Bear Bums - Bear Hunting

I try and always have a hunt booked in the future.  This keeps me excited and involved.  I can also gradually pay for the hunt without getting is as much domestic deep soup.
A disadvantage of advanced booking is the inability to be available for the unexpected good deal or an unexpected draw hunt.

Next on the agenda is a trip to Baldy Mountain Outfitters with a great friend, Harry Leuenberger.  This spring I’ll be hunting grizzly bear with him in his great area, and I’m pumped.  Harry, as a kid, helped his dad get this area going and when the time came he bought his dad out and has run the area for years.  I met him first about 15 years ago on a goat/deer hunt on a November deep snow hunt.  He hunts hard and seems to enjoy my success as much as i do.

British Columbia Goat

Over the years since, I’ve only missed a few years without a hunt to his area.  I’ve been fortunate enough to harvest lots of bears, a great goat, a Shiraz moose with a bow, been chased by bears and had dozens of wonderful hunting experiences.  Many hunts with Harry have involved my kids on thrilling hunts.  One fall my brothers and I hunted deer on a late November, cold hunt and had great success and a great time.

My daughter and I on a spring bear hunt in BC.

His area harbors healthy populations of wolves, grizzly bears, black bears, elk, white tail deer, mule deer, goats and big horn sheep.  His area is close to the continental divide just north of Glacier National Park.

Back to this spring hunt for grizzly bear.  Harry offers one grizzly hunt each spring and with the grizzly permit I will have 2 black bear tags.  We’ll spend our time glassing slide areas where the snow is just receding leaving tender shoots of grass the bears must like.  On other spring hunts there, I’ve seen the great grizzled beasts on the slide looking like they own the forest.  Grizzly bear hunting has been the object of much political debate in Canada and the U.S.A.  This seems very political, as the actual grizzly population is healthy a in most places….a little too healthy.

Micah’s black bear.  This is a great story for another time.

Other than the grand slam of sheep I place the grizzly bear on the very top of my trophy to have list.

If I can get Harry’s permission I’ll pass on the incident where he had a grizzly chew on him for a while.  He did show me the place, Alder Nob, where the episode happened.  I noticed for several years, after his to close of an in counter, he carried a shot gun with him.  Below are some photos of some friends and me in our various trips to Baldy Mountain Outfitters.

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. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

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 »

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.

Read the rest of this entry »

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.

That’s what Frank said today. “What if we get four bears?”.  Well, what if?

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!

A black bear hunt offers us so many trophies. By keeping your camera handy you can get great photos of a live animal, many times.

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.

We’ve recently added Bear Hunting Resources on the left-hand side of the site. Please take a look and let us know if there are any other resources you would like. We’ll continue to add. Right now they include:

Shot Placement and Bear Vitals

Bear Skull Cleaning - European Mount

Judging a Bear - Selecting a Large Male Bear