Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska ALASKA HAS ONE LESS BEAR!

We left the Friday before Memorial Day for Alaska to fish and hunt bears. I took my original Winchester 1876 in 45-75 and my Weatherby 30-378. My son planned on sharing the 30-378. The Zodiak was more than ready for another bear hunt with a bit of a redneck fix...



We had a great spot to hunt and watch the shore for marauding bears...





He shot his bear 1st with the 30-378, ran out of ammo and borrowed my older son's .357 to finish him off. He ran out of ammo with that and with my 45-75 finally dispatched the bruin....





We went fishing a few days and had some luck with Halibut...



[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee202/bridgershooters/100_1060.jpg[/img]

crabs...

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee202/bridgershooters/100_1070.jpg[/img]

shrimp...

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee202/bridgershooters/100_1042.jpg[/img]

We went back to the bay to look for my bear, I missed with the 45-75, then fell while in persuit of the 2nd bear and banged up my scope missing my second bear...

[img]http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee202/bridgershooters/100_1082.jpg[/img]

I still have a bear tag, maybe I'll be back in Alaska for the 4th time in about 1 year. You would think I had money!

How many rounds did it take him?!

very cool!

sounds like fun, but someone need some marksmanship training....

Good for you guy's. I really like those family trips. Steady boys, steady.

Will

Looks like you had a grand trip! I like the repair work on the inflatable... . Probably worked better than all my attempts at sealing it .

How bad did you bang the scope up? Looks like maybe moving up to a Leupold might be in order... .

Dennis

The Zodiak is still floating, but we go nowhere without a pump. As to the scope, I have yet to check the rifle to see if it got knocked off, or I just plain missed.

I wanted to stop by and visit, check out the new hair-do and all that, but it doesn't take long to waste a whole week. Maybe next time we'll stop by for a visit. I am a fan of grilled "T" bone steaks, just in case you want to put that in your day planner.

I still have a bear tag and I know of someone at Clover Pass, that has a cabin where there are some wolves around that need irradicated, I might be back again!

Come on by. I have a grill, but I don't do t-bones, so you'll have to settle for venison steaks or salmon .

Dennis

.45-70 is my first choice as well. Great job!
Taylor

congrats, and nice pics!

Congrats!

But, that was too funny. I guess the advise is no longer "Use enough gun", but has become "Use enough guns"



Glad you had a good trip!

Geeezzz! Did you guys dress that bear out, or take it to a smelter to be refined??? Makes for a good story, and at least he didn't run out of daylight before getting it down. He should have been holding all 3 firearms with the bear photo. Looks like a great time. I'm quite envious. 1Minute

Us silly locals use 250AI's on them........

Glad you had a good trip and great pics.

You are required to take all edible meat out before June 1. I don't know how many of you have eaten a spring bear before, but they aren't worth it. The more holes you put in the carcass, the less edible meat!

That sounds like good planning, but the truth is, there was some missing going on and what hits were made weren't spectacular. They were hits none-the-less, more than I could say I was doing.

I know everyone else on this site is a crack shot, I'm still way into the learning curve on this hunting stuff. Any lessons would be appreciated.

I doubt it, can run you a list of several 'bad' shooting events concerning critters, but he got it to the bag and it makes for a good story.

Depends on the bear's diet. Spring bears are generally pretty good eating as they have not spent much, if any time, on spawned-out fish. Some are better than good!

But their last big meal was spawned out fish.

Shrapnel: Just having some fun there as I need some lead for my BPCR. I once took a friend's son pronghorn hunting, and after 3 broadside misses he finally took a leg out on the 4th buck. He was sooo rattled, he went through 9 rounds and could not finish the poor thing off at 20 yards. Fortunately, dad had a full box of ammo tucked in his backpack. I tried the rifle out after we made the rig and smacked a softball sized rock at 200 steps with the first round.

Some times we just get wound up. Have a good one. 1Minute

Everyone knows that you need at least a 50 BMG for those Alaska black bear. Everything is "tougher in Alaska" haven't you heard?

Are your blackies fishy tasting after 8 months (give or take)? I'd expect it not to be a large factor in flavor after that much time, but I was wrong once before....when I thought I'd made a mistake!

Fall bears away from salmon cricks and in the blubberries are a bit better.

It's not as much of what they ate last fall as it is in the nature of the bear "hibernation", as bears don't hibernate. NASA studied the bio's of bears as they engage in what's called "winter sleep" not a true hibernation.

NASA's interest was how the bear was able to become dormant as they do for extended periods of time, with the idea that this may be a condition that could be induced into humans for extended times in space travel.

Bears have a unique ability to recycle their bodily waste throughout the winter. They also give live birth to their young during this dormancy, something that doesn't happen in true "hibernation".

The main point of this is that when you are eating a spring bear, you still have some of the toxins from their winter recycling of waste and until their system is completely cleaned from this, the meat isn't usually very good.

One of the main reasons for grass foraging in the spring, is the grass helps clean their system from the winter. If you look at bear crap you will see it is mainly grass in the spring. Bells don't show up in their stool until the tourists start showing up sometime in June.