15 June 2014, 12:34
Steve416Spring Brown Bear : Alaska
Outfitter : Dave Leonard : Mountain Monarchs of AlaskaLocation : Izembek National Wildlife Refuge. Area 9D on the Alaskan Peninsula
Dates: Spring 2014 : May 10 to 20th.
Arriving in Cold Bay on the 8th of May was the start of my quest to harvest North Americas Dangerous Game. The planning for this hunt had started 3 years ago when , after years of trying to coax me to come and hunt the huge Brown Bears that Dave has in his area, I decided it was indeed time to commit.
I am familiar with travelling to remote locations to hunt ....but Mountain Monarchs area in the Izembek Refuge is very remote! Starting from Houston it takes 3 days to get into Base Camp at David River via an overnight stop in Anchorage and then Pen Air to Cold Bay and a charter to Base Camp. From Base Camp to hunting fly camps is by Super Cub.
My guide was my old friend and hunting mate from Australia , Peter Mayall, who started guiding for Dave over 10 years ago and works Bear and Sheep seasons. We were to hunt Sapsuk Lake (known by all the locals and guides as Hoodoo Lake after the mountain that dominates the area.) This is big bear country. During our hunt we would see Fox, Caribou , Moose , Wolverine , Porcupine and lots of bird life including Sand Cranes.
We flew into Hoodoo on the afternoon of the 9th of May , the day before season opening. We could have been in Florida! The weather was incredibly warm and was to stay this way for the next week. There were many days when it got to 75 degrees at midday! We were certainly working on our tans and the warm weather, coupled with a full moon, made the hunting very difficult with the bears really not moving at all.
Most of the bear movement occurred after 10pm at night and it was too dark to shoot by midnight.This made for long days from glassing points and most days were glassed for 16 to 18 hours.
We did not see much bear movement for the first 4 days.
On day 3 early in the morning I made a long shot with the .416 on a beautiful Wolf.
On day 4 a boar crossed the tundra about a mile from us but we judged him at about 9 feet and not what we were looking for.
On day 6 at about 10pm we spotted a huge bear about a mile away. He had just emerged from some alders where he had obviously slept the day and after only a brief glance through the bino's we immediately grabbed our gear and charged to try to get within shooting range. Between us and him was at least 3 creek crossings and we were thankful for our waders as the water was deep (waist)and fast with all the snow melt.
We got to about 300m from where we had last seen him and dropped our packs and got ready for the final approach. No sooner had I chambered a round in the .416 than the noise of a Super Cub engine at the bottom of the valley came to our ears. I picked up my bino's and looked at the bear. He was grazing on grass undisturbed and unaware of us...then he lifted his head to the noise of the engine within 5 seconds had disappeared into the alders. We were gutted. It was soon dark and the 2 mile walk back to camp in the moonlight was very solemn. We both knew this was the type of Boar we were after. I can still see that huge bear in my dreams. It turned out that the plane we heard was a local hunter from Nelson Lagoon who should not have been in the area.
The next 4 days we spent looking for another bear like him. On day 9 we put in a long and hard 4 mile stalk on a Boar that was with a Sow on a snowy hillside. It took us 2.5 hours to get to about 200m from him. I had him in the scope and dead but Peter and I looked at eachother and shook our heads. He was a beautiful mature Brown Bear that we judged at about 9.5 feet....but he was not even vaguely in the league of the toad we had seen 3 days earlier ....and I just could not pull the trigger.
The 3 hour walk back to camp in the dark was a real mix of emotions knowing that we had passed on a nice bear and we only had one day left. The weather was still very warm and the bear movement very slow.
I did not get my bear...but I had the hunt of a lifetime in true wilderness that is brutally beautiful. This is hard country to hunt and is not for the frail or those who cant hunt hard.
Peter and I agreed that the big boar we got so close to taking was all of 11 feet maybe more. A giant.
I will go back at the next possible time which is the Fall of next year to continue my quest for an Alaskan Peninsula Brown Bear.
With my good Friend Ronnie Rector at Base Camp before heading out to our respective fly camps.
Locked and loaded in the Super Cub.
Fly camp. Cooking tent and sleeping tent.
My glassing view. 18 hours a day.
Panoramic shot of Hoodoo Lake and our vast hunting area.
The moon over Hoodoo.
Full moon.
Sunset.
On the shores of Hoodoo Lake. Cold and moonlit.
