Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Who to brown bear hunt with?

Hello, My 66yr old buddy and I are planning to book a brown bear hunt. We are sort of leaning towards a boat based hunt and I am looking for recommendations for a good outfit to go with?

The only two we are firmly considering right now are Brad Dennison (based out of sitka)

AND Phil Shoemaker- I realize he isn't boat based and I can't imagine that there is a better guy to go with than him but he isn't sure if he has any openings for next year.

Who else should we put on our shortlist?

Thanks very much
Dan

If your willing to do some ladn based hunts, here are a couple that you might consider.

Brent Jones of AAA Alaskan Outfitters, his crew takes some nice bears every year.

http://www.aaaalaskanoutfitters.com/page/page/1856159.htm

Have heard good things about R&R Guide Service as well and he hunts brownies on the peninsula.

http://www.rrhunting.com/ak-peninsula-brown-bear/

If I were doing a once in a life time hunt for brown bears, I would go with Phil Shoemaker and i'd wait until he had an opening.

It will probably be a once in a lifetime thing- I am also considering Scott Mileur and Lance kronenberg.

The boat based is sort of an issue for my friend- he isn't really sure he could handle a strenuous mountain climbing type hunt and I don't want to get him into a situation where physically he can't get it done...

Lance is in the running because I hunted with one of his guides in another area and really enjoyed his company and found him (his guide) to be super honest and a great hunter. I'm a little concerned abouts Lance's area compared to guys like Phil or Mileur. Those guys were easy for me to pick out as the "best of the best" so to speak.

With the Boat based guys I was looking to see who was considered "the best of the best" with that type of hunting and then have a good honest discussion with my buddy about what he thinks he could or couldn't handle.

I have already contacted R&R and although I haven't heard back from him yet I think I will get them to put me in the Unimak Draw... which might make it a twice in a lifetime hunt for me!

Unimak would indeed be a good hunt, some huge bears on that island. Good luck with whomever you decide to hunt with.

hopefully Shoemaker will chime in, or send you a pm


am thinkin Phil does well enough at his gig, that he'll most likely not have a problem recoing an outfitter that does boat based hunts to accommodate your friends limited physical capabilities, if he thinks his hunts would not work for your compadre.

even a boat based hunt though may involve some walking and climbing to bag a good bruin though. Certainly plenty of bears gettin taken on the beach and am hoping your friend gets a crack at one of those.

to my way of thinking I'd be inclined for a spring bear hunt.

but guys like Art that posts here and Shoemaker have forgotten more about bear hunting than I will ever know, even though I've guided a few gents to some decent bears.

so bottom line I hope they'll sound off, and if what they tell you differs from my line of reasoning go with what they say in spades.

I'm going with Mileur April 2014. I chose him on Kodiak because of his reputation, his area, and the length of his hunts. The peninsula hunts were hard for me to get comfortable with. I heard alot of things about excessive flying, high competition, shorter hunt durations, weather etc. Since this may be my only shot, I went with what I thought was my best, safest option. I do hope to someday hunt the peninsula also though.

wish you the best of luck.


Kodiak is a magical place in the spring, abundant wildlife and marine life, keeps your head on a swivel just tryin to take it all in!


hope it's a grand adventure for all parties

I briefly exchanged emails with Mr. Shoemaker yesterday, but he is in the process of moving camps right now so he asked me to follow up with him in a couple of days and he would check availability.... Probably pretty optimistic to hope he has 2 openings for the spring but time will tell.

Other than Mileur who are the premium guys to look at on Kodiak?




Does anybody have any feedback on Brad Dennison? Any other Boat based hunts that we should be looking at?

Dennison seems squared away. Others to look at out of Sitka would be Dale Adams and Bruce Parker. Call the local F&G biologist and see who consistently takes mature boars rather than sows or young bears.

if he's still doing it Tom Keirstein turned into a pretty danged good bear man.

but pabucktail gave you some good advice on calling F&G

I hunted with Brad and Minnie Dennison in the spring of 2010 for black bear. My wife came as an observer. There were 2 other hunters also on the boat. Minnie was the saving grace of the trip. Her personality and her excellent cooking was to die for. I gained 5 pounds! As for Brad, his personality was on par with the Dungeoness crabs we caught. It seemed like a chore to him when it came time to go out for the evening to hunt. He never wanted to try the mornings, saying it was not productive. Brad walked around like he was chewing on a lemon. Thats the only way I can explain it. We ran into Dale Adams, great guy, his boat was tagged out. Out of the three hunters on our boat there was only one opportunity. Luke Bastian was the other guide on the boat. He was wonderful, no other way to put it. I have to say the boat was comfortable and the food was great, but no bears!

Woods:
Thanks for your honest opinion there, I guess maybe thre is a reason that Brad has openings this spring still.

back to the search I guess...

FYI: Spring bear hunt mornings are best spent sleeping in.

Many have said such... but I have killed a good many spring early risers and there is little worse than charging someone for long days while sleeping in...

We've killed many of spring bears in the early morning!! It's drudgery starting real early after a couple of days of hunting long hours for sure but well worth it! Napping is perfectly acceptable on long spring days for sure.

Hi Sitka,
Would you have any recommendations for us? Our short list of no worry outfitters right now is Mileur, Shoemaker and Rod Schuh. But I am a little worried that their hunts may be a bit to tough for my 66yr old friend.

On the radar with a less physical "gentlemans hunt" is Tony Lee with a spring snowmobile hunt or a boat based hunt with someone like Brad Dennison or Dale Adams- It seems like Dale might be the more personable of the two based on the discussion here.... Any other boat based guys I should be looking for?
thanks very much
Dan

I cannot imagine a snowmobile hunt being called a "gentlemen's hunt!" I do not know any SE guides currently working.

Phil would be my first choice.

Dick Rohrer on Kodiak usually does fairly well... he has been at it a long time. Many of the bears in Uganik Bay where he hunts have been shot in places an older guy could get to.

Here is a video of one of their hunts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SSXSdX_Qvo

The area where they start up the hill is exactly where Rick Bin and I started from on a Kodiak hunt about 9 years ago when we killed a bear. We went into the bay while they went outside. I know that area extremely well. I drew a tag for the same place for this coming spring.

In the spring of '12 a friend had the same tag and he got a huge bear that I posted about here.

Rohrer does not have a boat based hunt, but there will be lots of skiff-driving going on. One of his guides grew up in Uganik Bay and has some serious bear time for his age.

Rod Schuh will be easier to find if you spell his name right!

His link;
http://www.rrhunting.com/contact-us/

Uganik used to be Joe Want's old stomping grounds.


pard took a very nice bear there this past spring


agreed with others on hunting early, big bears get big at least in part by going pretty well nocturnal. Catching them going from bedding to feeding or vice versa is your best bet to get one imo.

that means up early and out late, with as mentioned naps during the day when the big bears are most likely napping.

I'd be disinclined to pay whatever the going rate is for a bear hunt these days and cut my odds by 30-50% because it feels better to sleep in.

also have to second Art's take on snowmachine hunting for bears!

yep you're on a motorized contraption alright, but you use your arms, legs and back extensively while doing so. Some of the most sore times for this old bod have been after riding a snowmachine.

snomachines and boats both have motors with horsepower to move you around, but that's about where the similarities end.

Hmmmm, so I should poopoo the snowmobile hunt?
Good to know. The list is getting shorter every day....

Yes, especially if you are not experienced at it. Getting stuck in ass deep spring snow sucks. It isn't a whole lot of fun and can wear you out quickly.