With two days left we hunted Karta River and Karta Lake hard.  All of us ended up hiking to Karta Falls and past the closest cabin to ours, Karta Lake cabin.  Not a bad hike and the Karta River Falls should be in all Alaskan tour books.  They are great.  Over the distance of several hundred yards the river falls half that distance over a rocky broad river bottom.  Thick in the pools beneath each falls is a mass of 10-15 lb salmon of different types.  We watched hundred to thousands of salmon attempt the various falls with only a few making it.  I suspect eventually most make it past the falls but it must be brutal on them.

Salmon jumping up Karta Falls.

The salmon below and in the falls are in much better shape that the ones up stream where we’ve been bear hunting.  At the falls the trail to the ocean is only a few miles, so I’d guess many tourists hike up from the ocean at Karta Bay to the Karta River Falls.  We saw no one however.  It felt like we had Prince of Wales Island to ourselves the whole trip.

Karta Falls.

Bear hunting the trail was not the ticket ’cause of the jungle and lack of open areas.  As we returned to the upper end or Karta Lake at the arm pit we spotted another bear on the lake edge.  Jed spotted as Roger and I blew the stalk an scared him off.  The wind was constantly swirling.

On the trail to Karta Falls.

This PM we saw another bear on the Salmon Lake edge on the way home.  We ended up seeing about the same number of bears on the lakes as on the river.  Maybe more. We wore chest wader and felt soles boots the entire time.  The area is covered with streams, swamps, rivers and the lake.  Even hiking through the jungle we needed the water protection.  I do wish we’d taken face nets for bug protection and 100% DEET is a must. On our last bear hunting day started we were pleased with the number of bears we’d seen.  We also saw quite a few blacktail deer but no bucks. Frank and I fished and hunted Anderson creek and Roger and Jed spent the entire day on Karta River and Lake.  Jed had a marathon sneak on a bear but couldn’t get closer than 500 yards (he proved that it is near impossible to catch up with a bear that is walking in the opposite direction).  Roger showed up at the boat with a respectable bear all skinned out!

Pictures of the Island, feet from where Roger shot the bear.

Roger had been on the Karta River Island when the bear showed up for a fish meal.  He was pounded with Roger’s 1st shot.  Jed and Roger skinned him out leaving the head and paws in the hide.  They did a great job but got eaten bad by the no-see-ums.

One of the bears we saw at the island.

Back at the cabin after a great supper we spread a tarp out and finished skinning out the skull and feet of the blacky.  Roger was redeemed from his earlier shots and ended up with a great trophy.

Roger and the bear.

We got picked up the next am by the 2 float planes and headed back to Ketchikan.

Flying out, picture of Karta River.

I love Ketchikan!  Roger got the bear sealed by the fish and game guys, we returned all our rental stuff and we had a great fresh fish restaurant meal.  The flight home was slick. Now, did we have fun?…yep!  We also learned how to fish, except for Frank, ’cause he already knew how to fish.  We lucked out with weather and spent a week in one beautiful spot.  I, after a trip to the north, wonder why I live in the desert. Check out a few of our photos and the video.  I think we were in the right spot.

Frank trying to rescue a salmon.

Skinning out the bear.

Getting ready for bed.

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.

The blacky shows up around a bend and according the account I heard offered a good broadside shot. I later learn that others get excited in the presence of black bears and in the adrenalin rush this bear dodges 2 well intended bullets.

Now what? Frank and Jed perch over the Armpit and Roger and I sneak into a 150 yard long island made by a split in Karta river, one of us at each end.

Picture of the Island on Karta River from the Float Plane.  This place was absolutely covered in bear sign.

The sitting was hard. Though the weather was cool it wasn’t freezing and the tiny black flys were murder. I think the locals call these flys “no-see-ums”.  The provided a wicked bite.

I spotted a bear sneak down to the river and get a fish and slip to the timber. By the time I got Roger there, no bear, so we traded places. Sure as heck, I then had a bear show up right across the river and later one coming up the river toward me. This time Roger gets there in time to have a couple anxious, not well placed shots. What can I say? If it had been me I would have left this part out.

We were pretty sure that epinephrine had triggered the misses but the next AM we shot our rifles and they were good.

Riding home in the dark.

Day 5 could only be beat one way. We are seeing bears, catching fish, taking great photos and having great weather.

This place had unique looking mushrooms.

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.

Jed and Roger made the hike down to Karta River and found a spot we called the Armpit to glass for bears.  Where the Karta emptied into Karta Lake the stream opened up and gave us quite a wide area to view.  There were literally thousands of dead and dying salmon here, it stunk bad so we labeled it the Armpit.
Everywhere on the Karta River there was bear sign.  Mostly partially eaten fish.  We could tell the bears would grab a dead fish, take it up on the bank, often into the brush and eat their favorite portions of the fish.
At both ends of the lake we spent hours glassing and watching but saw no bears.  We each caught a few lake trout.  We felt we now had a better handle on the area and once again it became obvious that this was hunting not killing.

One of the spots where we glassed the Armpit.

Roger hiking to the Armpit…we saw a bear across the lake for about 2 minutes on the way there.

We carried small radios for safety and Frank and I tricked Roger into bringing the boat, with extra gas, to come across the lake to pick us up.

The boat leaked a little but was pretty reliable.

The weather was almost ideal.  It did rain everyday but didn’t ever rain us out.  Sun rises and sun sets and evening and night skys were beautiful.

Roger never had to wash dishes ’cause he was the designated cook.  Tonight we had Indian fry bread and scones as Navajo tacos.  It’s amazing how much food is a part of a good hunt.  One of the reasons I enjoy bear hunting so much is because of the relaxed atmosphere which includes visiting and eating.
We cooked on a propane stove which we liked better than the pump up Coleman white gas stove.  We also had a propane lantern. These two items use just less than 2 bottles of propane daily  and we were not frugal with them.
At the end of day 4 we were pooped out and stuffed full of good food.  We planned to attack Karta River the next day in mass.

This spider spun a web on Jed’s pole on the way to the Armpit.

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.

The Salmon run, we discovered, seemed to be at the terminal stages of the salmons life cycle making them extremely plentiful and dying to the point Karta River smelled for rotting fish.  Perhaps this abundance of fish affected our bear success.

Dead, Stinky salmon were everywhere.

Our best fishing turned out to be at the mouth of Anderson Creek where it emptied into Salmon Lake.   There we caught Silver Salmon, Lake Trout, Steel head trout and another type of fish or two.  We ate fish on multiple meals.  For us novice fisherman it was a surprise that most of the spawning salmon had lost interest in lures, food and even in life.  They were truly dying.

Resting at the mouth of where Karta River empties into Karta Lake.  We called it the Armpit because of the stinky salmon.  When this picture was take there were three Sitka deer across the lake in front of us.

At the cabin we ate fish, cleaned, set a bunch of mouse traps and secured a dome tent to store stuff in.(to keep extras dry)  This extra tent was probably not needed because we had plenty of cover with tarps.  We took approx 300 feet of 1/4 inch nylon rope(not cloth line stuff) and used most of it.

Setting up the tarp in front of the cabin.

Down the beach 100yds we set up a home aid target and made sure the rifles were still sighted in.  We had no adjustments to make to the airlines credit.

Checking to make sure the rifles were sighted in.

We found we couldn’t depend on the firewood to dry us out or warm us up.  The wood is so wet I’m not sure how one could depend on it.  We did get fires going several times, but it’s a lot of work.

Fish jumping up Karta Falls.

Karta Falls.

SALMON!

We spent hours glassing for bears.

Andersen Creek.

]]> http://www.bearbums.net/2008/09/20/alaska-bear-hunt-day-3/feed/ http://www.bearbums.net/2008/09/19/alaska-bear-hunt-day-2/ http://www.bearbums.net/2008/09/19/alaska-bear-hunt-day-2/#comments Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:03:51 +0000 Jed http://www.bearbums.net/?p=207 A big day for us and the day that made me nervous for months.  Today we split up and got, groceries in boxes, 100lbs of salt for hides, hardware type stuff, satellite phone and camp equipment.   The float plane guys, Alaska Seaplane Tours, let us use their jeep to shuttle stuff around.

Shopping for our groceries in Ketchikan.

The camp equipment was rented and had been delivered as had the satellite phone.  The rest of the shopping went smoothly and by the time 10AM came around we found ourselves being loaded on the float planes and headed to Salmon Lake cabin.

Alaska Seaplane Tours.

Alaska Seaplane Tours has the ability to organize the cook kits, boat motor, petrol, etc and as good as they were to work with that’s who we’d use for every thing next time around.

Getting ready to go.

About noon we completed the 30 minute flight to Salmon lake and were alone on the beach by our 80 year old forest service cabin.  On the way in we could see Karta River and Karta Falls as well as Karta Lake and our lake, Salmon lake.  From the float plane thousands of migrating salmon were visible moving up the river system. We were pumped.

Flying in to Salmon Lake, Prince of Wales Island AK.

First off I set up the spotting scope and within 20 minutes had spotted a large bear on the opposite bank of the lake.  The cabin was better than expected, very adequate for a hunting camping experience.  Spending the time to organize our food, cooking gear, sleeping situation etc was wise.  We also put up a large tarp in front of the cabin making our rain free area much larger.(a great idea)  The outdoor fire spot was then on the beach in front of the cabin and tarp.

Unloading the spotting scope to take a look at the black bear across the lake.

Looking at that first big black bear.

Outside of Salmon Lake Cabin.

Inside of Salmon Lake Cabin.  Notice the shelves for food, wood stove and bunks.

A fresh water stream was approx. 250 yds up the beach.  All the water we used was filtered and we tried to stay ahead a gallon or two.

This water filter works great when bear hunting.

We put in some time fishing time that day and got organized for the more aggressive stuff like bear hunting.  That evening as it was getting dark we learned a lot about our boat and motor as we ran out of gas and had to row all the way across the lake.  It became obvious we were wise in renting the motor and dumb in not carrying extra fuel in the boat!  I think we had our first fish meal that night.  Lake trout with lemons!

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.

Tomorrow we start our journey to Prince of Wales Island, Alaska for our do it yourself black bear hunt.  Four of us with four bear tags, deer permits and fishing licenses.  We’re going to have fun.

We know we’ll be camping in the middle of a pile of bears but from past experience they still have the ability to be invisible, especially in the thick stuff we’ll be in.

Four bears would, for sure, max us out.  I think we can handle the worry.  Maybe we should call it a dream not a worry.  I’ve dreamed of getting leopard, caribou, moose, sheep and the list goes on.  If we’re honest as hunters we have a lot of strike out hunts.  Really quite a few strike outs for each successful hunt.

I have been stunned with the dream problems like a huge Kodiak bear to get home the week after 9-11.  The hide got stuck in Seattle, green, wet and very big and heavy.  Now he’s on the wall and worth the worry and pain.

Three of us drove from Utah to the North West Territories and got three huge moose and three huge caribou.  All that meat had to be flown out of the bush and rushed back to the lower 48 before it spoiled.  What a hunt!!  Worth all the worry.

So off we go on a hunt we’ve spent hundreds of hours preparing for.  We’ve made reservations, booked flights, scheduled appointments, taken off work, sighted in rifles, dreamed about success and now worried about being too successful.

We can handle the risk.  The first opportunity to take a good bear won’t be passed up.  We’ll let you know how we do.

By the way, the weather forecast looks reasonable, some rain and some sun.  Highs in the mid 50s and lows in the low 40s.  Should be great!

Black bears are so abundant that even as a silent, shy animal the odds of catching a bear by a stream or in a grassy spot are good. I have a not too professional photo I took from a tree stand several years ago that has six average sized bears in the picture.

On different hunts I’ve seen black bears walk down a trail right to me, climb the tree my son and I were in and this spring I shot a fair sized British Columbia black bear at less than 10 yards.

I just had these photos emailed to me. This is a great black bear trophy for someone. Enjoy….

This is a really nice bear.

Shot Placement and Bear Vitals

Bear Skull Cleaning - European Mount

Judging a Bear - Selecting a Large Male Bear

Well, I like bear hunting and as I thought of a caliber that would leave no one doubting I felt comfortable with his purchase.

Shooting a big bear is a feat! You have to find the beast, get close enough and place that shot. Then with bears you have to find them after the shot.

Several years ago my daughter shot a big black bear at approx. 150yds with a .280 Remington. This big boar received another 280 slug and 2 shots from my .300 Ultra mag before the bear was stopped as it closed the distance to us. More of a worry to me than the ones that attack or come closer are the ones that may get away wounded or lost.

Because of the characteristics of bear behavior like being, sneaky, shy, aggressive and quiet they also have a great ability to not be seen because of their color and surroundings. A wounded bear can hide in a dark hole or brush pile that, I’m afraid, keeps them from being found often. In northern Alberta I once fatally shot a big boar with a muzzle loader off a bait site. After the customary 30 minutes I actually stepped on him before I spotted him lying behind a log.

Bears are built square with little vital areas. It’s much harder to hit the vitals on a black bear than it is on a deer or elk. On top of this the fat and long hair on a bear soaks up the blood making the ability to track them difficult.

In preparing for this September’s black bear hunt in Alaska I was pleased to find the Alaskan Fish and Game had many recommendations in harvesting black bears including shot placement and caliber recommendation. We’ll talk later about shot selection but here’s my opinion on caliber and getting the bear down.

1. Know your gun–sighted in, kick, noise, bullet weight, care, etc.

2. Select a heavy grained bullet. i.e., 200gr for a 30 06.

3. Use a scope–it gives you light and a fast sight picture.

4. With a choice I like big calibers—.30cal to 0.416 calibers.

5. Look at a lot of bears–picture your shot.

6. Get close–150 yards is a long ways for a big old bear.

7. Perfect shot placement every time!

8. Wind and patience is everything.

I guess I could go on but as you can tell I love big guns and big bears. A 7 1/2 foot black bear is an indescribable trophy! Worth the effort and many trips.