Bear Bums - Bear Hunting

Our ongoing personal list for the 2008 Prince of Wales Island, Alaska black bear hunt. We’ll be in a small forest service cabin on a lake with well over 5 miles of salmon streams to hunt and fish on. (Salmon Lake Cabin—Karta River system)

1. Rifle/scope, scope covers, sling - (I don’t like scope covers, but in this case it is inevitable—they keep water out and in. I can shoot a scope that’s wet but not one that’s foggy)

2. 40 rounds of ammunition - (sight your gun in after the airplane ride) It has to be in it’s original containers for commercial flying! Pack it separate from your gun.

3. Binoculars - (don’t forget these)

4. Spotting scope - (We’ll have two. One for each group) They are expensive and heavy so make the younger guys carry them.

5. Sleeping bag, air mattress - (Not a huge one) The great big bed mattresses are not good-too heavy and would take up the whole cabin. I think our cabin is 16ft X 20ft. Therm-a-Rest, Slumberjack or the new Exped Downmat 7 Sleeping Pad that I Iove and blogged about.

6. Small Pillow - The small down squish-able ones the size of a loaf of bread or just use your sweater, if you’re a good sleeper. Do not take the one off your bed!

7. Small backpack - There are a lot of backpacks out there. We’ll be carrying lunch, waders, and emergent stuff, so we’ll need one that’s not tiny. I like ones with real back support and I want it to be as big as the air line will let me carry on. Maybe I’m cheating but I found I can take a fairly big back pack as a carry on then check it just before I board because it’s to big for the little jets luggage overhead bins. My very favorite are the Osprey Packs. Also the Go Lite Infinity or Granite Gear Pack I’ve used and are good. Try and have at least 3600cc size pack.

8. Water canteen - I just use plastic water bottles and I usually carry 2 quart size bottle. On short trips one is plenty. I wouldn’t spend money on this.

9. Knife (sharpening stone) - Know your knife. Remember this is a big part of the hunt. Check out my post on skinning a bear. I LOVE KNIVES!

10. Camera and Film - I have trouble with this one. Usually I do best with the smallest camera I can get and I keep it in jacket pocket or a pack side pocket stored in a heavy duty baggy. Or, I bring someone that knows cameras and likes to hunt with me.

11. Light nylon rope (for backpack) - For an emergent tarp or to aid in skinning and a thousand other uses. Twine string from hay bales would work but it’s a bit messy.

12. Flashlight, GPS, Batteries (small) - These can save your life. I carry one or those little head lamps, like a Petzl and a Compact Flashlight of some sort. Both with extra batteries. The popular Sure-fire lithium lights are great but they run out of battery juice fast and are heavier. If it’s dark it doesn’t take much of a light to let you see. I’ve run out of battery juice before while bear hunting….no bueno.

13. Sunglasses, regular glasses - I wouldn’t take them if you not dependent on them. The coast of Alaska is not famous for being sunny.

14. Reading book - Maybe even take a journal if you think you will have time to write down the cool bear hunting experiences you’ll have.

15. Emergency kit (simple) - Small match container or cigarette lighter. Think of what you use at home. Aspirin, Tylenol, Band-Aids, pins etc.

CLOTHING

1. Good rain gear (top/bottoms) rubber if possible-make sure it will cover your head when needed. Helly Hansen light rubber. I’ve blogged a little about this before.

2. Pants (light wool) I’m wool fan. Levis have helped me freeze to death too many times. The army surplus wool is fine. You’ll need to line them with silk or thin underwear or they itch. There are new fancy materials. I just don’t know about them.

3. Chest waders and boots for them. All the fishing stores have them. We did better with insulation over our skin and not in the boots. Cabelas, REI, Bass sports shops etc.

4. Hiking boots. I use leather gortex boots that are broken in. On this bear hunt if we wear them they will get wet and we’ll dry them out. Make sure they’re broken in

5 Vest, coat - Light and heavy.

6. Socks - Light and heavy. I usually take about one pair of socks for two days and I always come back with clean socks. I like silk on my feet and a good hiking sock over the silk. Wool is good but remember it itches so it has to be lined.

7. Shirts, t-shirts, long sleeved shirts, sweater - Our September bear hunt will not be hot so take two t-shirts and one long sleeved light shirt and one long sleeved heavy shirt.

8. Long underwear - silk or polypropylene, best take two pair. Under Armour is nice and there are generics and many other brands. Patagonia and Smart Wool make good light underwear.

9. Camp shoes - moccasins are okay, but in a really wet place slip on rubber boot are good. I use heavy socks for indoors.

10. Hat, gloves - One baseball cap, one winter type socking cap. At least three pair of wool gloves. Remember to dry stuff out every night.

11. Personal items - Medicine, aspirin, band aids, shampoo, sunscreen, soap ( don’t over lap with you 1st aid kit).

12. Chap Stick, moleskin antacid, towel I’ve noticed a lot of hunters are addicted to ChapStick. Vaseline works also. Keep everything small.

GENERAL

1. Duffel bags - Luggage-not suitcases soft smash able stuff always works well. Don’t get to giant with the duffle bag, the air line only gives you 50 lbs per bag.

2. Rifle scabbards - (cloth carriers) Get the ones that hug your gun. Don’t cover your gun with these when you fly on commercial airlines as they have to check your gun.

3. Rifle case for airplane - (2 can share one case) It has to be hard and lockable. These get abused terribly. About 4-5 trips and mine are hammered. I usually take the foam out and use the space for cloths. DO NOT PACK YOUR AMMO IN THE GUN CASE.

4. Compact fishing gear - I’m no fisherman so I’m learning what to take.

5. Tags and license - (get it now) this is easy in Alaska www.wildlife.alaska.gov.

6. Cash - If you carry plastic and have enough for everything you can think of an extra 2-3 hundred is plenty. (The cost of this hunt is about 1/3 to ¼ of what a guided hunt would be).

GROUP STUFF

1. Food - Plan each meal, snack and extra snacks. No fried chicken or steaks for fly in stuff. One steak can make stroganoff for every one, for example. This keeps things light.

2. Boat motor - Our cabin is on a 1-2 mile long lake and comes with a little boat. A 30-50 lb motor can be rented and with 5 gallons of gas we plan on putting all over the lake, fishing and getting us to the bears!!

3. Tarps - One for each person for an emergency and three big 20 foot tarps to expand our roof next to the cabin. We also need a tarp or two to skin the bears on. Don’t forget this one!

4. Salt - 100lbs for skinning and fixing the bear hide. The taxidermist in Ketchikan. He will sell us two 50 lb bags.

5. Lansky Sharpener - (I’ll bring it) big nice sharpener for camp. You’ll need a little stone in your pack. If you don’t have one get it now….I don’t know how we survived before Lansky.

6. Personal sharpening stone - Not a wet stone (see the blog on skinning a bear).

7. Game bags - To keep flies off the meat. I think it will be cold enough to protect it but the game bags are cheap and light. We’ll take about eight.

8. Gas or way to light stove. Two years ago our stove was coal oil which worked well. The salmon lake cabin has a wood stove and the forest service I suppose will supply the wood.

9. Hatchet - In case the forest service doesn’t supply the wood.

10. Rope to tie down tarps 1/8-1/4 inch rope. Probably 100-200 feet of it. This is a must to make a good camp.

11. Matches and cigarette lighters we’ll buy them in Ketchikan. Probably two each and matches that light without the box.

We are renting a camping box which has lantern, griddle, cooking stove, pots and pans, plates, cooking utensils, a Dutch oven and a cooler. This will save us buying stuff we can’t bring home.

This is an ongoing list and will probably never be complete. Please feel free to add items we’ve missed in the comments. We will have to be judicious in our packing because we are restricted by weight.