Bear Bums - Bear Hunting

On our black bear hunt on Kupreanof Island in Petersburg, Alaska we carried multiple GPS units with us. They saved our bacon many times, boy are we glad we had them!

Here is a close up view of our GPS trail.

On the way back from the location marked KILL you’ll notice that the return path swerves back and forth multiple times. This happened because the weather at the time of return was quite violent and it was about 11:00 PM. We couldn’t see five feet in front of us, so, Frank held the GPS unit close to his face and would yell Read the rest of this entry »

For many years I’ve tried to find the best pair of hunting boot. I can remember as a 13 year old going on a two-week elk hunt in the wilderness of Idaho and wearing my canvas gym shoes. I couldn’t do that now. While I lived in Pocatello I purchased perhaps my first pair of real hunting boots. They were a leather work boot and I have many fond memories while in those boots. Now I’ve tried, Danners, Lowa, Schnees and the list goes on. Usually into about the third hunt with a pair of boots I start to like them.

I think my feet aren’t as tough as they used to be. The canvas gym shoes were nicer for the 13 year old me Read the rest of this entry »

Here are a couple of bear hunting tips regarding the ocean and tides. This will be helpful if you happen to be doing your black bear hunt with a boat and are subject to the Alaska tides.

A huge part of our Alaska bear hunts is the tide. Part of the reason that we chose the Salmon Lake Cabin on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska is because there is no tide on the lake….obviously. We had looked at other cabins in the Petersburg, Alaska area including, Big John Bay Cabin and the Tower’s Arm Cabin which would have been great for a fall Alaska bear hunting experience, but the low tides would not allow a float plane to land on the date we had to leave. It would actually be possible, but the pilots and biologists in the area strongly recommended against it. Read the rest of this entry »

Since we have already discussed the type of rain gear and hip waders to wear, let’s move on to the type of shoes that I’m thinking about. Cabelas’ Ultralight Wading Boot is very appealing to me for a few reasons:

-very lightweight.

-more inexpensive than others we researched.

-one of the top selling brands according to Cabelas’ experts.

As I’ve discussed, I’m not a fisherman, so I don’t want to spend a ton of money on a felt soled shoe that I won’t use very often. At the same time, I need a shoe that will last and not leave me in a bad situation on the bear hunt. The Ultralight Wading Boot seems to provide what is needed! Read the rest of this entry »

I’m definitely old school (carrying a pocket knife in my pocket at all times) so this topic seems odd.

Once the bear is down it has to be skinned out before the hair has a chance to slip or fall out. This is within hours if it’s hot or max over night if it’s cool. Most times bears are skinned for a bear rug mount or a life size mount which can be accomplished with the same technique. For me a bear is one of the easier animals to skin, life size.

The knife used has to be very sharp and will not stay sharp for the entire bear. This requires a resharpening or another sharp knife. I like small bladed knives and there seem to be hundreds of good brands. I’ve personally been impressed with the Canadian Grohmann knives and the good old Schrade Old Timer #152 (I’m not sure the Schrades are still made in the same place). Other good knives include knives of Alaska (cub bear), Buck, Gerber and the list goes on. Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday one of the blog readers asked about bear attacks. This spring I shot a bear while bear hunting on the coast of Alaska. The black bear showed no aggression but no fear, and was shot at approximately 5 yards. That’s not real common but not surprising. I’ve watched hundreds of bears, harvested dozens and been chased by a few.

When I hear things like; “he’s a bear expert”, or “you’re safe, you have a gun”, or “leave them alone and you don’t have to worry”, I laugh or become concerned. Bears are very independent and very unpredictable. There are situations that increase the likelihood of creating a hostile reaction from a bear. Read the rest of this entry »

I grew up hunting in Idaho and Wyoming and now live and hunt mostly in Utah. When we take rain gear it can be about anything because it seldom rains in this high desert country. I look at snow differently (not like rain). Our upcoming self guided black bear hunt to the coast of Alaska is different. It will rain enough there to not allow us to ignore the wet, and we’ll be isolated enough we cannot exclude the need to stay dry.

My 1^st hunt to the coast of Alaska was a brown bear hunt to Yakutat and it rained inches per day and if I recall it didn’t stop at all. I had the very best Gore-Tex outfits and that kept me good and wet. Now on that coast I only use rubber. Read the rest of this entry »

I mentioned many aspects of our upcoming bear hunt in my last post and thought you might want some of my insight on a few items. Really I’d like your insight on the same stuff! Two years ago five of us traveled to Petersburg, Alaska on this type of a self guided bear hunt. Looking back we really scabbed stuff together, each of us in different ways. Our least efficient packed item seemed to be the sleeping stuff and our best was perhaps optics and rifles. The forest service cabin at Salmon Lake, where we’re headed in September, claims it has room for six. We can see that realistically four will be a crowd. I think a good self guided hunt like this requires a lot of thought and a roomy, organized cabin helps.

It’s nice to have big, soft, warm sleeping stuff but I think with effort one can be very comfortable without using up your luggage or cabin space on sleeping pads and bags. The coast of Alaska has nasty weather but is not famous for being bitter cold if we can stay dry. I mentioned the Downmat 7, that I used on an elk hunt last fall and on a spring black bear hunt this year. Small, light and SOFT. Can you tell I’m impressed with this pad? Here are some of the pros and cons that I noticed: Read the rest of this entry »

Four of us are committed to a self guided bear hunt, sitka black tail hunt and fishing trip to Alaska in September of this year. Here are some of the tricks we’ve discovered to make it possible. As with most hunting, camping, fishing, survival experiences, other people are the best source of help.

The four of us are staying in a forest service cabin named Salmon Lake Cabin on Prince of Wales Island off the coast of Alaska near Ketchikan, and Petersburg Alaska. Alaska has literally hundreds of these cabins in their forests. One can book the cabins six months in advance at www.recreation.gov. Timing and location are everything for a successful hunt and we, after months of preparation, feel good about this selection. Read the rest of this entry »