Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Interior Grizz hunt

Going on an interior grizz hunt, last week in May, what can I expect for weather ?

Will be hunting with Cole Ellis, in the Nabesna area.

Also, thinking about taking my 300Rum, 200 partition, or I can take my 375 H&H, 270tsx... opinions ?

Thanks in advance,

Tony

Your outfitter would be a good person for those questions. After all, he hunts the area.

The Nabesna country is usually some of the last to break up in the spring. Beautiful country but dress warm. Like all of AK in the spring be prepared for rain and snow. Either rifle and load will be fine, just remember to shoot them in the front half.

I would carry a 375 and the 270-gr tsx is a very good one I and many others have seen it work wonderfully. Alternately, one I haven’t tried, but that seems it would very good also is the 250-g ttsx.

Variable weather in spring. Be prepared for rain/snow, or some pretty nice days. I noted on the nice days, skeeters were thick. I grew to like the cooler, breezy days. No skeeters.

Either rifle looks like a good choice.

Enjoy! A spring grizzly hunt is an amazing experience.

Regards, Guy

Should be lots of bears near Nabesna with the park acting as a buffer, and few moose so as my old Buddy Thor said, if you see a bear please Oblige, it. Beautiful area.

Late-season blizzard to sunny and mild, or anything inbetween. And perhaps all of it.

As always, either rifle will work. Take the one you shoot best.

Take the rifle/scope that is the most reliable.......ballistics mean nothing in a jammed rifle.

Do not miss going through their museum!!! Good people and a great place. I used to spend a bunch of time up there.

I could never understand what would posses a man to take a deer caliber, and push that bullet at varmint rifle speeds like a RUM and similar calibers. In large game, the bullets upset like a varmint bullet, often with shallow wounds.

Frequently, these guided chaps empty the 3-round rifle, relying on the guide to finish the job. May as well bring a 30-06 before a bear-induced epileptic seizure kicks in as you pull the trigger, when you realize this bear is not behind a fence at the zoo, but in my back yard. That way there, holding 4-5 rounds, you'll get a lucky shot.

I could also never understand why a guy steps up in caliber, but goes light for caliber in bullet weight? Boat tails, plastic tips, pressure relief grooves, fancy coatings like moly, lrx this, ttsx that. By gully are things changing at a pace I can't keep up with. Why are scope and bullet preferences always so monkeyed-up with desire for the long shot?

Are guys afraid of a plain, true-to-caliber, 300 grain, flat base spitzer? I've sent two of these through a moose and a caribou at 500 yds and 400 yds. Up close, or far away, clean kills, deep penetration, lots of blood, no blood-shot meat.

Go with your 375 H&H. It probably came with open sights for back-up, as opposed to your 100 yd, western-pronghorn-1000 yd-300 rum-pipe-dream-dealio.

Mainer,

How many grizzly hunts have you been on or shot.

.300 Rum is a varmints rifle?

I watched a friend put a 7' bear down with a 300 ULTRA 180 Nosler. 1 shot no drama


Really guys using varmint loads?


Lefty

Mainer,

With all due respect, a 200 grain Partition at 3100 is hardly varmint hunting speed, nor will it cause a shallow wound.

I'd be willing to bet it would punch both shoulders, even on a big bear.

Be that as it may, my outfitter is a 375 fan, and I'm inclined to listen to him and shoot the 270 TSX.

One of my pards has taken cape buffalo with the 270tsx, so that bullet should be fine on a bear.

Pressure grooves and all....

Tony

Good choice, and good luck. If you you're just going for the hide, and don't want the meat, pm me if you get a bear. I'm always taking bear meat from guys up here in Alaska.

Maybe he is talking about my son... he shot a coastal brown bear with a 25-06 and 80gr TTSX. He shot twice, but either shots would have killed the bear in about the same amount of time, fast...

Bears are not magic and as far as bullets are concerned quite light-boned and soft. It always cracks me up when folks start calling bears big-boned. Like chubby chicks, the bones are the same size on the inside, just coated with a lot of fat.

I'd take whichever one is more pleasant to tote around.

SD

When I shot my Brown bear I was amazed that the shoulder blade was pretty thin. If I remember right I was using a .375 with 260 gr. partitions, and it blasted right through.

I was also surprised that the chest cavity seemed pretty small for such a big animal



.Lefty

I’d go in the opposite direction and use whatever rifle you shot the worst and had the least amount of confidence in. Since you’re paying the guide you might as well make him work for it and make it an exciting and memorable trip. Have fun. 👍

Haha! Don't need none of those wizz bang magnums or those newfangled moly x bullets that came out when Mainer was but a teen, just to kill bears.

The puppies gotta eat....😎

You might be remembering the picture I posted of OlBlue's Kodiak bear scapula. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had all kinds of time. I fleshed a scapula and took a picture of Mel's orange-handled knife through the scapula. The picture is far from perfect, but considering you can see an orange knife THROUGH the bone it makes my point perfectly. It is somewhere here in cyberspace.

As for Partitions, they are reasonable bullets, but they usually cost more than premium bullets and frankly, I have caught FAR too many of them to consider them a premium bullet. If I recover a bullet it is unlikely I will use that bullet again.