My dad hunted Alaska when I was 3 years old and I grew up watching the 8mm video of his hunt. I knew some day I to would go to Alaska for an adventure of my own.
Jake Jefferson of Black River Hunting Camps and I had talked a few times and I had been wathching his hunt reports over on the AR forum. We decided to throw my name in the hat for a Kodiak bear tag and I was lucky enough to draw on the first try. Many e-mails back and forth with Jake and help from you guys here on 24 hour and I was ready to go.
We flew out with Andrews Air on the 27th. It was a bluebird day no wind or rain. Got the tent set up and had a nice 8+ ft bear go over the snow saddle 1000 yards behind the tent. Didnt sleep much as I was dreaming of kodiak bears running all over the hillsides. About 45 min. before we were scheduled to get up a light rain started to hit the tent fly. It wasnt until the next morning that it gave up enough to let us out of the tent. During the rain delay I made it out for a few minutes towards evening and spotted a bear 1 3/4 miles away. We spent the whole next day set up on a ridge hoping to get a better look at him but he didnt show. On the way back to camp that evening we spotted the bear that would be know as "our bear".
30 TH. All of the next day we waited fo him to show himself but just like the day before this bear didnt show. We did manage to see a sow with a single cub and one othe rubbed 7 ft type bear.
May 1st. We went for a walk down the beach to a new vally and saw quite a few deer and fox and one pretty decent 8 ft bear with some minor rubbs.
May 2nd. The breeze was blowing up the valley with a little left to right in it. We decided to check a small valley behind camp that Jake had taken a 10ft + bear out of a few years back. We hugged the right side of the valley to keep our scent out of the bottom an left slope as these were the most likely area the bear would be. As soon as we sat down Jake said "Bear". This bear had caught our scent and was headed out of the valley. In 10 Min. he covered more ground than we could have in the rest of the day. He as in my opinion the biggest bear we saw on this trip. 10 ish. Rubbed some on his right side. After buggering up this valley we decided to go look for "Our Bear". Walked the ridge over and there he was same elevation and 100 yards from the first time we saw him. We decided to make a push for him as we had 4 hours before dark. 2 hours later I was within 180 yards of him. Only one problem he chose to bed in a really tough spot. They always do that. He had alders below and on both sides of him and a little ridge with devils club hiding him from the top. Even though we were above and to one side of him he was well hidden. We were not sure even if he stood if that would do it. Rather than force the issue we decided to back out and come back the next day. That was really hard for me but my guide said it was the smart thing to do. He was right.
May 3rd. 6th day of the hunt. We got up early and headed to a spot in the valley about 600 yards below where we left him beaded last night. As far as we could tell he had'nt moved. Now the waiting game was on. We needed him to make a move in any direction. About 3 in the afternoon he started to stretch and move around alot. 15 min later he was on his feet. The hunting God's must have been smiling on us for our patience because he decided to feed down the mountain. He kept working down the mountain and we kept working closer to the base of the hill. Finally we were within range and he was standing broadside. Saftey off and on my sticks only one alder branch the size of my thumb angling across his chest. Just need one step!! That when he threw his nose in the air and took a couple of long pulls. My guide said "you better shoot" but I needed one more step. As it turned out he didnt give me one more step but turned and went staight away I didnt want this shot but thought I may be forced to take it. Jake hooted at him to get him to stop. I gave him a step to see if he would but no luck. As I was following him through my scope He reached forward with his front legs to start covering some real ground. Hard quartering away the scene went into slow motion. I pulled ahead a little and squezzed off the shot. Jake later said he almost buckled but regained footing. That shot caught him on the back ribs right side and ended up in the meat of his front left shoulder. Jake gave a followup shot through the chest and as I got back on him he was headed acroos the slope. My second shot broke his spine near the hump and he tumbled into a clump of alders and was done. WOW that was a rush! My feet didnt work so good for a few steps until I settled down. We had "Our Bear"
He had better fur than we could have hoped for dark and no rubs. Nice long white claws and worn teeth. Not real old but est. at sealing to be about 10 years old. 9' 2" sq. 26 1/2 skull. Long legs fairly short body 10'+ legs meas. and 8'+ nose to tail. Also he has a split lip and the layer of extra pad tissue that they get in the den was still on his feet. Pictures to follow. Thank's for all your help. Dean

Camp

Split lip


Jake with his 100th bear


Nice white claws

Very nice! I like the looks of that bear! I'm wheels up in 2 hours. Hope I bring back something in the class you did. Looks like I have the wx.

Dandy bear. Congrats.

Dean....

Congrats hunting buddy!!!!! Great bear, great pics. That is sooo awesome. Nothing like cking one off of the bucket list on such a cooool hunt and successful too.

Great job.
Sean

Nice... Got any more pics?

Beautiful Bear.

Andrews air Flew out in the beaver at the top.



You can see a little bit of the den pad covering that hasn't worn off yet.


Jake working on the bear. Just a touch over an hour and he had the whole bear done except turning the lips ears and eyes.

CONGRATS.
An adventure to last a lifetime.
Great pics.

Great story and a wonderful trophy. Thanks for sharing. There is nothing else like an Alaskan bear hunt.

Nice!

Congrats on a very nice bear!

You asked for more photo's

Gray whale shoulder blade





Me in my rubber mountain slippers. They sort of grow on ya.

Dean, that is a great bear! Also, very nice pic's; congratulations.

How do you like those Bushnells? Are you pleased with them optics-wise, the RF, etc?

George....

I will tell you about the RF of them. As you know, Chris and I use the Leica Geovids and they are awesome. The optics cant be beat. BUT, when it comes to a foggy soup, the only RF that worked last deer season was Deans---yep, the bushnells. We could not get the Leicas to cut thru the fog. I am not saying i am trading them as i couldnt see thru the fog to much to shoot anyways, but when you could see a few hundred yds, it would have been nice to get a reading.

Optically...i will let Dean speak regarding that. I dont think they are on par with the Leicas....but that is not really a fair comparision. I think they are good for teh price tho from the lil time i looked thru Deans. Again...Dean can better advise, but thought i would throw my 2 cents in for you. ANd to yet again tell Dean congrats. Love all the photos. Cool whale blade pic. I bet it paid to be 6'5 with a monster stride up there in the wet country. Poor guide probably met his match. haha.

Great write up and pics. Beautiful bear, are you going to do a lifesize or rug?

AWESOME trophy, huge congrats!!! Thanks for sharing such a great story.

George, As Sean said the rangefinder rocks readings to 1800 and 1100-1200 on almost anything. The optics have good central resolution fair edge to edge clarity and fair at best color fidelity. The bino's have a light blue tint to them that bugs me but it doesnt seem to affect what I can find with them. Great value if looking for a great rangefinder and good bino's.
As for my mount I will have to start measuring some potential spots in the house and see if a lifesize is even an option. Basically I havent decided yet. Dean

I have a pair along with the big Geovids. I got the Bushnells on the weight of JB's write-up and I agree on the value for $$ spent but he didn't see the blue tint like I did thus the question. Mine has it too. I agree about the RF aspect too.

Dean, great write-up, congratulations on a fantastic bear.

PS: Rifle / caliber / bullet details ??

Rifle Stainless Weatherby Mark 5
Cal. 375 H&H
Bullet 270 Tsx
Details The only bullet we found was my fist shot. As it turns out the thumb sized stick I needed for him to clear wasnt the only stick that likely came into play on my first shot. As he started to angle right and reach with his front paws to cover more ground he was getting ready to go behind a different light screen of brush. I lead him by about 12-14 inches which put me at the edge of the fine screen of brush/alder branchs. It was just the tips, pencil size and he was only probably 5 yards behind it but still enough to affect flight and bullet performance. Two of the petals opened slightly and one of the other 2 is pushed in a bit. When I got home and looked into the tip of the bullet more closely I did find a few fine fibers of alder branch in the tip. I doubt it moved my point of impact by more than an inch or two but likely caused the bullet some wobble and the tip being partly full of wood made it harder for the bullet to open. Dean

Very nice bear. Congrats!

The 270-gr TSX is a wonderful bullet in the 375; I only collected two in Africa, one was stopped by a big zebra and the other in a scenario, almost exactly like you describe, but by a water buck standing about ten yards behind a "pinkie" sized twig (at about 100 yds I didn't see it) which "turned" the bullet. It did stay on track however and the buck died where he stood. It went through the chest side-ways and I found it lying under the hide on the off-side.

Bullets do not buck brush.

The more I look at that bear...it's truly awesome!

Dean,

Congrats man!!! Beautiful bruin!

Thank you for the write-up and picts.

Skane, I remembered your story of passing on a bear your first day and then having it take 3 trips to close the deal. I was in the tent that first whole day but was prepared to take any good bear on the first or last day. Your advice is good for most any hunt unless a guy is OK with going home with and unpunched tag. Thank's Dean

Damn, Jake sure know's how to hunt bears! Congrats, that is a stud brownie for sure!!

He is a bear spotting fool. I thought that I was pretty decent a spotting game but he spotted 10 to my 2. A few of his spots were gimmys [I can say that cause he isnt here to defend himself] but still 10-2 he does have bear spotting down.

From everything I've seen Jake does a great job and knows his stuff. Congrats on a great hunt.

Dean, Been wrkin so much the past week I forgot to check in and see how your hunt went...all I can say is Wow! and CONDRADS...super nice Brownie ya got there...Thanks for the pics and story....I can hardly wait for Frazer lake spring 2012..

I did run into a guy at the gym that just got back from Frazer last week and was without luck. Guess the weather reaked havik on them and 1 outa 10 days was huntable...over all the saw 15 bears including sows w/cubs...only 4 boars and two were rubbed badly... never the less I guess they had fun. So im glad to hear about your success.... Glen