September 23rd, 2008 at 8:06 pm (Black Bear Hunting Story, Coastal Bear Hunting)
What’s happening?! We’re suppose to have 1-2 big bears down and deer and fish and photos and? Frank and Roger open the day at the Armpit where Karta river empties into Karta Lake. Jed and I are on Anderson Creek at the other side of the lake.
Frank loaded with gear.
On Anderson creek we’re catching Salmon and some more Trout out of the Lake. We’re patient and watch the creek pretty closely but find following the stream to deep inland isn’t very possible due to falls, timber and deep water. It seems most of the bear sign is at the mouth anyway. We last until about noon then the plan is to meet the other group with the boat.
From a good look out spot from the Karta Armpit Frank and Roger spot a decent bear across Karta Lake from them headed their way. They make a move and set up in the tall grass on the edge of the lake wishing they could still see the bear. Read the rest of this entry »
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September 22nd, 2008 at 9:57 pm (Black Bear Hunting Story, Coastal Bear Hunting)
From the Salmon Lake Cabin we had a 1-2 mile hike to Karta River and about that far the other direction to Anderson Creek. After breakfast Jed and Roger hiked to Karta River and Frank and I hiked to Anderson Creek. The trail from the ocean to Salmon Lake cabin is maintained and is a good trail, though, very greasy slick.
From the cabin upstream the trail hasn’t been maintained for years. Frank and I struggled up the unmaintained trail through the rain forest for 1-2 hours then gave up and headed for the lake shore to hike the rest of the way.
Everything was green and beautiful but tough to hike through.
There is lots of deer sign and some bear sign everywhere. I ate 1/2 ton of huckleberries as we hiked. Hiking was not the way to get to the upstream streams of McGilvery and Anderson Creeks. The boat was the ticket. Read the rest of this entry »
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September 20th, 2008 at 5:30 pm (Black Bear Hunting Story, Coastal Bear Hunting)
On day three we did a lot of learning our bear hunting area. We had looked things over on Google Earth prior to going and it was entertaining and super helpful. There were basically three streams we could hunt and fish plus the lake shore. No other openings are available due to the dense forest. No clear cuts etc.
Fishing on McGilvery Creek.
Karta River empties Salmon Lake, runs about 1 mile then empties into Karta Lake then goes into some impressive, salmon challenging, falls and runs 3-4 miles further to the ocean bay. Dumping into Salmon Lake were two salmon worthy streams, Andersen Creek and McGilvery Creek.
Fishing on Andersen Creek.
On our day 3 we examined all these streams and found the most bear sign along Karta River with a fair amount along Anderson Creek. Read the rest of this entry »
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September 17th, 2008 at 7:28 pm (Black Bear Hunting Story, Coastal Bear Hunting)
We’re back home and back to work and as usual the hunt was a great, fun blur. I think we’ll list the days chronologically to give info more than entertainment.
Day 1
The four of us flew from SLC, Utah to Ketchikan the same day and caught a hotel in Ketchikan that night. The airport in Ketchikan is on an island and requires a $5.00 ferry ride to the town side.
At the Airport in Seattle.
The Best Western Landing hotel shuttle picked us up and treated us great. They kept our gun cases for the week we were out hunting and had good food and shuttle service. We found we were close to a grocery store and a hardware store where we could get all the stuff we needed. We each got our last shower and shave for a week!
I did learn the guns did not need an action lock in the USA but the gun case needed to be locked after it’s checked in. Delta allowed only one check-in so our gun cases were and extra $25.00. I recommend using combination locks as opposed to those that require keys. We had one long lay-over in Seattle and the seafood was great–halibut!
On the ferry in Ketchikan that takes you from the airport to town.
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August 2nd, 2008 at 3:38 pm (Black Bear Hunting Story, Coastal Bear Hunting)
Here are a few photos of our bear hunting experience on the coast of Alaska. The first week of May in 2006 we spent on the coast of Kupreanof Island. We’ve decided we took too few pictures but truthfully the weather restricted our photo taking. On September 5th (one month from now) we take off for our next self guided, do-it-yourself bear hunt. This time we’re off to Prince of Wales Island, Alaska landing on Salmon Lake and doing this fall hunt along a great salmon stream called Karta River.
This is Nathan’s black bear that was shot about 30 yards from Frank’s bear. 21″ Plus skull.
Frank’s Alaskan Black Bear. 19″ Plus skull. Read the rest of this entry »
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July 22nd, 2008 at 8:15 pm (Bear Hunting Blog, Bear News, Black Bear Hunting Story)
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.
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July 19th, 2008 at 11:04 am (Bear Hunting Blog, Bear News, Black Bear Hunting Story)
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 »
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June 21st, 2008 at 9:29 pm (Black Bear Hunting Story)
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! Read the rest of this entry »
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