my bear from the alaska hunt

this guy was about 6 1/2 feet long or so, i'd guess somewhere over 300lbs. i'm a slim trim 270 in the photo. we all shot bears around the same size. this one's fur is rough and so it's a skull mount and jewelry for the girls from the claws. it was a great hunt!

Great trophy. Can you give some more details? Spot and stalk? Gun? Load?

Nice head on that one trad.Is that a color patch on it's rump or was it between coats?(shedding out bad)Nice claws,any aging done?

Great pics and great bear! Congratulations.




Exactly my questions also. What sight...factory irons?

yeah the bear was rubbed out badly, the different colored spots are where the hair was really really thin. he'd been in alot of fights as was bleeding from a couple spots as well.

i used the federal 250 gr barnes xbp load which runs about 1600 fps or so out of the short barreled gun. used the factory irons with freedom's fiber optic front sight. it was a spot and stalk, i stalked him about 500 yards and then he started coming up the beach to me. i hid behind some vegetation and when he got about 45 yards away the wind shifted and he spun and started to leave. as he had likely never smelled a human before i kicked some rocks and he turned around jaws snapping and drooling. i really didn't want him running off and so as soon as he got sideways when he was turning again i hit him with a high shoulder shot and he crumpled, shot went thru both shoulders and the spine quit high up. he was turning as i was shooting. our guide had told us we had better hit em till they drop and better drop them on the beach, if they make the trees they likely won't be found. i'll post a pic of that stuff, it's a rain forest and just a mess. so at that point i fired off another round and realized how excited i was when it hit the rocks just under the bears chest. i settled in and pumped a round through the base of the chest traveled thru the chest cavity and up the spine into the neck settling against the base of the skull and that was that. bullets performed perfectly, opened to an inch with 4 razor sharp petals and just absolutely wrecked internals and spine. this bears spine was like that of the bull elk i've shot. much thicker than i expected. would've passed thru with a solid but i wanted as much damage as possible right then and there and i found the bullet in the hide on the opposite side so it expanded to an inch, went thru 2 shoulder bones and the spine and dropped the bear on the spot. we all did that and chose various expandables and they all worked well i've yet to be disappointed in the barnes xbp loads thus far. as they were black bear i chose a mild load. when i go for brown bear i'll use something like double taps load that'll run another 300 or so fps faster and follow it with a solid.

gun was a 4 3/4" FA 83 in 454 casull.

I've said it before - hell of a good bear and the largest of the 4 we killed.

nice bear, congratulations!

Great bear Mark!!!
Congrats. Also really cool that you did it with a short barrel & irons.

+1

Very cool.

That is so cool!
Congrats!!!

Absolutely awesome, Mark!! Thank you for the details! I really like that you used iron sights. I just went back to my roots (so to speak with iron sights on a couple of my revolvers and am enjoying it. Nice work, great bear!!!! Congratulations!!

Congrats Mark! Big ol noggin on that bear!

Congrats! That's an awesome handgun trophy!

Oh that is NICE!!!!!!!!!!

WTG, Mark! Congrats!

What an experience that would be. Congrats on a great bear!

Exelent!!

Thanks for the story. Looks like the trip of a lifetime.

Good job.

MN

Congrats! Nice bear and great experience. Good job.

Fantastic bear and report. I espcially appreciate the report on your bullet performance. The "outdated" 454, with a bullet that does not cost a buck apiece. very refreshing.

Craig

I just got through looking at the pictures Gary posted in the Bragging Borad and I officially curse the both of you for whetting my appetite to hunt Alaska sooner rather than later.....damn you!

Great bear and great report tradmark, congratulations! Like some other folks have stated, I am impressed that you hunted with a 4 3/4" iron sighted revolver. Did you carry another weapon "just in case" the iron sighted revolver shot didn't present itself?

At any rate, it is one thing to hunt in your backyard with an iron sighted handgun. To hop on a plane, travel to Alaska and hunt with one...well, my hat's off to you sir!

Congrats again!!!!

I've got to say that there is something liberating about iron sights. I recently rediscovered them and I am enjoying the fact that there is no optic mounted to the top of the revolver.

Again, nice work, Mark!

They each have their place! I will not put sights on my either of my SHB's in 44 Mag nor my Ruger MKII competition 22's...

It's nice to be able to wear a revolver on your belt, draw and shoot. It's liberating.

yep, I got a big kick out of taking my blacktail last year with an iron sighted gun. That gun now wears a red dot as my eyes seem to be getting worse and I'm have a harder time with open sights on both handguns and rifles.

thanks guys, i love iron sights, the only other gun i brought was a night sighted SRH which is my hog gun due to the sights and it was more of a camp protection gun. i practice with that lil' FA out to over a hundred yards regularly so i was confident in whatever shot would present itself though i will say the scoped guns worked real well for the other guys, gary and tj made excellent shots at over a hundred yards and were able to not only hit the bears but plug in multiple shots at even further ranges to keep the bears from making the tree line. i practice off hand almost exclusively and sight my guns in that way as well so i'm not as good per se at 150 or more yards as with a scoped gun but i get off pretty rapid shots and don't lose shots due to not being able to get set up quickly which i didn't like when i used scoped revolvers. i just don't shoot them real well and until my eyes go south will prolly stick with iron sights. however, like i said, the scoped guns worked great with all the other guys but they're much better with a scope than i am.

Mark, PM heading your way.....

Mark, you took a real nice bear! Sounds like the 250 gr. Barnes did a wonderful job. Congrats again my friend!!

Thats a great bear! Congrats on your success! That big ol head will make a fine skull mount. Thanks for sharing your story and pics trad.

Oh yea....thats a big boy. I know you guys had a great hunt...

A page dedicated to the hunt http://www.handgunhunt.com/alaska_bear.php

That looks like a lot of fun. Congrat's to all on the successes!

Nice Bear, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

as I said in the other post:

Many have said it well before me but, great bears, great pictures, and great hunt. I was anxious to see how you guys fared, and you all did more than well... congratulations. I know who to ask questions to if I ever get to book a hunt like yours.


p.s. I, like many others here, am jealous and hope to get the chance at a true great adventure hunt like you guys had. congratulations again