Bear Bums – 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.

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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. pcos and topamax

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. impotence and d claritin

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.

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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!