Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Grizzly Bear Outfitter?

I'm looking for a good, reputable outfitter, with a high success rate for grizzly's...for 2017 or 2018. Can you guys give me a few suggestions to look into?

PM sent

True inland grizzly or coastal brown bear, too? There are some screaming deals for late season brown bears that are too close to the coast for grizzly status in the record books, but too small for potential B&C type trophies.

What constitutes a screaming deal?

Depending on how you want to hunt, IE cruise rivers and float early and late, bait hunt, watch berry patches on the tundra, I have a couple friends who guide that have high success rates and reasonable prices. They typically kill representative specimen size bears, 7-8.5' with the occasional 9'er due to the areas they operate in but the price reflects the lowered record book potential.

If money isn't a big deal I have another friend who only takes a few hunters a year and charges what I consider a lot of money. But he consistently puts guys on some monsters.

Phil Shoemaker. Listed as 458win on the forum.

Dave Morris is another option.

5-7k

Areas like Kodiak with tremendous trophy potential start at 15 or more...

That's not bad. I'll keep that in mind for the next couple years. It'd be a good first hunt.

That's considerably better than "not bad".


Art, is a 9ft bear out of the question in those areas?

Not out, but not likely. Realize too, the areas are in "predator control" units and they could lose that status at any time because those areas have shown significant improvement in ungulate populations...

Also, because the areas have been in that status with liberal seasons and conditions a lot of the better bears have been found.

That makes sense. Thanks.

Point of the last note is the fact these are "The Good Old Days" of Alaska bear hunting and they are winding down. The highly regulated areas will remain awesome, but the rest of the State is seeing numbers dropping back into the reasonable range...

It is not a good time to wait...

Might be time to fill the suitcase with money and go see Phil.

Actually, not a reflection on Phil, at all, but his hunts are not declining in quality nor will they anytime soon. The predator control areas had high numbers and are now coming down rapidly.

Back in the day the brown bear limit was 2 per year. That got shifted to one every four years, pretty much statewide. When the populations got out of hand in some areas they slowly started raising the limits in those areas.

First it was one a year in those areas and then they added that those bears would not be counted against the "one every four years" areas. Then they started the predator control units and have bumped the kill in those areas by raising the limits in some to two per year and allowing the sales of the hides.

They even have limited areas where it is legal to snare brown bears...

I read somewhere that one can't mass-produce quality hunting...or something similar.

Thanks to those that have pm'ed me.




Doesn't matter, fall or spring. Whenever the best chance to see numbers, or realize success. I can go either way.

And I'm interested in spot and stalk.

Are you stuck on Alaska? BC?

Unfortunately game management in this state is based more on politics than biology.
As much as it pains me to say it, when it comes to bears the Feds are currently doing a better job than the state.
Although the season is still open, all of our clients filled out and are gone and word from F&G is that the results of both the peninsula and Kodiak look great. Success rate and size wise. Half of our client's bears will make B&C and I am aware of many others well over 28 inches and one close to 30"
On Kodiak it was their best season ever, with a high success rate and 20% were boars with skulls over 28" and seven went over 29" !!

When the first 74 bears were checked in Kodiak there were 14 over B&C minimum, green. Three of those came from the road system (OTC tags). That is 20% and they had a week left of the season. This was from John Crye the bear bio there. He expected the percentage to drop as people started settling for smaller bears.

It was their best season for average bear skull size, but low for numbers killed. The reason for it is simple though. The kill in '13 was very low due to an early spring and lots of rubbed hides, as were several recent years. The bear population on Kodiak is increasing and more bears are living longer.

Bad bear/human interactions are increasing every year... not necessarily situations where people get hurt, just indications there are more bears around.

The tag allocation across Kodiak has not changed since long before the Feds "took over" management on the refuge.

These truly are the good old days...

If I were to put together a 338 Federal, what bullet would you guys recommend? I have no experience with 33 cal. Last 3 bears were killed with a 308 and 180's.

Sitka,

I sent you a PM

Frank Sanders
Alaska Trophy Outfitters

The 210 Nosler would be about perfect!