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Had a long hunt and fabulous weather to do it in with a good friend. And we found a very good bear.
We ate well, too:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...4/IMG_0667.jpg
The oystercatchers did not approve of our presence.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...4/IMG_0688.jpg
Okay, I see why not.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...4/IMG_0715.jpg
They should have gotten a room...
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...4/IMG_0835.jpg
Many hours were spent doing exactly this...
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...4/IMG_0736.jpg
All to find this guy...
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...earresized.jpg
Even had my picture taken with my bear...
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...4/IMG_0870.jpg
Found this in a foreleg:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...4/IMG_0879.jpg
Took some big pliers to get it out:
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...4/IMG_0880.jpg
And a lot more crab for the ride home. We pulled a "light sport pot" from 60 fathoms (6' x 60 = 360') and it just about got us gutted doing it. It was so full of tanner crabs it was ridiculous. When we dropped it back there were at least 25 more big crabs in there!
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...4/CIMG1767.jpg
Uganik Bay, Northeast Arm, Kodiak Island.
art
Thanks Art. Nice bear. How big? 9 ft. squared? How about telling us about the rifle and beautiful scope I see on it?
Looks like you guys had fun.
Denny
Congrats on the bear. Looks like a great trip. Thanks for sharing.
Nice. WTG sir.
Wow! What a monster. I noticed you kept the cape for mounting, just curious what you do with the skull?
Jim Smith
Congrats on the hunt, and that's a big crab for sure. Looks like you also went out on the "Deadliest Catch" LOL
I've been waiting for this thread and I am glad you shared. Loved the pics of you and your son with the bear. That thing looked very large. Crab looked tasty as well. Glad everything went well for you guys.
You can keep the bears. I want the crabs!!!!
Denny, the rifles used were the Kimber held by Paul in the photos and my Remington 700 in 375 Ackley Improved. The Kimber is the plain Jane 375H&H. Both of us were using the same scope, a Vortex 1-4x24 Viper PST. And yes, the bear squared out at 9' with a small bit of change.
James, the skin will be turned into a closed-mouth rug and the skull will be cleaned by beetles, whitened, sealed and kept as trophy. It will probably be more of a "trophy" than the rug, really. I have a pretty large collection of bear skulls...
Thank you for the kind comments from the rest of you, even those coveting my crabs! The only way to have improved the trip would have been for Riley to come along...
I forgot to mention the first day we rolled into the bay and went to my usual favorite anchorage and the incredibly fine folks at the local lodge stopped by and asked how many people we had aboard and handed us a crab each! That was while I was actually setting the anchor!
http://www.quartzcreeklodge.com/uganik.htm
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...4/IMG_0663.jpg
I'm curious, Hap.
Where in Alaska do you live? Where do you hunt? How far away is it? Do you travel there only by boat, or drive part ways and then boat??
Thanks
Art, what an adventure. That looks like so much fun! (And work) Wilderness, fresh crab, and the hunt...... Awesome, my friend.
Byron, I live right in South Anchorage and have only migrated about 12 miles from where I first lived in Anchorage as a kid in the early '60s. I spent winters out for quite a few years during my college years and returned full-time in '80. I have kept a boat in Kodiak for 21 years, a 40' twin diesel sport boat I used to run charters on for fishing and hunting. Politics, more than anything else, made me realize that was a dead-end.
I can leave my house and be on my boat in under two hours by flying. It is a bit under 250 miles by the direct route. From the boat I do a lot of fishing and hunting...
I have access to much of AK by a lot of different means by virtue of having a boat to grant others access... Tomorrow I will be going shrimping in Prince William Sound on a friend's boat. They will not be coming along... I do quite a bit of maintenance on the boat and tomorrow will be replacing the water heater.
My favorite line is I have the best friends a forty-foot boat in Kodiak will buy!
art
qk
Having gotten to do this many times over the decades I feel more than blessed by my options. Getting the chance to get someone like Paul out in places where he only dreamed of going and having everything come together perfectly is priceless. Especially when only the tiniest parts are under my control.
I am not used to having someone beat me at spotting game, but with Paul there was no contest. Of the 66 bears we spotted I was beaten at least 3:1. He works for Vortex Optics as their R&D guy and he is good with glass...
art
PS
Pretty sure Byron and qk have gotten previous PM invites...
Dang Hap,
Nice report.
It looks like you got Ol' Slew Foot himself!
That's a great looking bear and those crabs had to taste good!!!!!!!! Also, some great looking fur for tying!!!!!!
Something about 2 little ones in diapers and me working 2 jobs is keeping me here. :( "some day...."Quote:
Originally Posted by hap
Hap,
Do you remember those great adventure stories in Outdoor Life back in the '60s and '70s? I have a feeling you could reprise the genre. If Outdoor Life isn't interested, I bet Fur, Fish, and Game would be.
Regards,
Ed
EdQuote:
Originally Posted by Ed_D
Thanks for the kind comments... The old "Me and Joe" stories were good and likely had somethign to do with my early interests and volume in reading. My father wrote for a number of magazines, including the old "Alaska Sportsman" before they dropped the "Sportsman" and was included in a number of their anthologies. He also wrote for a lot of the gun magazines from the '60s up through the '90s.
I have also been published more than a few times in a number of outdoor magazines, including F,F,&G. Magazines are a hard way to go these days as the digital world is eating at subscription numbers and the entire way folks read has gotten spongey. Folks want to read snippets and sidebars, short "articles" with at least one "extreme" in every paragraph. I am not too old to hunt big bears, but too old to use extreme often... ;)
thanks again!
art
Art,
That's one of the reasons I mentioned FF&G as a possibility. Their articles are written for people who live outside the "sound bite world". They have entire pages of printed words, light on pictures and excess whitespace. I'm getting nostalgic just thinking about it. I'm planning to run down to Barnes and Noble to pick up the latest copy of FF&G, among other things. It's quite nice to read articles that don't include words and phrases such as; "totally", "absolutely", "for sure", "extreme" "x-(insert word), i(insert word), e(insert word), etc... I like the old "Me and Joe" stories. I like a good story that I can fall into. The first time I did a guided float down the Au Sable, I saw bends and stretches of stream exactly as they had lived in my mind for at least 30 years. It was as if that stretch of river had been described by authors I had read and that then the stream hadn't changed nor the trees grown for a third of a century. I fear that too many people miss those good dreams and their realization a half or a third of lifetime later. Thanks for stirring up that nostalgia for me. :)
Warm regards,
Ed
Awesome pics and a great report!!!
Thanks for sharing,
hNt