# Another Kodiak Brown bear hunt!



## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

My boss drew a brown bear tag for this spring. He knew I'm a bear hunting fool and can keep my crap in one pile while under pressure so he invited me to go along to assist. "Dang rights I'll help!" Alaska lets us pick any 15 days we want to hunt during the season. He started his hunt on the 2nd of April. For the first week he wanted to camp out and hunt alone with his wife so I took them to a remote beach about 15 miles away and dropped them off. While we were unloading the boat a beautiful bear with blonde socks and ears strolled out of the old growth and onto the beach not 100 yards away. We estimated him at about a 7 footer. We know he's just a punk compared to the brutes we've seen around here. Randy passed on him. After I left, Randy and his wife had another bear come visit while they were making camp. He had heard the noise and came to investigate. As soon as he realized it was humans he'd heard, he lumbered outta there. I was supposed to pick them up in three days but their electric fence quit and Kelsie was having none of that. She radioed me and I came and picked them up the next day.
A few days later Randy and I hit Izhut Bay to check beaches and clearcuts for bears and tracks. We saw a decent bear heading up through a clearcut so we took off after him. We followed him over the crest of a hill and sneaked over to relocate him. We finally saw him digging a bed 100 yds away on the other side of a ravine. If you've never seen a grizzly dig a bed I'm here to tell you, it's impressive! Within second they can dig a 5x3, 2 foot deep hole. They always look like a peanut shape. Each end of the oval bed is deeper than the middle. One end is for their huge shoulders and the other for their big fat butt.
The wind swirled and he got upset, stood up and started pounding his front paws on the ground and huffed. I had measured his tracks back along the trail and figured him at 8+ foot. Randy passed him up. As we backed up the bear followed us for about 75 yards. It's hard to walk backwards through a clearcut while keeping an eye on an agitated bear.
During the next days we spotted a sow and cub and four other loners. Only one was big enough to shoot and he eluded us.
Today was Randy's last day. His GPS said that so far we had put total of 160 miles on our boat and who knows how many miles on foot. This time his wife wanted to come along. The first beach we spotted had a bear on it. I motored the boat around a bend on the downwind side and the stalk was on! We sneaked just inside the trees until we were about 75 yards away. At Randy's shot, the bear took off for the trees. [email protected]! As soon as he entered the trees he rolled back out and down to the beach. What a relief! A wounded Kodiak brown bear is serious, serious business. What an awesome adventure. I love hunting bears.


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## riptheirlips (Jun 30, 2008)

Way cool!

Asparagus is on I will head to Perry this week and check out the spot you mentioned.


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## Critter (Mar 20, 2010)

Some people have all the fun. 

Congrats to the hunter and helpers.


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## Dunkem (May 8, 2012)

Nice,living the dream.


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## waspocrew (Nov 26, 2011)

That's a great looking bear! Sure seems like you have a great time up there!


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

Awesome!!!


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## Springville Shooter (Oct 15, 2010)

Holy smokes! What did he shoot him with?-----SS


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

A 300 WinMag with Federal 200 grain AccuBonds. He shot through and through behind the shoulders. Bear's ribs are little thin wispy things but good lord their shoulders and neck are incredibly thick and tough as a tank. For once I didn't inspect the wound channel but it looked like he took out the top of the heart.


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## Mtnbeer (Jul 15, 2012)

Nice work Randy and Chuck! Were you finding them feeding on the salt grass in the sedge flats? 

I've had that exact situation happen with a brown bear, where they run into the thick brush right after the shot. Same as y'all, though, it was dead, it just didn't realize it for a few seconds. Definite pucker factor though!


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## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Mtnbeer said:


> Nice work Randy and Chuck! Were you finding them feeding on the salt grass in the sedge flats?
> 
> I've had that exact situation happen with a brown bear, where they run into the thick brush right after the shot. Same as y'all, though, it was dead, it just didn't realize it for a few seconds. Definite pucker factor though!


There were bear track on the flats in the back of Saposa, Black Sand and Pillar but we couldn't catch them there. Randy's bear was chomping on a long strand of kelp of all things. I thought they only ate that in the early winter.

When are you coming back up to do more research for us?


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## Mtnbeer (Jul 15, 2012)

longbow said:


> There were bear track on the flats in the back of Saposa, Black Sand and Pillar but we couldn't catch them there. Randy's bear was chomping on a long strand of kelp of all things. I thought they only ate that in the early winter.
> 
> When are you coming back up to do more research for us?


Only time I've seen them eat kelp is when they come out of hibernation before the tender shoots of salt grass start coming up.

As for when I'm coming back up, I'm not sure. The contract I had with y'all is pretty much over (at least my part) and I don't know if Tina and Trent want to go through that mess again with the Refuge anytime soon (me either for that matter).


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