Hunting and Fishing Pics---Post them here!

[Gizmo]

Nice looking call there Giz. Who says you can't try it. Just don't have a gun with you.  ;D

That's true, but in CA. I would probably get arrested any way.   :(

[Quarlow]

Nice looking call there Giz. Who says you can't try it. Just don't have a gun with you.  ;D

That's true, but in CA. I would probably get arrested any way.   :(

Just put on your camo and sit very still. Then they would just think you were some turkey out there in the scrub gobbling away.............Wait a minute...that's what we think of you. :D :D :D

[aces-n-eights]

There is a lot of fishing and hunting in Alaska.  Even with the high amount of hunting opportunities and the low density of people, there are still hunts that are so popular they are controlled by a lottery drawing for tags. 

We are fairly new Alaskans – three years.  My neighbor, Don, has been here 28 years.  He told me to apply for some of the "longshot" hunts to get and I pulled a Kodiak Brown Bear hunt after two tries!  He's been applying unsuccessfully for 28 years.  After rolling his eyes momentarily, he said he was excited to hunt Kodiak with me for a brown bear.  I pulled the tag last fall for a hunt this spring.

After a lot of logistics and planning we got it figured out and three of us rode the ferry from Homer to Kodiak to begin my hunt.  We set camp in Sharatin Bay and began to glass the hillside across the tidal flats.

This is fairly typical weather and terrain.  Rainy, snowy, windy, some sun...



On day four we saw a bear right out of the den rolling in the snow on the hillside across from us.  He was acting lethargic and was sliding down the hillside.  He finally came all the way down to the tidal flat and we started to sneak up on him, a distance of ¾ mile.  We lost sight of him, but went to the last place we saw him.  As we peeked over a berm, there he was, just eating some grass!  I got him in my sights, a 200 yard shot.  My buddy Don suggested we wait a moment, the bear doesn't know we were there, and catch our breath.  After a minute or so, I took aim, the wind swirled, the bear smelled us and bolted two steps into the tree line!  He was gone.  I was so disappointed.

We left the area, circled around and came back to a different area to watch the same place, hoping he would come back.  About this time, Don went back to camp leaving Chad and myself watching this area.  After 45 minutes or so we heard Don hollering.  Chad checked it out and then came hustling back and said "Come on!".  We moved to another place and saw this bear coming right at us from the direction of our camp!  We set up behind a log and this guy came right in front of us, 150 yards away and I took him.  What an adrenaline rush!  For you gun guys I have a 300 Weatherby Magnum shooting 200 grain nosler partitions.

Here are some pics...








As it turned out, this bear had gotten into our camp and scattered things around.  When Don went back, he started cleaning up camp and heard a sound.  Not 15' away was this bear coming back for more.  He first un-holstered his .44, then picked up a camp shotgun loaded with slugs.  This made him feel much more secure.  He finally convinced the bear to leave and of all the directions that bear could have taken, he came right toward where Chad and I were set up on that other bear.  This bear paid the price to getting into our coffee and M&Ms!

This bear was a bad bear.  He tore up our camp and paid the price.  After skinning him we found he had a face full of birdshot, so someone shot him – probably last year – to chase him away.  There was no doubt he would have returned to our camp if we hadn't taken him – they just can't get enough of those M&M's!

The guy that is finishing the hide for me said the bear was probably an 8' bear – rather small by Kodiak standards.  After skinning and salting the hide in the field he shrank a bit and is now a 7'6" bear.  That is a "squared" number – the measurement from nose to tail, plus the measurement from left paw to right paw, added together and divided by two.  It's not unusual to get 10' bears on Kodiak...  He has a great quality hide and I'm planning to have him made into a rug that I will hang on the wall. 

What a great hunt, great friends and great memories!

And, you know, the good karma thing - my neighbor Don got his Kodiak Brown Bear tag for a hunt this fall!  So we'll be back on the "Rock" this fall!

[OU812]

GREAT!

Good story along with a good hunt with some good friends, dont get any better than that.

Congratulations on baggin your first Bear.

My partner in crime hunts with the same round in a BAR Safari.

[FLBentRider]

Congrats and great story/pics!

Maybe someday...<sigh>

[KevinG]

That's awesome, you're living my dream. I always wanted to bag a bear!

[KyNola]

A&8's,
My God you shot Smokey!  Now who's going to stomp out forest fires with those big paws? :o :D  Just kidding and at least I didn't say you shot Teddy.

Great hunt, beautiful environment.  Congratulations!

Wish I could have been there with you.

KyNola

[Smoking Duck]

What I wouldn't give to take part in a hunt like that......with a bow  ;)

[Tenpoint5]

What I wouldn't give to take part in a hunt like that......with a bow  ;)

I completely agree with you Duck! Although I do believe I might just invest in some DEPENDS if I am going to be getting that close!!

[tsquared]

First full day off of my summer holidays today--ate some dungeness crab (stir fried with peppers and black bean sauce) and am going out for spring salmon tomorrow. On Monday we are hauling the boat further up the west coast of Vancouver Island to fish for 3 days. Can't wait to get our fill of big springs and dungeness till they're coming out of our ears. Yeeha! I'll post some pics when I get back.
T2

[RossP]

Wish I was there with you. I can only dream about making it over there this year,
and I have a standing invitation for Port Alberni but getting the time off during
the summer is the rough part.

[tsquared]

Our 3 day trip turned out only so-so. We have a new for us 19 ft Arima and on the road on the way up, the bracket on the VHF broke so our radio was yoyoing on the mike cord--smashed.
Day 1-Screaming westerly wind--40 knots. We put the boat in the river, ran out into the bay to throw in the crab trap and then turned around and went back into shelter!
Day 2--Caught a nice 25 lb spring salmon but that was it!  Then we had some fuel selector switch problems and we found ourselves drifting around with no radio and no accessible gas! I normally think of myself as a responsible boater and I asked myself--How the hell did this happen!? I have a handheld VHF that I use for kayaking and I swore at that point I would never go out again without it as backup.  Anyway, we swapped some fuel lines going into the faulty switch and got ourselves going again. Pulled the trap on the way in and got some nice Dungeness for supper. Sat around the fire, ate crab and drank way too much peat juice.
Day 3-Nada.
On the other hand, now that we are back in home waters, I went out by myself yesterday and got a 26 lb and a 14 lb spring salmon. The vacuum sealer has been humming and I've got 8 trays of strips drying right now. Sorry, no pics--my camera is on the fritz. I am thinking about a waterproof digital as a replacement.
T2

[Caribou]

Hi!
Captured these two young bucks on our game cam a couple days ago.
It was pretty late in the evening so it's in grainy infrared mode.

Carolyn

[Tenpoint5]

Another year or two and that basket eight will be a nice buck. He looks pretty symmetrical even though he is small

[KevinG]

Dibs on the left one.