Bear Bums - Bear Hunting

One month and two weeks from now will find the four of us in Ketchikan, Alaska on our way to our one week black bear, deer hunt and fishing trip. The intense anxiety I’ve had in securing the material and ensuring we have the knowledge to pull this off is now much reduced and I’m finding myself excited for this next hunt.

I can picture one of us on the bank of the Karta River surrounded by the noise of the river. It will be thick with vegetation with fir trees, willow, grass and alders. A huge black bear, perhaps over 7 feet, will suddenly and quietly appear. That would be enough for the hunt to be successful, but for us there will be much more. Getting wet, drying off, cooking, eating, skinning, fishing, story telling, snoring. It’s going to be a good hunt.

Here are a few new specifics I may not have mentioned and may be helpful to your future hunting plans.

1. The airlines in general are allowing only one checked on luggage bag. This cuts your weight in half and makes a gun case extra luggage.
2. A single float plane cannot get four of us in without us giving more than we feel we can allow. We’ll take 2 float planes and will have 2,100 lbs (that includes us, motor, food, pots and pans, guns, salt, fuel—the works) Alaska Sea Plane Tours—Ketchikan Alaska.
3. A bear tag in Alaska will work for a deer harvest but not for both.
4. It was easy to borrow fishing stuff except the lures which must get lost easily.
5. We rented, instead of purchased, a box of cooking items, lantern, stove, small boat motor and life jackets.
6. The price for doing this bear hunting trip has almost doubled from two years ago and is still way less than ½ the price of a guided hunt.
7. We can get bulk salt from the local taxidermist and leave our trophies with him if we’re impressed with his work.

We’ll work hard, freeze, sweat and get wet, and it’s going to be a riot.

In response to a BearBums reader I thought I’d talk for a minute about specific hunting boots I like.

Thanks for the comment! I do have my favorite hunting boot for vigorous hunts and have tried many that are good. Those of you with bad feet require extra effort in satisfying our feet’s complaints. In the early 1990s I had a desert sheep hunt in Utah and used a pair of Vasque Leather Boots. I had been warned the toes would wear out if I didn’t try and stop it so I coated the toes with a rubber covering. These shoes were light yet rough and the coating over the toes saved my feet. I’ve worn those shoes out over the years.

Vasque Leather Hunting Boots

My most difficult sheep hunt was with Glen Wilsie in Alberta and once again it was a tough hunt. Here I had a pair of Meindl’s I got at Cabela’s. I’m still wearing this shoe. They’re stiff, hard toed and heavy and great for the rocks of serious sheep hunting.

Big black bear hunting is different. There can be a lot of walking but not much in comparison to sheep walking. Here I like lighter boots, like Danner Trophy 600G Hunting Boots, Vasque or a tough canvas shoe like they use in Africa. The Russell shoe/boot hit this role.

Danner Leather Hunting Boots

You’ll see it repeated a lot, but remember, a good boat is only good after you’ve broken it in. I often find myself feeding the horses, changing irrigation water and just going on made up hikes with a pair of new boots.

Boots will become your good friend faster if you treat them well. They seem to very much enjoy attention. I’m Read the rest of this entry »

I just read this article about bear overpopulation in the Ontario, Canada area. Here are some of my thoughts.

Some of the reasons I love bear hunting….I’m not sure I can number them without leaving out the most important or make it not sound like a political statement.

1. Bears have individual unpredictable personalities
2. Bears have personalities
3. There are bears pretty well all over the world (remember the bears of India—Major Jim Corbett; pandas, polar bears, grizzlies, browns, sun bears and the list goes on and on all over the world)
4. I can see them (if I keep my eyes open I see bears when I’m driving places, fall hunting, spring hunting etc.)
5. Bears, for the most part, are over-numerous.
6. Bears are quiet, loud, sneaky, shy, and aggressive and many times all at once.
7. With a little planning I can hunt them almost every year and have a great time doing it.

Articles like this one about Ontario, Canada bug me! I realize as hunters we’re stuck in a political mess and in many ways our neighbors to the north are worse off, like with gun laws and federal level laws.

I’ve been nervous as I’ve watched how our federal government handles issues like the wild horses and burros. Instead of making money on cowboys enjoying roping these wild animals we spend million of dollars on federal programs that do not work on capturing (with helicopters) and selling the horses to tree huggers.

We’ve (federally) acted similarly with the wolves, tree owls and even with our oil reserves. STOP ME! Anyhow, Canada in ways has a more difficult deal with national government than the USA has, but as hunters and bearbums we’re buddies. The Provinces of Canada have a huge resource with their bear population. Some of the lower States and Alaska have the same resource. I hope we can help out by sharing our excitement about bears and even our incomes as we travel and hunt in these locations. The loss of spring bear hunting in a Province like Ontario hurts us all.

Sorry about the politics. Take some time and read an old time story about hunting. See what we’ve given up and what we still have! Campfires In The Canadian Rockies or Man-Eaters of Kumaon by Major Jim Corbett.

I guess when I’m writing I think I’m speaking to a bunch of bear hunters sitting around the fire after a good day. In reality many of us are forced to satisfy our burn to hunt big black bears with reading, dreaming and the like. To satisfy those of us that dream and may not have a grasp on black bear numbers here’s a few words on the bear numbers.

Over the years I realize I have subconsciously selected and increased the likelihood of me being around hunters. Check out my today:

I was reminded, a past neighbor Kody, was headed to Blanding, Utah to start the dogs on bear tracks as the season opened this week end. The big problem with bear hunting in this area is too many bears. Dogs can’t stay on one track to the end without crossing other black bear tracks. Tough problem!?

Then here shows up a young man whose camper got ripped up by some black bears. He had the photos to Read the rest of this entry »