Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Coastal Brown bear vs inland Grizzly ?

I remember, after killing my 14-year old brown bear on Admiralty Island in 1987, going back to the kill site alone and just thinking about the life that bear must have lived in that magnificent place.

A large part of me wanted to put all of the parts of that bear back together, apologize to him for the inconvenience, and send him back on his way.

You summed it up quite well

I still do the same - and as the years pass there are a lot more places where I pause to remember.

thanks for that insight bobby


you are not alone, if I can read sign on a man's face


who'd you hunt with on Admiralty? wasn't Justin Johns perchance was it?

I've only have the pleasure of taking a single brown bear but I too paused for some time to reflect on what had just happened. And it surely wasn't a "Stan Potts" sort of refection either.

I want to do it again, feeling that I'd have a bit different mindset/approach than I did the first time. And I want to do it with the gentleman that posted above me here.

I hunted with the late, great Karl Lane. One of my great memories of him was after us 3 hunters had each taken a brown bear. We had a few days left and went over to the mainland to hunt black bears. Karl and I were walking along a stream by an old trapper's cabin when we spotted a nice black bear across the river. We decided to see how close we could get to him.

We waded across the river quietly and got about 30 yards away from the bear. It was late in the day and was getting dark. I wanted a black bear pretty badly. Karl didn't say anything but there was a certain mood in the air that I can't quite describe.

I raised my Weatherby, put the crosshairs on the bear's shoulder and whispered, "Bang, you're dead". Then I lowered the rifle and we pussyfooted out of there. The bear never knew we were there.

For some reason, it just seemed like it would have been a sin to kill him. The next day, I did take a nice black bear in another spot.

Karl passed away that winter, but I still consider him one of my best friends, and I only knew him for 10 days.

10 days is plenty provided the experience is intense enough.


a hard hunt is a great determiner for the cut of a man ime.


too cool what you did on that black bear. you don't always have to kill to have hunted. but knowing you coulda sure sweetens the deal.

had a guy on Kodiak that could've killed a young boar, had him dead to rights. He asked me what I thought and I just replied "is that the kind of bear you came here for"

he decided it wasn't, don't believe he's ever regretted it.

I had a hunter one spring and the first day we stalked to within 50 yards of a huge old boar sleeping on a snow patch in the bottom of a slight draw. I told the client where to shoot and he looked at me and asked if we "had to shoot the bear?" he said it looked so peaceful and it was such a nice warm day it just didn't seem right.
So we carefully backed away and left him sleeping.

The bear he eventually killed was no where near as large but I don't think that mattered to him at all.

This thread has me contently.

Thanks, gentlemen.

Carl, you are just an old softie...









me too...

Mark

Guilty as charged, I guess...

BTW, found a great 3x on the classifieds.

JPB sent me the message and I struck. Send it �ff to FC for "safe keeping".

Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, I is...

Good job...we'll learn you yet!

The ole 416 needs new bases and mounts before it sports the 3x Art so graciously parted with. Since it could see some action in a month or so, I'm thinking I should get off this 'puter and get to work on it...

Better do so...

416 with 3x for spring bear in brown bear ville, AK

What could be better?

Only a x50 scope - for better cleaning the objective...

appreciate you relating that incident Phil, man is a complicated beast and that makes him interesting to me.

I really appreciate guys that know how to make themselves happy and could give a hoot less what the general pop. thinks about their decisions.

my best guesstimate is you probably enjoyed that hunt as well, though it's always nice to have pix of big dead ones on the brochure, and there's something to be said as well for gettin it done on the first day. Leaves some time to stay ahead of the power curve.

still I can't say the guy made the wrong decision for him, after all it was his money that paid for the hunt.

I don't know if the hunter's decision to not shoot the large boar was due to empathy or being afraid of being so close to such a large bear for the first time.
Two hours later we were simply watching a small 8 foot bear feeding 60 yards away and he decided to shoot it without telling me. I was not as pleased with his second decision. Especially since his muzzle was a foot from my ear!

H O L Y S M O K E ! !

Average or not that would be a TROPHY to me. My at the size of his front shoulder and leg.

THANKS to all of you, I've enjoyed this thread more than any in a long time.

Phil, I have a friend that the two of you look like brothers. I showed him a pic of you and he immediately saw the likeness.
I know, you're on the left.

spit coffee, it pays to remember behind every silver lining is a dark cloud


you can lead a horse to water, but that doesn't mean he'll wait for you to tell him when to shoot!


good lord, a foot from your ear, that'll put a set to a man's jaw!

I've posted my Alaskan bear stories here before, excuse my repetitious indulgence as they were some of my greatest hunting adventures....

As a kid growing up I listened to my dad's stories of being stationed on Kodiak Island while in the Navy.
He went with his buddy on a hunt and his friend killed a nice bear with his .300 savage.
A local sporting goods store had both a Kodiak and a Polar bear mounted lifesize standing at the entry.
I would stare up at those monstrous bears until my neck got sore.

I was infected with bear fever at an early age.

When I was in my 30's I finally bit the bullet and booked a grizzly bear hunt in south central Alaska.

Several acquaintances had killed big interior bears with my guide and I was hoping to get lucky on one of those bears over 8 foot.
Long story short, we hunted two weeks and saw a couple of monster sized bears, but swirling wind and crunchy snow ruined the stalks on those incredible bruisers.

When the stalk went bad on the second bruiser, we packed up camp and flew out to another area.
I got a photo of the brute as he made tracks out of the area.
He was a toad...



On the very last afternoon of my hunt, I killed a young, but well furred 7 1/2 footer.



A nice bear, but those two that escaped haunted my every waking thought for years after.

The following year, the guide took his son out after one of those bears and was successful in killing it, it squared just shy of 9 feet, a monster interior bear.




For years after, I would devour anything related to the big bears of the north.

I realized that if I wanted a truly huge bear that I needed to hunt where they were more common, primarily the Alaska Peninsula or Kodiak Island.

Five years later after much financial sacrifice I was able to go to Kodiak in the spring of 2001.
I was drawn as an alternate and out of fate was able to fill in a vacancy left by another hunter.

With the blessings of my family I left Northern California in mid April after months of training in anticipation of a two week long backpack hunt into Kodiak Island's rugged interior.
After my flight to Alaska, I overnighted with a long time friend that I had gone to school with years before.
The next morning I caught a flight to Kodiak, then a charter to the other side of the island where I was met by my guide.
I had corresponded with Rob off and on for a few months prior to my hunt, we immediate hit it off as friends.
We ate a quick meal at the lodge, loaded our gear and jumped into a skiff that we used to cross the bay.
Upon arrival, we secured the boat, and hiked a couple of miles to a nice location where we set up an overnight camp.
At the lower elevations the early spring had melted the winter snow.
Morning breaks and we eat a quick breakfast, load our backpacks and start our six mile hike to the snow covered mountains in hopes of catching a big bear emerging from his den.
We wade back and forth across a swift river covered with slippery rocks on our ascent to the high country.
Along the way we see quite a few mountain goats and the ever present bald eagles.
After several hours Rob assures me that we are getting close to our spike camp and we take a well earned break.
Just as we finish a sandwich an earth shaking rumble overwhelms my senses.
I look up and see the entire snow covered mountainside let loose with an awe inspiring avalanche.
SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME.
Fortunately it never crossed the river to our side, but what a rush...
That evening after reaching spike camp even though I'm dog tired, sleep does not come easy.
First light finds us high on a ridge overlooking an incredibly beautiful snow covered basin with a distinctive set of large bear tracks meandering down a distant slope.
We eventually spend two full days glassing this area, but the owner of the tracks never shows.
On the third day we set up on the lookout again.
The sky ominously darkens and intermittent sleet and hail pelt down upon us.
As a welcome break in the deluge happens upon us, Rob decides to climb up on a prominent rock about a quarter mile from me and hopes the different angle will reveal some new secrets.
He tells me to continue to glass from my spot.
Rob is gone about a half hour and the heavy sky busts out with another volley of sleet and frozen rain.
I pull out a small tarp, cover myself and quietly pass time inspecting the newly forming erosion on the blued surface of my scope rings.
The sound of the rain on the tarp is very soothing and I curl up for a quick cat nap till the weather clears.
I groggily awake to silence.
I pull back the tarp wiggle myself back up to a sitting position and am immediately shocked into reality...

Less than fifty yards downhill of my position, I am looking at a very large coastal grizzly lumbering his way past my location.
I raise my rifle and with adrenaline pounding through my temples, decide to let him walk.
I was committed to take a superior trophy or nothing at all.
Without Rob at my side, I just couldn't tell just how good this bear was.
I stay in position and watch the beast disappear into the naked alder jungle.
Moments later with wide eyes and trembling hands, I relay the story to Rob, who had just returned from his lookout.
After hearing my wild story, we shimmer down the slope to see what the tracks in the snow look like.
Rob stoops down, assess the tracks and proceeds to tell me that I just let a huge bear go bye.
I feel sick to my stomach and know there is a good chance that we will never see this bear again.
We quickly gather our gear and race to intercept the bear.
Within minutes we spot the bear resting in the snowy alders.
I find a small shooting lane, take a rest and find his shoulder in my 3-10 Swarovski.
I take a half breath and touch off my stainless .300 Weatherby magnum.
The 200 grain Nosler partition slams home with that familiar thud.
The great bear rolls around thrashing in the alders for a moment, then all is silent.
I put two more shots into the boiler room for insurance.
We wait about ten minutes, but we can see no movement from the bear.
We cautiously approach the bear.
With each step it gets bigger.
I am at first reluctant to touch him, having seen first hand what these giants are capable of.
I am truly overwhelmed.
This was unquestionably the trophy of my lifetime.
Chills run up and down my arms when Rob looks me in the eye and tells me that I have probably taken a ten footer.

TRULY UNBELIEVABLE.

The bear had a hide that squared an honest ten foot one inch.
A perfect hide with no rubs, and white claws inactive of old age.
The skull made the all time Boone & Crockett record book.

TRULY UNBELIEVABLE.






I finally had a truly giant bear in my den.

That's a hell of a good story, thanks for sharing it. A grizzly is the only hunt I'd ever shell out that kind of money for. Someday I hope to be in a position to make it a reality, but till then I'm happy to read stories like yours!

I was spring bear hunting for black bear one season when I saw an interesting exchange between a grizzly and a black bear. We were enjoying an incredible spring day glassing hillsides when I spotted a grizzly about a mile distant in an open patch of ground. Through the spotting scope he appeared to be catching a mid afternoon nap. I could empathize with the warm spring sun beating down after a good lunch in this beautiful setting.

My partner was watching with a binocular and spotted something outside the view of my spotting scope and said, "this is going to get interesting". About that time an average sized black bear wandered in to view, nervously advancing toward the grizzly. The only thing I can think that would make a black try that was that there may have been a winter kill animal close by.

The black got to within 50 yards when the grizzly came full awake and charged the black. That black took off like a scalded dog with the grizzly just steps behind. The grizzly got close enough to give the black a solid swat across the butt which sent the black's back end nearly sideways to his line of travel. The black regained his footing and grabbed a few more gears and was soon out of sight. The grizzly stomped around that clearing for a little bit, making a couple of short charges back in the direction of where the black went and then ambled off in the opposite direction.

I'll never know what precipitated that interaction but it made the whole hunt. I didn't take a bear on that hunt but it didn't matter. That little drama made the trip memorable.

Mart

Hey Sal.. I am going to show my BARE ignornace.

Would you tell me about the "white claws inactive of old age"??

He couldn't be young at that SIZE. He looks very healthy.

Maybe ? you meant 'indicative' ?

REGARDLESS what a TROPHY, GREAT PICS. THANKS