put another one back on the list.
Outstanding. Thanks for sharing. Congrats - I can’t imagine being eye ball to eye ball with a grizzly
Congrats on the fine grizzly. Amazing what a well-placed sharp stick can do.
Congrats really enjoyed your journey thanks for sharing Lewis
Awesome job! Thanks for sharing that story.
I Love it!!!!!! Congrats t-roy!!
That's awesome! Of course, we already spoke but I'm happy to lend my public congrats as well!
Great job, and Stan is one of my favorite guides. He's the guy on the Homepage of Stickbow.com, BTW.
Congrats again Troy! Thanks for sharing the adventure!
Awesome Troy…congrats again. What a great hunt.
Great Recap! Thanks for taking the time. Congrats Again!! Hunt
Go get em Troy!!! Best of luck brother!!!
congratulations!
GREAT hunt and story for the K114 journal!
Speaking of the journal. I read through the journal on my flight to Fairbanks, and thoroughly enjoyed all of the entries and stories the other bowsiters have penned. One observation, though. I think a bunch of us need some penmanship lessons! ;-)
I had a hard time even reading MY OWN entries!
Congrads, beautiful Bear and great right up. Thanks for sharing.
LOVE IT TROY! Great hunt and story! I hope I fare as well as you in September. Thanks so much for sharing!!!!
Congrats on the great adventure, Troy. Well told, too.
Well done Troy! Congrats again! Thanks for posting up the pictures. It brought me right back.
Congrats! Well done on the hunt and the writeup.
Great recap Troy, Congrats!
You and K114, did Bowsite proud!
Friggin awesome! Congrats Troy! Thanks for taking us along
Very nice congratulations!!
Congrats!!! Great thread.
Awesome stuff t-roy, thanks for sharing the pics and story with us! Congrats again!!
Outstanding!! Congrats and thanks for taking us along!! K114 ceraintly has a great Bowsite history.
Great story. Just curious does alaska make you take grizz meat out. Did you eat any of it?
Congrats. Epic hunt. Thanks for sharing, Troy.
A dream hunt for most of us buddy, great re-cap and pics...congrats again!
Awesome hunt and well told! Congratulations Troy! Glad you were able to take K114 along for another awesome ride!
Beautiful bear. Congrats.
Congrats again, Troy! Loved the story and pics!
Congrats. That is one of my bucket list hunts.
Congrats! I would love to read the K114 journal. So many epic hints and adventures, any idea how many hunts and species it's up to?
Troy, that was just great ! An awesome adventure that you’ll never forget, something to make you smile to yourself in your old age. I’m envious !
Fantastic story. Epic adventure. Congratulations!
Congrats an on awesome adventure and great bear. Crazy how quickly that arrow did it’s job.
Congrats Troy. Thanks for taking us along!
Troy, what a great experience!!! I am so happy for you. If you ever need someone to tag along as a gun bearer, bow bearer, whatever.....I am your guy!!! What is your next adventure?? The wife and I are headed back to high/back country for elk in Sept. Talk to you soon!!!
Beautiful pics, excellent recap and one hell of a trophy! Congrats again Troy on a great adventure and thanks so much for sharing it with us.
Heck of a story buddy! Thanks for taking the time to put that up. Enjoyed every second of it. Those ones, that "get away" and then you end up getting can just be the sweetest sometimes! Congrats again on a wonderful and successful hunt. Forget the roll K114 has been on, you're on a roll one could only dream up!
Great recap on an incredible hunt! Congrats, buddy!
Great hunt and an even bigger adventure, thanks for sharing!
An amazing adventure. Congrats on a great bear, and great experience!
Well done… congratulations!!
Nice work Troy!! Congrats on a great bear too!
Awesome bear Troy! Great story and pics! Congrats!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing the blow by blow. Good work.
Great job Troy. Love to hear the story again over a beer some day!
Hey buddy, great write up. I've been away from my computer for a few days so glad I was able to jump on today. Iowa boys are 2-0 with K114 against the apex predators!! Pictures are so much better on a bigger screen, my cell phone didn't do them justice when you sent them to me. I'll be making a trip to Colorado to see Chris in the fall. Let me know if you need anything hauled either direction!
Congrats!!! Nice bear and fantastic history
It would be worth it for me to swing through Iowa on my way (hopefully) south this winter, just to see how big your eyes still get telling the story.
Great adventure! Congratulations. Loved the story.
Great recap of the hunt, Troy. Congrats to you!
Loved the story and the pics T-Roy! Congratulations again!
Thanks again for all the kind words, guys. I’m still smiling! I’ll try and answer some of your questions. Hopefully, I don’t miss anyone’s.
As far as the meat goes, I don’t believe Alaska requires you to salvage the meat from a grizzly. We didn’t save any of it, or eat any of it, either.
Next adventure on my list, is a Wyoming moose hunt this fall. I’m looking forward to hopefully getting hooked up with a couple of bowsiters on this hunt!
Not sure how many different entries are in the K114 journal, but I’d venture a guess of close to 2 dozen, or possibly more. Not sure on the number of different species involved, either. Definitely some great memories chronicled in it, as well as a few bloody fingerprints :-)
Jeff….I’m definitely hoping you’ll be carting some of my stuff back with you from Colorado in September, namely a Sitka blacktail, 2 whitetails, and hopefully, a muskox! I’m getting the grizzly skull done here in Iowa, and the tannery will ship the hide directly to Cris, but I’m certain he won’t be able to do anything with it by then. Maybe when he comes this way around Christmas.
I think I posted this somewhere above, but in case I didn’t, gonna rug the hide and euro the skull. Hopefully, Stan gets a chance to put a video together. If he does, I’ll try to figure out a way to post it on here as well.
Rod….if they ever let you out of Canada, I’d love to have you come by! I promise to keep the hand gestures to a minimum, when I give the “in person” recap ;-)
Also, I want to thank my wife for helping me with all the logistical aspects of my trip. I SUCK at most all IT and computer related stuff. She, OTOH, is a whiz at most of it. Although she was less than enthusiastic about a spot-n-stalk grizzly hunt, she took care of me. The minor increase on my life insurance premiums, was a good trade off.
Finally, a huge “thank you” goes out to Stan, for helping me in achieving one of my bucket list goals. If anyone is thinking of doing a s-n-s grizzly hunt, or any other hunts he offers, I HIGHLY recommend that you give him a call. You won’t go wrong! I believe that he told me that he is still batting a thousand, on getting his clients at least one legitimate shot opportunity on a shooter bear. He’s a fun guy to hunt with, as well. As Pat pointed out, that’s Stan in the pic.
T-roy I don't know if you still K114 but if you do could you start a thread with a pic of each recap that would be really cool to see. But from the sounds of things you might have to have your IT department aka your wife assist
John…I’ve already sent it on it’s way, besides, it was all I could do to get my wife to pick me up at the airport, last week. I’m working on HER honeydoos, now!
Good job with hunt, story, and remembering to publicly thank your wife ( very nice touch ). Congratulations on all counts! ....... Badbull
Thanks for sharing your awesome adventure, always makes my work night go better with a smile on my face!
Great job Troy. Congrats!
Nice work Troy! Great write up. I could easily see myself screwing up a shot too after a bear like that stands up on 2 legs and sees me. Probably would have to change my underwear too.
That's awesome! COngrats!
Thanks for sharing and congratulations!
Congrats Troy! Great bear and adventure!
Congrats t-roy
Thanks for sharing your adventure with the K-114
Don Harris
Troy, that was epic and I hate to say it, but I am glad your hunt/adventure didn't end on day 2 and that you got to spend more time up there.
Slim chance I might be looking for a cancellation/last second hunt in late August or early September depending on my job situation. Any advice for me??
Congratulations T-Roy! Heck of a story and Bear.
Hoping I can share one of my own come this fall.
Great bear and great story! Thanks for Sharing!
Thanks for taking us along! Great bear and beautiful pictures. Congratulations!
I missed this when it was posted and had to track it down after seeing it mentioned on the 2021 bear thread.
I thought two things when reading the story…one was…”holy sh*t! Troy missed?!? He is human!”
Secondly, I noticed you avoided those 55 yard shots. Smart!!
Congrats bud, on a helluva hunt and one helluva bear!
Thanks Jason. If he had given me a good shot at 55, I would have taken it! Little less pucker factor than at twenty ;-)
Troy was the miss caused by the pucker factor?! Hahaha. I know that woulda been my excuse lol! Puckered to tight and zoom right over his back lol
Hey Troy, how bout showing us a picture of the skull since I know you got it back! Thanks for dropping off my cat skull!! Any signs of a Cactus near your stand this week?
Thanks for bringing this to the top, BEG. What a fantastic story! I was off-grid camping with sweetie and missed it the first time. Troy, congratulations on a beautiful animal after an epic hunt!
Dent in the skull
Dent in the skull
Thanks, Lou. Here’s a pic of the skull, Jeff. Not sure if there’s any good way to take a pic of a skull. I didn’t realize there was a dent in my bear’s skull, until I got it back from the bug guy. You can see it in the second pic. Makes a guy wonder how he got that!
Jeff…funny you should mention Cactus…….almost closed the deal on him this evening! He came in along the edge of the ravine, working a natural scrape line. He got to within 22 yards, but never gave me a good shot. He turned around and went back the other direction, but he hung around on the flat until dark, out of range. Maybe tomorrow!
“ Hey Troy, how bout showing us a picture of the skull since I know you got it back!”
And bam! The pics up… let me try, Hey Troy… how about putting me in your favorite tree stand in 3 weeks?
Nice looking skull
Sorry, Shug. Jeff’s request was the third and final wish….You should have asked yesterday! ;-)
Damm story of my life an inch short and a day late.Ty anyway LOL…
Not sure how I missed this one. Congrats Troy. Great recap!
I missed it as well, congrats and great stuff Troy!
Congrats!!! Totally missed this story earlier as well. What an adventure! and you put some time into it which makes it even better! More experiences.
I missed it as well, congrats and great stuff Troy!
Hi!! It’s kelly’s daughter morgan. I haven’t been on here in almost a year but felt the need to get on. So glad to see this thread near the top of the page!! I don’t want to read through the thread as I want to hear your adventures when I receive the journal. Thank you all for keeping dads memory alive. You’re the best!!!
Glad to see you on here, Morgan! Hopefully you and your family are doing well. It was an honor to get to carry K114 with me, on my hunt, in your dad’s memory. I read the stories in the journal, while on my flight to Alaska, and although our penmanship skills were sometimes a bit lacking, the gist of the entries will certainly bring you a few smiles, and perhaps a tear or two, as well.
Damn, I thought "how did I,m iss this thread"? Then I saw the date (newbie here) Great hunt TRoy.
T it would have been so cool if he attacked you and you used K-114 to kill him and save your remaining leg and your life but I’ll settle for this. Hehe
Excellent thread Troy.. nice work brother..
In keeping with the K114 theme.
