Posted By: jamesfromjersey
Brown bear - 09/03/2012 5:03 AM
This was the most misreable 11 hunting days I`ve ever spent in Alaska, however, I finally got my brown bear. I don`t know if there are other brown bear hunt locations in Alaska that have better weather and terrain so I have to say to anyone thinking of hunting these bears with a large bore revolver to be prepared to pass up shots because of the range. There were 3 bears bigger then the one I shot that were out of range of my 454 Casull. If I had a rifle ...no problem. My bear squared a little less then 7 1/2' with a 22 1/2" skull and would be average. The willows have grown to almost cover the sand bars since the last time I was hunting there allowing the bears to almost reach out from the cover, grab a salmon, and eat the fish with little exposure to a hunter.
It rained every day I was there with some days worse then others.
My luck changed on the 10th day as we were on the bank of a slough with heavy tracks. Around 9:30pm my bear came out of the alders around 100 yards away and walked towards us. At around 50 yards he stopped and gave me a perfect broadside. The Bogpod tripod with the pistol attachment worked perfectly. My ammo was the old, original CorBon 360gr FP Penetrator with a muzzle velocity of 1500FPS. I bought this ammo for a hippo hunt that never happened and had almost 70 rounds. My shot went through the left shoulder and came out just behind the right leg. The bear jumped at the shot and clawed the ground for 5 yards before turning over on its back and dying with its head in the water. Thats the good part because as the sound of the shot died away it began to rain while leaving us in darkness. It took 20 minutes just to reach my bear on the thickest mud bank you can imagine. Since it was crazy to try and skin the bear while sinking in the muck we radioed for help and managed to get most of the bear on the bow of a straight front river boat and pole our way throught the reeds back to the main channel.It was impossible to get any of the traditional hunt photos because my bear was covered with mud and water and I had to accept what I could get. I almost forgot about the mosquitos.
What hunting trip to Alaska would be complete without those little buggers from hell. You`ll just love `em........
It rained every day I was there with some days worse then others.
My luck changed on the 10th day as we were on the bank of a slough with heavy tracks. Around 9:30pm my bear came out of the alders around 100 yards away and walked towards us. At around 50 yards he stopped and gave me a perfect broadside. The Bogpod tripod with the pistol attachment worked perfectly. My ammo was the old, original CorBon 360gr FP Penetrator with a muzzle velocity of 1500FPS. I bought this ammo for a hippo hunt that never happened and had almost 70 rounds. My shot went through the left shoulder and came out just behind the right leg. The bear jumped at the shot and clawed the ground for 5 yards before turning over on its back and dying with its head in the water. Thats the good part because as the sound of the shot died away it began to rain while leaving us in darkness. It took 20 minutes just to reach my bear on the thickest mud bank you can imagine. Since it was crazy to try and skin the bear while sinking in the muck we radioed for help and managed to get most of the bear on the bow of a straight front river boat and pole our way throught the reeds back to the main channel.It was impossible to get any of the traditional hunt photos because my bear was covered with mud and water and I had to accept what I could get. I almost forgot about the mosquitos.
What hunting trip to Alaska would be complete without those little buggers from hell. You`ll just love `em........
