My initial research shows that these hunts are comptetitively priced compared to AK. This may be an alternative to Africa for 2008 (we have already done an AK brown bear hunt).

I am interested in hearing back from those of you who have hunted over in Russia specifically for Kamchatka Brown Bear and what your overall experience and impression was. I am very intersted in the spring hunts and the physical conditioning required as not all of us are 30 years old any longer.

If someone who hasn't hunted there has relevant information on this, I also would be interested in hearing about this.

I would also like to know who the hunting service/outfitter that was used and there website/contact information.

I appreciate the input in helping me be more informed.

I can only speak second hand from what Tom Hardesty that runs Atcheson Taxidermy told me. Tom said the bears from Russia that he has handled and he has done a load of them have steadily declined in size over the last few years. Wether his experience is an anomaly I don't know. He thinks on average and considering all the variables that Alaska is your bet for a good overall experince.

Mark

Check out the current issue of National Geographic for its article on Kamchatka bears. The information in the article is consistent with reports of decreasing bear size due to the much increased access to the area.

Stonecreek; I did check out the NG story on their website. It doesn't paint a favorable picture for the continued prosperity of these huge bears. Guess maybe a little game management over there would help, but I won't hold my breath waiting. If the bears are in that big a decline now, wonder where they will be in 2008 when maybe we would be going. In 2008 maybe a big bear will be 8' not the 10' bears they advertise and talk about now.

How odd I was just talking to a friend about the russian bears today. He's been bit by the bear bug bad. I told there may be a deal to be had in Russia. Then I find this post. How ironic.

Not a serious question (I hope):

Maybe the russians want to kill all the bears so they can lease a couple to American Zoos for $1MILL each like the chinese pandas?

A friend of mine sets up these hunts are these big enough for you?

No... let's have documented facts and not nice pictures...

Those things are HUGE!

How much does a good Russian Brownie hunt cost?

I agree with BW, I would like some documented proof as to the authenticity of this photos and the bears in them.

Maybe Idaho Ron can send us to his friends or the outfitters website to verify this. If factual they are awfully impressive.

Idaho Ron: Those bears are indeed large, BUT when were they killed??????? My son had a client that hunted there 4 years in a row and never saw a bear over 8'9" (which he killed).
It seems these huge 10'+ bears are very few and far between in the last 6 years or so. The mounts and pictures some of the booking agents are using are 15 years old!!!!!!!!

Some years back I was doing some research on hunting those varmints .. I really want a big bear and being a teacher I can't hunt them in May or September .. So I was wondering if I could hunt them in August ...in Russia. I need the experience for my savage soul a bit more than I need a fabulous prime pelt .. (although that would also be great ! ) Anyways, if I remember correctly I was talking one day on the phone to Larry Rivers who hunted and guided/outfitted for bears in both Alaska and Russia. He very patiently explained to me that the bears in Russia do not get as big. That they are a different species. He wanted to make that very clear. He knows lots .. I know diddly .. so for what it's worth ...

My cousin who hunts all over the world went in 2002 I believe and got a 9'4" bear on the first day. He said he did not feel the guides were at all concerned for the hunters safety. They hunted on snowmobiles and literally chased the bears down and shot them. He did not like this at all and one guy broke his arm after being thrown from teh snowmobile.

My taxidermist knows quite a few people that have hunted there. The first trips had excellent bears being taken, but the quality really fell off. The attribute it to there being no control over the numbers being taken and that many of the older and bigger bears have already been taken.

I don't know, but this is what I have been told 2nd hand.

I talked to a guy in December who had hunted ther last year. He got a bear but he said his guide was a math Ph.D who could not find other work and who had little to no knowledge or interest in bear hunting except to not get killed.
He described it as "interesting". He said the fishing was great and the bugs were out of a scifi novel.

BHW, and BW. My friend's name is Dan Coassolo. He has Intermountain Taxidermy and world wide adventures in Kimberly Idaho. These bears were killed 3 years ago on a spring hunt. These were the largest bears shot out of 11 total killed that year in his party. The smallest was 9 foot, The dark one in the center was a little over 10 foot
This new picture is the largest bear he has ever booked a hunt for. This bear is 8 foot around his belly. It was killed a year ago last april. This bear was mounted stooped over because the person who shot it wanted it that way. I would liked it better upright. That bear is going to be the new number 9 bear in the record book
As far as documented proof. You are welcome to call Dan and talk to him about the bears and the upcoming hunts. you can reach him at 208-423-6301 Ron

Idaho Ron: thank you very much

How much is a hunt with a good Russian outfit?

I have a Kamchatka hunt booked for April 28th of this year. I will report back to this forum with my results and views of the hunt when I return. I booked my hunt through the Russian outfitter Profi-Hunt. Hunt cost without air fare was $9000.00.

BOWHUNR

quote:

Originally posted by Idaho Ron:

Dang! Whatsa bear that size weigh?

I am not sure what a bear like that weighs. All I know is when I saw this bear the hair was so long and thick I was amazed. His butt looked like it was 4 foot wide. Ron

I was just watching the Nat Geo program on the Kamchatka bears. It said they take 1000 bears a year there. Surely that can't be sustainable.

I think one serious flaw in the whole Kamchatka bear business is the allowance of two bears. This is an ethical question which has no right answer. BUT why in the hell does someone need to go over there and kill two of these big bruisers? SCI has not to my knowledge addressed the issue, I assume because money talks. Let's not forgot the Russians cancelled the season last Spring for poorly explained reasons. Then SCI heirarchy interceded with lobbying efforts, political posturing, funded studies for bilogy and game management, etc. etc. I'd say it was about damn well time to do something. I would love to go, but one bear should be sufficient for anyone. There is a lot to enjoy on that penninsula in terms of scenery, culture, wilderness, geology and wildlife. Remember the three buck seasons in some of our western states? Remember reading about 60 million buffalo? None of us were around when the grizzly roamed the river valleys of the plains. Hunters must police themselves.

im going over this april, the last three years that i have kept tabs on ,with the local guys
that have come back from kamchatka, both spring and fall hunts most of the bears have ranged in the 8-9.5 ft range, with the accosional 10 ft
This year it is only one bear per hunter, and the number of tags which have been issued has also been decreased
The problem started in the 80 s when so many hunters took 2 bears per hunt and basically were are paying the price in smaller bears now
as far as next year ...2007 it is still not certain if spring hunt will get the go ahead
regards daniel

bulldog
you go to khaborosk and there are 2-300 bear skins from hunters in storage waiting of export permits and thats only in one city
daniel

Hopefully they pull their heads from their asses and start to implement some management practices. Good Luck on the hunt.

Interesting twist. Everyone is asking bear size. Bears are not judged by the size of the hide, but by the size of the skull.

So the question really is, how many of the Kamchatcka have made B&C? How many recently? If you check, I am willing to bet not many.

I also suspect that the government is now becoming very concerned about bad management. Especially the absurd practice of a second bear tag. Brown's simply do not reproduce at a rate that sustain that pressure.

If the 1,000 bears a year figure is correct, then they have to slow this hunt down in a major way.

i think thats what they are trying to do, but i think the horse has already bolted
daniel

M 98,

What outfitter are you hunting with? Do you have your exact dates yet? I'll be going with Profi-Hunt, leaving Anchorage on April 28th. Good luck on the hunt!

BOWHUNR

I would bet that none of the skulls from Russian bears have made B&C. They're not from North America. It would be interesting to hear some skull sizes though.

Anyone interested in a spring hunt for '06, we have 5 permits left for Kamchatka. We are the ones with the pictures in this forum. Lots of references available. We can answer any questions you might have.

Jeff Frost
Intermountain Taxidermy
and Worldwide Adventures, Inc.

Kimberly, Id
208-423-6301

Didn't the Hunting report have some info on these hunts? If I recall correctly there are a lot of areas where the population is very low due to overhunting and poaching. Keep in mind that the european hunters have been hitting this area very hard for the last few years too!

Jeff good to see you got logged on.
Ron

What is the population of these bears like? I read somewhere (I think the internet so not very reliable) that it was something like 100,000.

I bought a .375 H&H from a guy who killed a nice 8' bear in Kamchatka. He had a snowmobile accident and was stuck in a cabin for 18 days in agony during a blizzard waiting for a helicopter to get him out of there! I got a great deal on the gun by the way.

In the last two weeks there has been an interesting development with the Kamchatka hunts. Magadan Airline had a flight that that traveled between Anchorage and Petropavlovsk every Friday. This to me is what made the Russian hunts attractive, keeping travel time and cost to a minimum. Magadan has announced that they will not start their Anchorage route this year until June, which meens I (and any other spring bear hunter) will have to travel through Moscow via New York. Now, instead of having approx. twelve hours of flight time (from Omaha, NE), I will be flying for over twenty-five hours and traveling through eighteen time zones. With the added cost of airfare, I am right at, or maybe slightly over what an Alaskan Brown bear hunt would have cost me. I thought it was ironic that the Magadan situation was not announced until after the S.C.I. and D.S.C. shows were over, which is when most hunters (including me) paid our final balance for the hunt. I guess what I'm saying is, if I had known this before I was booked to Kamchatka, I would be hunting in Alaska this spring.

BOWHUNR

quote:

Originally posted by BOWHUNR:
In the last two weeks there has been an interesting development with the Kamchatka hunts. Magadan Airline had a flight that that traveled between Anchorage and Petropavlovsk every Friday. This to me is what made the Russian hunts attractive, keeping travel time and cost to a minimum. Magadan has announced that they will not start their Anchorage route this year until June, which meens I (and any other spring bear hunter) will have to travel through Moscow via New York. Now, instead of having approx. twelve hours of flight time (from Omaha, NE), I will be flying for over twenty-five hours and traveling through eighteen time zones. With the added cost of airfare, I am right at, or maybe slightly over what an Alaskan Brown bear hunt would have cost me. I thought it was ironic that the Magadan situation was not announced until after the S.C.I. and D.S.C. shows were over, which is when most hunters (including me) paid our final balance for the hunt. I guess what I'm saying is, if I had known this before I was booked to Kamchatka, I would be hunting in Alaska this spring.

BOWHUNR

I sincerely hope this is the only nasty surprise you get on this adventure. Don't let it grate on you for the whole trip or it will ruin it. Good luck anyway and please share your experience.

quote:

I sincerely hope this is the only nasty surprise you get on this adventure. Don't let it grate on you for the whole trip or it will ruin it. Good luck anyway and please share your experience

Thanks TBG,
I'm not going to let this ruin the trip, but I have to say it does leave me very suspisious of the Russians.

BOWHUNR

I for one find NG very anti hunting I belive they would lie about bear hunting. They tend to put the worse foot forward when it comes to hunting.

Hi!

In regards to the poaching situation in Kamchatka in can tell you that there was a very "interesting" article in a Danish fishing magazine in December: Two Danes had booked a couple of guides and horses to trek and fish on the peninsula. The guides do not seem to know that much about fishing, ecxept for snagging, but the Danes press on and it is not until they see the first bear 4 days into the trip, that they realise what is going on: The guides see a bear 200-300 yards away and very quietly say "Dangerous!" and start stalking the bear. The bear snifs them out and starts to walk away. At this point the guides start running after the bear, flinging shots after it. 1 shot connects but they lose the bear after 30 minutes and give up.
One of the Danes gets suspiscious and needles one of the drunk guides in the evening and learns that the locals do not care about fishing but having a tourist with you makes it a lot easier to get a bear kill "accepted as self defense" - so basically these two fishermen had travelled halfway round the world only to be used indirectly as "bait" or justification for poaching.
One dane confronts the head guide the next morning and is met with foul language, negative attitude and a loaded rifle - 4-5 days on horseback from the nearest town. AND the guide will not let them go back to terminate the trip, because they have not shot a bear yet!
This, ofcourse, is an abbriviated version, but the whole article clearly shows you have to be carefull with whom you go out.

JDANE