Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Kodiak Bear Hunting

Jake Jefferson quit guiding and took a job on the slope. Great guy and a wealth of info for sure.

A bud that took a bear on Kodiak last year, stopped by yesterday.

His guide was Mike Muncy. The hide measured 10' 2", skull greened at a tad less than 30-1/4". Said he has to send it somewheres to be measured again (Reno?), now that it's been "long enough"?

Did tell me which island he shot it on, but forgot to write that part down. Killed it with a M70SS in 375.

Two bears for him last year, also took a decent black bear in Canada.

Muncy usually hunts Amook Island which is on the West side along the north shore of Uyak Bay. Very few bear skulls have ever measured 30"... They have to wait 60 days before the official measurment can be made.

Every few years they have an awards ceremony for the biggest critters entered since the last... All of the biggest entries are invited to Reno where they are remeasured by a panel to ensure they got it right. They have been known to do DNA testing when things are suspicious.

Failing to send a trophy to Reno for the panel scoring means it is left at the bottom of the entries in the book with an asterisk until it is verified.

Very few bears have ever been shot in that league.

Amook sounds about right, based on the sound of it?

IIRC, he killed it on the last full day, or next to last day of his hunt? He was pretty excited about the size of the bear when he returned from the hunt.

Guess he's going to Reno with the skull then, for the official measurement.

He had some early problems with working up a load for the 375 last year, but finally got it down to around 2.5" @ 100 yards. Forget now which bullet he settled on?

Wanted me to lend a hand because I've helped him with loads for other rifles in the past, but took a pass on the 375 chore. Bad shoulder has turned me into a first-class recoil wuss.

When he had it at around 4" early on and was upset, told him to find a bigger bear, because I wasn't getting involved. ;O)

He shoulda gotta 700! Those 70s just don't shoot!

Never owned a M70, so can't really comment. Most of my favorite bolt guns are older M700s or M98-based DIYs. One with the original 8x57 barrel (chopped to 20") and one in 25-06 w/Douglass SS barrel.

Same guy bought a slightly-used M70XTR some years ago, in 7mm Rem. magnum that wouldn't group worth a rat's ass with anything, factory ammo or reloads.

I floated the barrel (several pressure points in the walnut stock), cleaned it thoroughly (bore and bolt innards were crusty), lightened the trigger a wee bit and got it to around an inch at 100 yards, rested, with his "best" reloads.

He was going to have it bedded, but put a Bell & Carlson synthetic (POS foam-filled thing) on it, instead. Killed an elk and a coupla muledeer with it and I don't believe he's used it since?

Only "good" rifle he owns, is a M700SS/syn. variant in 300 Weatherby.