Bear Bums - Bear Hunting

I mentioned briefly in a previous post that two years ago a group of five of us set out on a self guided black bear hunt in Petersburg, Alaska. We chose Petersburg as our black bear hunting location for multiple reasons, one of which was because there is a high population of black bears in the area and no brown bears to worry about.

We were actually about a 40 minutes’ boat ride from the town of Petersburg in a little cabin so called Breiland Slough on Kupreanof Island. This was a spring black bear hunt and it extended from the end of April into the beginning of May. Turns out that many bears were still in hibernation because of an extended winter. Seasons are hard to judge especially when planning so far ahead of time!

For five and a half days we got pounded with the rain, snow and wind….non-stop. We had rented two boats to get from here to there and hopefully hunt the coastlines….the tides and ocean waters were an absolute struggle.

Saturday evening Frank, Nathan and I were dropped off on the Castle River Tidal Flats to glass for black bears. Where we were sitting we could see about 3 miles across the flat and for miles to our right and left. Within the first hour we saw a mid-sized black bear appear about 400 yards to our right. After some debate, Nathan decided to go with Frank and give the stalk a try. The winds weren’t favorable and as soon as they were about in safe shooting distance the black bear got wind of them and disappeared in the trees.

When they got back I decided to walk about 150 yards around the corner to where we were glassing. Once turning the corner I could see another 2 miles to the north on a different tidal flat. Because it was low tide at the time some tall grass could be seen 2 miles away across the flat.

In the grass I could see a black dot and my heart started beating faster. After watching the dot for a couple of minutes it was obvious that it was a black bear. The stalk was on! I sprinted back to Nathan and Frank and we decided that they would go after the black bear and I would stay and keep glassing the area.

Between the three of us we only had two guns. Frank’s had been rusting up and he decided not to bring it (bad timing!). So, Nathan and Frank went on the black bear hunt with a .338 Winchester Mag. I love that rifle.

The wind was favorable throughout the stalk. It took them about 40 minutes to get within site of the black bear. At that point they were at about 250 yards. Frank drew the long straw so it was his turn to shoot. The bear had a big old head so Frank got a dead rest and took the shot. The bear immediately jumped and darted into the trees.

After a few minutes of congratulating each other Nathan and Frank walked up to see the black bear lying a few yards from where he was shot. As Frank started walking up to the bear Nathan whispered in an anxious, urgent voice, “Give me the gun, Frank…give me the gun!”. Frank turned to give him the gun when he saw what Nathan was worried about. There was a nice sized bear staring at them 30 yards away. Because the bear was facing them, Nathan took the shot right in the middle of it’s chest.

When all was said and done we had harvested two nice boars. The black bear’s skulls were 19″ plus and 21″ plus.

Our Petersburg, Alaska bear hunting experience was once-in-a-lifetime and hopefully I’ll be able to have many more.

I’m sure I missed many small and exciting details of the hunt. Hopefully, Frank and/or Nathan can comment on the details of the black bear stalk that I neglected to mention.