# A Kodiak grizzly will fall to my longbow this Oct.



## longbow

Who has dreamed they would ever get a chance to hunt Kodiak grizzly in Alaska in their lifetime? I have, but never thought I'd be able to afford it or ever have the chance. You can imagine how ecstatic I was this morning when I read "you were successful in drawing DB261"
http://www.drawresults.adfg.alaska.gov/DrawResults/Details/33233
Wahoooooo!


----------



## Westernhunter

Neat!


----------



## Vanilla

Congrats! That was my old man's dream hunt. He bought as .338 just for the occasion but never got to use it. I have that gun now and it killed its first animal this year finally on my cow elk. 

That sounds like an intense hunt. Keep us posted. If love to hear all about it!


----------



## longbow

Last year, between July and the middle of October, there were five days I DIDN'T see at least one bear. One day I saw 21. My wife saw 13 in one day the week before. Needless to say, this island is packed with bears!


----------



## bigbr

Congrats LB! Keep us updated.
Big


----------



## wyogoob

Congrats, that's cooler than the other side of the pillow!


----------



## longbow

Here's a little yearling cub coming down to steal chum salmon out of our fish ladders.


----------



## Mtnbeer

Congrats Chuck. I'm sure you'll have a great time and hold out for a big un!


----------



## longbow

Mtnbeer said:


> Congrats Chuck. I'm sure you'll have a great time and hold out for a big un!


Thanks MtnBeer. I'll keep you updated as the hunt progresses.


----------



## Critter

You do know that you have now just jinxed yourself and the hunt by proclaming that you are going to get one don't you? 

I remember watching a show on American Sportsman back in the 60's when Fred Bear arrowed one with his longbow. People asked him if he was worried after he got within 10 yards of a Kodiak and he just said that it was easier with a bow than with a rifle. He also said that with a rifle the bear know which way to go to eat the hunter but with a arrow he had no idea. 

Good luck on the upcoming hunt.


----------



## longbow

Critter said:


> You do know that you have now just jinxed yourself and the hunt by proclaming that you are going to get one don't you?
> 
> I remember watching a show on American Sportsman back in the 60's when Fred Bear arrowed one with his longbow. People asked him if he was worried after he got within 10 yards of a Kodiak and he just said that it was easier with a bow than with a rifle. He also said that with a rifle the bear know which way to go to eat the hunter but with a arrow he had no idea.
> 
> Good luck on the upcoming hunt.


It's true. I've shot three bears with a longbow while on the ground and none of them knew where the arrow came from. I think one of them had no idea she was hit.

I have a big sack of nuts when it comes to sneaking in on a black bear. I've done it many times. BUT, when it comes to stalking close to Kodiak grizzlies I experience quite a bit of shrinkage. I just can't convey in words how huge and powerful these animals are. You'd just have to see them up close to understand. Our island has many trails pounded along the creeks, through saddles and around nearly every lake. With this in mind, I plan to hunt trails from a treestand. I'm not being a chicken. It's just too thick where I live and stalking a bear in the alders is crazy. The clearcuts are too high and the bears are usually down closer to the coast and along the streams. I plan on hunting the effluent of two creeks, a trail along a lake shore, stillhunting up Midarm creek in hipboots or spot and stalk the beaches during low tide.


----------



## longbow

Here's a typical bear trail behind my house. Notice how they place their feet in the same place until they make two rows of divots about the width of a four wheeler trail.



I was standing out in front of our shop and looked up at my deck when this medium sized bear came into view. Notice the huge forearms. A good indication it's a boar.


A friend packing the skin from his bear last fall. It took three of us over two hours to skin his bear.


----------



## longbow

My fearless dog Max isn't the brightest dog. He'd already been swatted hard by a bear outside our kitchen window but apparently didn't learn much from it. Click on the picture to see the video.


----------



## 90redryder

That video is priceless, max is one fierce pooch. Maybe if you take enough of those little yappers out you could tree a Kodak bear and then shoot him.


----------



## Mtnbeer

I love hiking on those old bear trails. It makes the hiking easier, especially compared to fighting willows, alder, devil's club, and cow parsnip.

I have to tell a story about skinning bears. I was once working a checkstation and a young Air Force guy came by with a decent grizz. We told him that he had to take it into town and get the skull sealed at the ADF&G office. We then asked to see the bear. He goes to the back of the truck and pulls out this huge plastic garbage bag that was just way overloaded. He tried to get it out, but couldn't, as it was too heavy. So we helped him get it out and set it on the ground. 

First, I asked him why he put it in a plastic bag and he said he didn't have anything else. Some of the hair was starting to slip already, so I told him that he's better off keeping it out of the bag. I then noticed the head and neck were not skinned out, so I asked why he didn't skin those out. He responded that he was afraid he'd mess up. I told him that I'd show him how to do it for free, so he can learn. 

I started quickly working my way up the lower neck and the guy started making comments about being careful. Eventually, I got annoyed and said, "Look, I'm doing you a favor here and trying to teach you how to efficiently skin out a bear. Yes, it is important to go slow around the head and paws, but if you go that slow elsewhere, you'll be there all day." 

The guy then told me that it took him 10 hours to skin out the body of the bear, minus the head and neck. I laughed and said, "Well, now you know that there's no need to go that slow, but if you keep making critical comments, I'm gonna charge you a hundred bucks for this." He then clammed up and didn't say a word the rest of the time. I finished skinning out the head and neck and showed him how to work around the eyes and lips. I told him to go into town, get the skull sealed, then go get a bag of salt and salt the hide, rolling it up along the way.

We put the hide and skull in the back of his truck, and he went to town. After a couple of hours, the guy came back, pulled out $50 bucks, handed it to me, and said, "Thanks for showing me how to take care of a hide." I handed him back the money and said, "Your willingness to learn how to properly care for hides is enough payment for me, as long as you learned something." He smiled and said, "Yes, I learned alot. I now know that I had no idea what I was doing!"


----------



## scott_rn

That's awesome. I didn't draw anything this year, but may try to head over that way to shoot a goat in one of the registration hunt areas.

If you were to carry a gun, it wouldn't be big enough. It doesn't matter what caliber, it's not big enough ;-) 

That will be cool to shoot one with your bow. I carried my bow sheep hunting but there were too many rams to get close and I was glad my buddy from cache valley hauled his rifle all the way up there.


----------



## longbow

Scott, my boss' daughter drew a moose tag up your way. Do you know anything about Alexander River?

We kicked butt in the draw this year. Out of the seven of us that put in for tags, we drew two fall bear, one spring bear, two mountain goat, one moose and two elk.


----------



## Mtnbeer

Chuck, do you mean Alexander Creek? I'm not aware of an Alexander River in that area. If it's Alexander Creek, it's been a while since I've been in that area, but as of a few years ago, the moose populations were down a bit in that area. Lots of predation on moose calves (mostly black bears), but I think the locals have been working hard to knock predator numbers down. It's also fairly accessible via boat (or snowmachine in the winter) from the Mat-Su valley, so it gets a good bit of use. There's a few homes and remote cabins in that area too.

If it were me, I'd focus my time hunting the sloughs or old oxbows that have overgrown with willows. It's pretty wet in that area and most people just pass those by in their boats. Where I used to hunt there were a couple of areas like that. Many times I've watched ATV hunters go by and then after a while, moose start popping up all over the place. If you didn't stop to take the time to watch it over, you'd have no idea they were there.


----------



## scott_rn

Is it the dm540? I don't think they even have a map out for that area yet. I went to alexander lake once - we flew from anchorage.


----------



## longbow

Mtnbeer said:


> Chuck, do you mean Alexander Creek? I'm not aware of an Alexander River in that area. If it's Alexander Creek, it's been a while since I've been in that area, but as of a few years ago, the moose populations were down a bit in that area. Lots of predation on moose calves (mostly black bears), but I think the locals have been working hard to knock predator numbers down. It's also fairly accessible via boat (or snowmachine in the winter) from the Mat-Su valley, so it gets a good bit of use. There's a few homes and remote cabins in that area too.
> 
> If it were me, I'd focus my time hunting the sloughs or old oxbows that have overgrown with willows. It's pretty wet in that area and most people just pass those by in their boats. Where I used to hunt there were a couple of areas like that. Many times I've watched ATV hunters go by and then after a while, moose start popping up all over the place. If you didn't stop to take the time to watch it over, you'd have no idea they were there.


Good info Geo, I'll pass that on to my boss. It probably is Alexander Creek not river. He's renting a jet boat in Anchorage and using that to hunt from and sleep in. From what he said the river is huge and goes all the way to Danali.


----------



## longbow

scott_rn said:


> Is it the dm540? I don't think they even have a map out for that area yet. I went to alexander lake once - we flew from anchorage.


Holy cow! I love pike fishing! Did you catch those at Alexander?

I don't know what unit it is. I'll have to search AF&G website.


----------



## longbow

Scott, I looked it up and it is DM540.


----------



## Packfish

That reminds me of a story/joke of a guy who wanted to do that---------------
never mind can't write it here


----------



## scott_rn

That was alexander lake in 2011, I think it was the first year you had to keep/kill every pike caught in the mat su valley. I think there is a lot of real estate to kill a moose out there, depends on how you want to access it.


----------



## Packfish

Some nice pike !!!!!!!!!


----------



## scott_rn

Mtnbeer said:


> . If it's Alexander Creek, it's been a while since I've been in that area, but as of a few years ago, the moose populations were down a bit in that area. Lots of predation on moose calves (mostly black bears), but I think the locals have been working hard to knock predator numbers down. .


They've done the predator control program out that way on and off for a few years. I know a guy at work who tipped over half a dozen bears out there last year. They do away with the same day flying rule (when you sign up for the predator control program) so they could spot them from the air and then make a stalk. I think there are still a lot of bears but they're doing better.


----------

