Pics from my Brown Bear hunt...
- Thread starter FLIPPER
- Start date
Gents,
Took a few days this week to run up north about 90 miles with a friend from work, and hunt brown bear.
He shot one, I held out, still waiting for something a bit larger. The one he got is a very nice looking seven footer.
This is how he fell. Like my black bear this Spring, this bear fell nose first into the water too. It was high tide though and we didn't have to move the bear before skinning it out. But, there wasn't much 'breathing room' between the bear and the trees.
The area we were hunting was chocked full of bears, but just no really big ones. It was quite the nursery, as we saw lot's of young bears and sows with cubs. Here's a track that seemed bigger than the rest. Never saw the bear that made it though. That's a 416 Taylor cartridge laying in the track...
View of the dock were we could buy gas. My boat is of course the smaller one on the far side of the floating dock. The ladder is the only way up to the big dock, and is quite slippery at low tide. It's still not completely low in the shot, it's got a few more feet to go.
Came across these two Blacktails swimming between the islands while we were heading back home.
They darn near swam straight in front of the boat! I think when they turned their heads to look at us, it caused them to change course. This is what 'full reverse' looks like on my boat.
It was a very fun hunt. Lot's of walking up rivers and tromping through very thick rain forest trying to sneak up on bears.
I'll be going again soon, as the salmon runs are starting to die out.
Took a few days this week to run up north about 90 miles with a friend from work, and hunt brown bear.
He shot one, I held out, still waiting for something a bit larger. The one he got is a very nice looking seven footer.
This is how he fell. Like my black bear this Spring, this bear fell nose first into the water too. It was high tide though and we didn't have to move the bear before skinning it out. But, there wasn't much 'breathing room' between the bear and the trees.
The area we were hunting was chocked full of bears, but just no really big ones. It was quite the nursery, as we saw lot's of young bears and sows with cubs. Here's a track that seemed bigger than the rest. Never saw the bear that made it though. That's a 416 Taylor cartridge laying in the track...
View of the dock were we could buy gas. My boat is of course the smaller one on the far side of the floating dock. The ladder is the only way up to the big dock, and is quite slippery at low tide. It's still not completely low in the shot, it's got a few more feet to go.
Came across these two Blacktails swimming between the islands while we were heading back home.
They darn near swam straight in front of the boat! I think when they turned their heads to look at us, it caused them to change course. This is what 'full reverse' looks like on my boat.
It was a very fun hunt. Lot's of walking up rivers and tromping through very thick rain forest trying to sneak up on bears.
I'll be going again soon, as the salmon runs are starting to die out.
Nut
New member
Great pics and congrats on the sucessful bear hunt. Thanks for sharing 
Kraven
New member
Congrats on a successful hunt BW.Great pics.
Delw
Member
BW cool pics of the deer swimming... and way to go on the bear....
Delw
Delw
Moosie
Grand poopa
Brian.. I notice you took the Pictures at angles.. Next time take one from the side *WINK*
Seriously though, thats COOL !!!! Glad you had a good trip, Can you get one there every year or is it a 4 year thing, I heard somethnig about that ?~? Eithewr way, at least you get to hunt them, Won't be in my reality for a LONG time
Kudos to your friend !!!!
*WINK*Seriously though, thats COOL !!!! Glad you had a good trip, Can you get one there every year or is it a 4 year thing, I heard somethnig about that ?~? Eithewr way, at least you get to hunt them, Won't be in my reality for a LONG time
Kudos to your friend !!!!
Moosie,
Your not far off, as I did take the pictures from the head end to help make the bear look bigger.
The pictures I took with my buddies camera (of him and the bear) I made sure that he was up close behind the bear, and not a couple feet back in order to make the bear look bigger that way.
Kind of a weird set of values I guess, taking the picture one way to make it look better, but not intentionally trying to decieve the viewer.
S.E. Alaska is a 'one every four years' area. That's why I'm trying to hold off for a good'in.
I've got the rest of this season, then next Spring to get one. After that I may be forced down to the 'lower 48' for a couple years before I retire and return to Sitka.
I posted a few more pictures over at the 'Campfire' in the Alaska Hunting section. Or was at AccurateReloading.com? I forget, but there's more narative about the final stalk at the 'Campfire'. I don't get the impression, that you guys here are too shy to go back there and read it!
Thanks to all for the kind words!...
Your not far off, as I did take the pictures from the head end to help make the bear look bigger.
The pictures I took with my buddies camera (of him and the bear) I made sure that he was up close behind the bear, and not a couple feet back in order to make the bear look bigger that way.
Kind of a weird set of values I guess, taking the picture one way to make it look better, but not intentionally trying to decieve the viewer.
S.E. Alaska is a 'one every four years' area. That's why I'm trying to hold off for a good'in.
I posted a few more pictures over at the 'Campfire' in the Alaska Hunting section. Or was at AccurateReloading.com? I forget, but there's more narative about the final stalk at the 'Campfire'. I don't get the impression, that you guys here are too shy to go back there and read it!
Thanks to all for the kind words!...
D
Deerslayer
Guest
Good hunt Brian...and NICE boat!!!
...but I don't think your friends bear is legal.......I happen to be an excellent judge of bears......and it's obvious this is a sow, that no doubt had cubs with here. I mean, look at the head.....if you look closely, you can see her lipstick, and she has that look pf a caring mother, obviously devoted to her young................................................I'm just Phucking with ya buddy! 
...but I don't think your friends bear is legal.......I happen to be an excellent judge of bears......and it's obvious this is a sow, that no doubt had cubs with here. I mean, look at the head.....if you look closely, you can see her lipstick, and she has that look pf a caring mother, obviously devoted to her young................................................I'm just Phucking with ya buddy!
Thanks DS!
You guys are nice and all, but got the wrong idea about my boat...
It's a 1976 Fiberform, 24ft, cabin cruiser. She looks nice in the far away pictures, but not so nice up close.
The one positive side though, is that I put in a brand new Volvo-Penta (chevy 350) engine and Duo-prop outdrive last summer. She runs great. Burns about 10 gallons an hour at 25mph, that's 2.5 miles per gallon! That's why there's an 80 gallon gas tank, and I carried 30 extra gallons in jerry jugs for this trip.
Oh, and keep it quiet about the 'sow with cubs' deal. I'm going to tan the cubs myself, and make a nice toilet seat cover and rug set...
<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 09-29-2002 20:10: Message edited by: BW ]</font>
You guys are nice and all, but got the wrong idea about my boat...
It's a 1976 Fiberform, 24ft, cabin cruiser. She looks nice in the far away pictures, but not so nice up close.
The one positive side though, is that I put in a brand new Volvo-Penta (chevy 350) engine and Duo-prop outdrive last summer. She runs great. Burns about 10 gallons an hour at 25mph, that's 2.5 miles per gallon! That's why there's an 80 gallon gas tank, and I carried 30 extra gallons in jerry jugs for this trip.
Oh, and keep it quiet about the 'sow with cubs' deal. I'm going to tan the cubs myself, and make a nice toilet seat cover and rug set...
<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 09-29-2002 20:10: Message edited by: BW ]</font>
Moosie
Grand poopa
LOL BW, the last set of Cubs I got were only big enough for slippers
ALSO, I"M done with 24hour and other places this time of year.. ALL I have time is for here and hunting... DS's postings was my last J. SPRINGER HOOO RAAAAHHH !!! haha
Anyways, Post a story here or post a link so I can Glance real fast, I'd like to see it.
YOU said a few years in the lower 48.. YOU going to be one of us now ? Or jsut bless us durring the hunting season ?!?!?
ALSO, I"M done with 24hour and other places this time of year.. ALL I have time is for here and hunting... DS's postings was my last J. SPRINGER HOOO RAAAAHHH !!! haha
Anyways, Post a story here or post a link so I can Glance real fast, I'd like to see it.
YOU said a few years in the lower 48.. YOU going to be one of us now ? Or jsut bless us durring the hunting season ?!?!?
Okay, here's the part I added about the actual shooting...
We snuck within 100 yards of this bear, after spotting it from the boat, then taking the raft ashore. Due to the very narrow 'beachline' (mostly rock) we had to hike through the trees, sidehilling the steep terrain.
When we got to a distance he felt comfortable shooting, we stopped and got ready. My bud chose to lay prone, using a log for a front rest. He was under a low tree, and the bear could not see him. The only other spot for me was actually out on the rocks, nearly 100% exposed to the bear.
I was very worried about the bear seeing me, as it was facing our direction eating a salmon. It did look up a couple times, directly at us. I guess the fact I was hunkered down, not quite kneeling as I was still on two feet, wearing green raingear, and the rifle was pointed directly at him, made me look like a part of the shoreline.
My buddy and I had already agreed that I would shoot the bear too. We wanted to insure the bear did not run off into the thick cover, and risk losing him. So using a Browning A-Bolt (that's another subject altogether!) chambered in 338 Win Mag, he waited for the bear to raise it's head and aimed for the front of the chest. I just kept my crosshairs on the bear, waiting for whatever shot would be presented after the bear was hit from the first shot.
Well, the bear raised it's head, I heard the Browning fire, and I flinched a bit from the noise. When the scope settled on the bear again (it didn't move much, it only took a split-second) the bear had turned to it's left, our right, and I placed my sights on it's chest area and fired. Due to my less than stable position, the 416 Taylors recoil, and working another round into the chamber, It took a second to get the scope back on the bear. It was gone! Well, that's what I thought. Actually it was laying right there, nose in the water. Whew!
When we started checking out the bear, we found that my buddy's bullet had hit the bear right above it's left eye. Apparently the bear had moved his head back down in the time it took my friend to make the decision, pull the trigger, and send the bullet down range. It was getting dark and we looked for bullet damage while skinning the bear. So far oour best theory is the bullet (230gr FailSafe) entered the skull, traveled lengthwise through the body, and ended up in the right rear leg. We didn't find the bullet, but suspect it was buried in there. There were two confusing bullet wounds on the chest. One appeared to be an exit wound, and the other an entrance wound. We did recover my 370gr NorthFork under the hide on the far side of the chest. I think my shot was strictly a chest shot with no bone damage. I'll take a picture of my bullet, and post it here. But it looks exactly like a magazine ad, and just like the one I recovered from my black bear, perfect mushroom.
We've got a local bear guide lined up to help us remove the hide from the skull Monday. We should know more about that next week. I'll take pictures of that too.
We snuck within 100 yards of this bear, after spotting it from the boat, then taking the raft ashore. Due to the very narrow 'beachline' (mostly rock) we had to hike through the trees, sidehilling the steep terrain.
When we got to a distance he felt comfortable shooting, we stopped and got ready. My bud chose to lay prone, using a log for a front rest. He was under a low tree, and the bear could not see him. The only other spot for me was actually out on the rocks, nearly 100% exposed to the bear.
I was very worried about the bear seeing me, as it was facing our direction eating a salmon. It did look up a couple times, directly at us. I guess the fact I was hunkered down, not quite kneeling as I was still on two feet, wearing green raingear, and the rifle was pointed directly at him, made me look like a part of the shoreline.
My buddy and I had already agreed that I would shoot the bear too. We wanted to insure the bear did not run off into the thick cover, and risk losing him. So using a Browning A-Bolt (that's another subject altogether!) chambered in 338 Win Mag, he waited for the bear to raise it's head and aimed for the front of the chest. I just kept my crosshairs on the bear, waiting for whatever shot would be presented after the bear was hit from the first shot.
Well, the bear raised it's head, I heard the Browning fire, and I flinched a bit from the noise. When the scope settled on the bear again (it didn't move much, it only took a split-second) the bear had turned to it's left, our right, and I placed my sights on it's chest area and fired. Due to my less than stable position, the 416 Taylors recoil, and working another round into the chamber, It took a second to get the scope back on the bear. It was gone! Well, that's what I thought. Actually it was laying right there, nose in the water. Whew!
When we started checking out the bear, we found that my buddy's bullet had hit the bear right above it's left eye. Apparently the bear had moved his head back down in the time it took my friend to make the decision, pull the trigger, and send the bullet down range. It was getting dark and we looked for bullet damage while skinning the bear. So far oour best theory is the bullet (230gr FailSafe) entered the skull, traveled lengthwise through the body, and ended up in the right rear leg. We didn't find the bullet, but suspect it was buried in there. There were two confusing bullet wounds on the chest. One appeared to be an exit wound, and the other an entrance wound. We did recover my 370gr NorthFork under the hide on the far side of the chest. I think my shot was strictly a chest shot with no bone damage. I'll take a picture of my bullet, and post it here. But it looks exactly like a magazine ad, and just like the one I recovered from my black bear, perfect mushroom.
We've got a local bear guide lined up to help us remove the hide from the skull Monday. We should know more about that next week. I'll take pictures of that too.
Some more pictures...
This picture was taken the day before we shot the bear. Basically I'm standing a few hundred feet offshore from where the bear was killed. But at low tide of course! The buildings in the distance are the old cannery...
A sow and two cubs. The light color cub will look really nice in a few years...
Looking up at the dock. That's where the gas is, but we didn't need any. When you climb the ladders, the first thing you get is a face full of dog!
This picture was taken the day before we shot the bear. Basically I'm standing a few hundred feet offshore from where the bear was killed. But at low tide of course! The buildings in the distance are the old cannery...
A sow and two cubs. The light color cub will look really nice in a few years...
Looking up at the dock. That's where the gas is, but we didn't need any. When you climb the ladders, the first thing you get is a face full of dog!
csutton7
Active member
great pics and WTG--good luck on gettin' a Bear for yourself--chris
Calif. Hunter
Active member
Great story! Good luck with your bear.
Tom
New member
Thanks for the great pictures and story. I hope you get a good one!
Elkhunter
New member
Those are some awesome pics
Thanks for the great pictures and story.
Thanks for the great pictures and story.
