Jerry Jacques is a very good friend of mine, He has guided for a long time on the Alaska Peninnsula and uses a Remington model 700 in 416 Remington that is heavily modified for field use. He was telling me of an "expert" who he took hunting for brown bears.The hunter has hunted the world and had experience in Africa. The fellow explained to Jerry that he wanted a 10ft bear for his office and wouldn't settle for anything less. Jerry personally guided the hunter because he was a prima donna who woke up late, ate lots of food that he often complained about and took very many breaks. This bwana would regal everybody in camp about how experienced and good he was. Eventually everybody else in camp tagged out with nice bears and the pressure was on. The weather was as bad as only it can get near Cold Bay but there was one nice morning that Jerry some how got this hunter up and out in the field. They spotted a bear that appeared to be resting in a tussock depression about 350 yards from a salmon stream. Jerry worked the hunter within about 75 yards of this mature boar that he felt would be about a 9foot bear. He asked the hunter if the bear was good enough or if the hunter wanted to come back the next year for a bigger bear. The hunter said that no the bear was fine. The expert had a very high dollar custom mauser in 375 with a compact german variable. Jerry got the hunter in the right position for the shot. The bear woke up and got on his fours headed back to the salmon stream. Jerry had the hunter set up shooting sticks and get set. The bear turned in perfect position and gave the hunter a great shot. Jerry told the hunter to wait a second until he could also get on the bear with his rifle. When Jerry said "go ahead, take him" nothing happened. Jerry repeated, " go ahead, take the shot." Nothing happened again. The bear suddenly looked right in their direction, tensed up and then ran like hell. Jerry looked over at his client and the guy had his rifle down and his fly open pissing downwind towards the bear. The bear smelled the piss and took off. The hunter didn't say a thing to Jerry afterwards and tipped him well for the hunt. You don't know how well you are going to do unless you are right there. The truth is Brown Bear guides aren't going to toot their horns or blow super hard but are going to use the best possible tool for the situation and unless you have been there its a good idea to listen and defer to them.
