I've been wanting to hunt a brown bear with a double rifle for awhile.
I finally got around to it last week and took this 8&1/2 foot bear. I did'nt give myself enough time to take a really big bear but I still got the job done.

I got this one with my Franz Sodia .338 win mag and 250 gr. Hornadys. The first shot was about 50 yards. I had the scope on while stalking so I left it there for the shot.

The bear did take some lead and unfortunantly it ran into the lake after the shot (wich is obvious from the photos.) I did get off a good right, left and a reload before it turned to the lake. He dropped in just a couple inches of water but still made a wet mess.



My hunting partner got a nice over 9 foot bear I'll post that on the Alaska page.

Congratulations. You proved it can be done!

Must have been quite a tug to get him back on shore.

Nice bear! Congrats on using your double for it as well.
To bad someone doesnt offer a totally stainless double with a syn stock for us Alaskans. Would be cheaper to make and sell and we could use them more often.
How long are the barrels on your rifle? Where were you hunting?

Nice bear! Congratulations!

Damn! Wonderful.

Congratulations indeed!!!!

Well done. Nice bear! Doing it with a double just adds to the pleasure.
---------------------------------
"Serious rifles have two barrels, eveything else just burns gunpowder."

Congrats and thanks for sharing!!!! Great stuff!!

Well done, nice bear.

quote:

To bad someone doesnt offer a totally stainless double with a syn stock for us Alaskans

About as close as you can get
http://www.thomasnowak.com/Eng...chaft/Frameindex.htm (Hey, you asked for it )

I have not personally seen the Nowak stocks but I have heard some good reports on them...

I can say I hunted in Alaska with a wood stocked Blaser R 93. I was in hard rain for several days on a tent hunt, well a weatherport actually, and the wood and steel was wet for several days.

The wood showed no water damage and the metal of the Blaser did not rust. I did try to dry the inside of the barrel out most nights.

The only area that showed rust was the allen scope ring screws.

Also I hunted with a Synthentic stocked R 93 for about a month in the snow on a snowmobile. the rifle was in a codura scabbard and wet all the time. Once when I broke through the ice in a river the rifle was totally under water for over 7 minutes, and not dried out till later that night. Again no rust.

Blasers have a very good finish, on metal and wood.

I think a perfect Alaskan [and foulweather anywhere else] "double would actually be a Blaser D 99 Duo on 9,3x74RX9,3x74RX 20ga.

With two 9,3 barrels for big game, and a 20ga bbl for ptarmargin, ducks etc. I think it would be just about perfect.

I have often thought about hunting brown bear along the coast of BC. Walking up a salmon stream with a big bore double where you might turn a corner and have one 20 yards away would be a dream.

465H&H

Thanks guys for all the good words.

Snowwolf- barrels 26" near Iliamna. Waffen Fuchs in Innsbrook makes an all stainless double but wood stock and there's nothing cheap about them.


Originally posted by 465H&H
I have often thought about hunting brown bear along the coast of BC. Walking up a salmon stream with a big bore double where you might turn a corner and have one 20 yards away would be a dream.

465H&H

Actully that did happen on this hunt. Had one walking up the beach to me where I was hideing behind a bush in ambush. I wanted to take a moment to judge the bear but at 10 yards he looked up and spotted me. He turned and ran off like a whittail. I could see he was a shooter as he ran away.

Just for my own edification: How do you get that much brown bear out of the water once he's entered it and expired?

The lake bottom beyond the beach was very slick sand and we only had a few feet to go so a lot of 1 2 3 heeves to get it the first few feet then roll it up on the beach. Thats how it got so wet top and bottom by rolling.

I hated to roll the bear over getting it so wet because I had about a mile to carry it and a wet bear is much heavier than a dry one but that was the only thing I could do. It's a good thing that I hit the bear hard before it went in the lake and it only made it a few feet and in only a couple inches of water.

I had a hunter about 20 years ago shoot a big bear that dropped on the spot and when I told him to shoot again he refused asking why and proclaiming the bear is down. That bear jumped up then jumped into a beaver pond where I was yelling don't shoot. The hunter was saying he'll get away but at least he listened to me that time and the bear crawled onto the beaver lodge and died. I tried to skin it out without knocking it into the water but that was'nt possible and the bear rolled off the beaver lodge and into the water. On that one I had to go waste deep in the water and skin the bear. It took me five hours.

Akshooter,
Not to change the subject but your bear in the water brought up some moose hunting memories. A friend once decided to shoot a bull standing in knee deep water. I said dont do it, he said dont worry, I will hit him high in the lungs and he will walk out.
Well, high in the lungs turned out to be a spine shot and he anchored it on the spot.

Don't even ask what it is like to gut and bone out a moose in 18 inches of water! Worst huntng experience of my life, lol.

On one of my AK trips I helped the 2 guides gut, skin, and butcher 2 big moose in knee to mid thigh water, killed at the same time...

I do not think I would ever shoot a moose in the water.... I am just not that mad at them.

Also one of the guys shot a caribou that got into the river, but we were able to pull him on to dry land, mostly anyway.

My wife shot a deer, big buck swimming the river once, but she dragged him to the bank and we pulled him out of the water with a vehicle.

I have shot a couple of pigs that jumped into the river as well...

Maybe I need to hunt in SCUBA gear.