Outfitter: NWA Outfitters LLC
Marabou Landing Ak - 99687 - Ph. 801-5992-4771

Mailing Address:

11400 Goose Nest Dr.
Payson, Ut 84651
www.nwaoutfitters.com

Guide: Earl Sutherland (A tall quiet dude from Utah ... could easily double as a Cowboy Movie Star from back In The Day ... )

When I was a little boy I opened up one of my father's boring farm magazines and discovered an article about two old boys (brothers if I recall correctly) who had gone together to Alaska and had each whacked a brown bear ! Pretty heady stuff to an 11 year old kid with a Hiawatha single shot .22 I decided that I would have to do the same thing myself somewhere down the road ..

But it took a very long time. The desire was always there but my teaching career meant that my summers were my main holidays so I settled for many wonderful hunts in Africa and South America mostly .. It wasn't a bad trade off. Plus I always had Alberta and Montana and Oz and such stuff to fall back on ...

Two years ago I decided to get my brown bear .. I had all of the time in the world now and enough money to do the hunt .. I really did not want to fail but hunting is hunting .. I contacted a guide who advertised on AR and spent 10 days hunting the Copper River . I was told to expect to see 6-8 bears in that time frame so I thought that I had a reasonable chance. I was not picky ... Any single adult bear would be quite an achievement for the Graying Redneck from Alberta .. I reckoned. The early June hunt had us hunting 24 hours a day mostly ... lots of daylight but lots of hot weather had the river in raging spring flood .. no beaches left to speak of ... all leafed out .. In ten days I saw one wolf and one wolverine ... I left Alaska without my bear.

A year later I returned in September in another area .. hunted hard .. no berries and the salmon had 'blown right through' I was told 'cause of the water conditions .. the other hunter in camp saw 10 in 5 days .. had three chances .. shot his brownie on day 5 and went back to Iowa to combine corn .. With my absolutely horrible luck continuing .. I never saw a bear,again ... Sigh !!!!

This August I was back again hunting the Mulchatna River. Doug Klunder (727-919-6005) had arranged the hunt for me. This chap is from Florida and is a guy who obviously loves this remote part of Alaska. Donald C. Martin (310-766-3921) is a registered guide and was running the camp, and eventually Dan Ellsworth (I think that he is the majority owner of 7 .. I think) (801-592-4771) also arrived for the fall hunting .. always good to have the Boss Dude around .. All three of these guys are exceptionally nice fellows ..

Accomodations: At Marabou Landing there were cabins along with what appeared to be tented quoncets. Wooden floors and my building had oil heating .. nice beds .. Coffee or hot chocoate was delivered each morning about 5:30 a.m. I thought that was a very nice touch .. Spike camps were tents, of course.

Food : Superb .. the camp cook J.T. from Georgia was the best camp cook that I have ever had in all of my paid hunting trips dating back to about 1974 ... He was amazing and the day that I left he was smoking a turkey for everyone that night .. (The worst camp cook that I ever had starved us in Arnemland a few years ago on a water buffalo hunt ... what a difference !!!)

Transportation: Jet boats for the river .. a super cub to fly hunters out to spike camps ...

The year before the televison show, ' The Bone Collector' was in camp and Michael Waddell shot both a moose and a brown bear. This year his dad was there and killed a brownie in the first few days in a spike camp. Because this is now a 2 bear area .. when I left, Mr. Waddell was still hunting and hoping to get a brown bear with his bow . He gave me some lessons with his bow and it was a really enjoyable afternoon as I waited for the plane from Port Allsworth to arrive and get me going on my long journey home to Canada. I hope that he nailed another one ...

There were 5 bear hunters in camp at various times in the first part of the season ... One chap and his wife from Michigan killed a bear in the first hour of their first brown bear hunt. Now that is luck !!

On Day 1 Earl and I left camp when it became light enough to see. One does not want to float that river in the dark .. plus how could you see a bear ??? Within 15 minutes of camp I saw my first brown bear in three trips .. He was a little 6 footer and as he scrambled for shore I tried to pick him up in my scope .. It was a dry run and I discovered to my horror that the life preserver would have prevented a shot .. Aiiieeeeeeeeee !!

A mile or two down the river we beached the boat, tied it up securely, grabbed the rifles and packs and headed off into the hills looking for a bear so that I would finally know great joy ... I am quite a rough looking old cob and Earl asked if he could carry my gun or back pack ??? I explained to the concerned fellow that I could carry my own damn gear .. thank you very much ... I really have to change my image or appearance or something ...

It was a great day wandering the hills .. we saw a fair number of caribou. They seem to be coming back after a huge die off some years ago .. Late that afternoon I even spotted two black bears together .. that was really surprising knowing that Brown bears eat such varmints ... It was a good day all in all and when I went into camp I found out to my delight that Ted had his brown bear .. so he went to bed with the knowledge that he had shot a brown bear .. He also had his lady to keep him company .. I had a chap from North Carolina in my quoncet and no bear ... Remember that famous song/poem, ' Desiderata' ... 'no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should .. ' ... I decided that evening that I really don't like that stupid poem ..

The next morning we floated down river. We were heading to a certain area and about ten miles or so down river we missed the short cut into the spot. We continued on and eventually swung by a small patch of trees in the flooded part off the main river. And there, fishing in the shallow water, was a bear !!!

I doubt if it was 30 yards away ..and then it stood up to look at us. I undid the last 2 of the 4 clasps on the life preserver, threw off my wet gloves (it rained most days), chambered a round, and as the boar went down on all fours to run .. I shot it high in the shoulder with my 375 left handed Ruger ... after a long life (the guide thought it was about 20 years from the condition of its worn down teeth) of great battles, epic journeys, many loves, and uncounted salmon, berries, marmots, smaller brown bears etc. ... it died instantly. Perhaps if that is one's destiny .. the ending was not to be despised ...

Five days later the guide suggested that my yells must still be echoing in the hills somewhere .. I suspect that might have been the case ..

My 50 year hunt was now over ..

All 5 of the hunters had killed bears by the time that I left ... One bear was wounded and the guide and his assistant guide went into the alders after it .. The guide from Wyoming goes by the moniker 'Flapjack Bob' and his back up gun was a Remington 12 gauge pump shotgun .. It held 8 - 3" shells 1 3/8 ounce slugs , had a ghost ring and a big fluorescent front sight .. and when the wounded bear got up in front of him roaring and took a swipe at him .. he unleashed hell fire !!! I asked him later if he had shot more than once .. He told me that he had shot 7 times .. saving one shot .. because ..

Another bear was shot twice .. Another bear was shot at 8 times between the guide and the hunter with one shot for sure being a miss ..

Yet another was shot 5 or 6 times.

When the bear hunt was over we tried for wolves (never easy) and I ended up catching 18 silver salmon in total, 5 or 6 char, and a couple of grayling .. the guide also caught a couple or rainbows .. almost all of the fish were returned to the river to fullfill their destiny ...

Also picked a few blueberries being an old time hunter/gatherer ...

It is truly a Sportsman's Paradise...

There were two professional camera men there for filming. I suspect that the hunts for the next few years will be booked quickly once folks see the shows on television ..

Everything was a total class operation in all respects ... I salute them .. I never have figured out how to display photos .. but if someone wishes to do that for me, I can send them the photos tonight via e mail for posting ..

Good hunting !!!

Scruffy

Great story and congratulations on your successful quest.

Where's the pictures!!!!!

Hahaha good report my friend !!!!

I am so happy you finally harvested your bear !!!

Post some pictures from the bear, the ones you sent me via email, he is much more handsome than you !!!
Congrats, you deserve it....
Lorenzo

Lorenzo ... if you are reading this sometime .. would you mind posting those photos that I sent you .. ??? I have 350 more but I think that I have something in my teeth in most of them ..

Huge congrats! I booked the guy in that killed the first morning, and I will be up there next year hunting moose and bear in Sept. Thanks for the great report, and I can't wait to see your photos!

Congratulations" great story, and i cant imagine the feeling of having worked thatbhard and finally getting your bear!

O

Richard and his brown bear !!





Congratulations my friend !!!

L

Well done !

Excellent Scruff! Well done.

Looks like he was worth the wait!

That little Ruger has been travelling a lot....the last time I saw a picture of it was ontop a Cameroon buffalo !!!



L

Which one's the brownie?

Here's to you for not getting discouraged after the first two hunts! That one sounds like a fiasco...

Enjoy the memories!

friar

Well done scruffy!!

Well done, congratulations, a wonderful once in a lifetime trophy. Good story, thanks for sharing it with us.

A very nice well earned Bear!!

Well done Scruffy! What is the next adventure? Ky says hi and congrats too.

Dean

As a fellow member of the Brown Bear Curse Club, a hearty congrats to you on a very nice bear.

I spent 36 days on Kodiak Island before shooting a 9'1" boar.

The kicker was I passed a bear estimated to be 9'3" on the first day of the first hunt (of the three I made). Two trips, 35 days, and an couple empty bank accounts later I had my bear.

Oh yeah, forgot the part about an extremely pizzed off wife.

Yo, Dean ... I am always plotting and planning to go somewhere ... never been to Paraguay yet ...There are a couple of outfitters down there ... buffalo is what always interests me .. FishN4Eyes .. I know what you mean about the lady .. I fear my wife thought I was in a whore house in Reno ...

That's a really nice bear!
Thanks for sharing with us and congrats on the achivement!

well done Scruffy!
was that the 270/375 Ruger you hunted your porcupines with?

You mean my special wildcat .. the 270/375R Idiot ??? John, that Mozambique hunt sounds very good indeed ... I would bring my 416 Remington mag, though .. You might be able to guess why ..

I am working on the Moz hunt, should get back to you in a few days.

Great Story and bear.Thanks for sharing!!!!!

Hey Richard

I am sitting in Denver waiting on a plane to take me back to the sunshine state
Season ended well with 11 Hunters taking 12 Bears
4 of 6 Mose Hunters were successful and this year the Bulls were already COWED UP it seemed and were tough to get to repond to the call but all in all the season went really well
We enjoyed having you in camp again and want to thenk you for the excellent report and want to congratulate you again on your siccess.
Dont be a stranger and stay in touch

Be safe in your travels and good luck n the future

Doug Klunder

Nice Bear! Congrats!

Outstanding Richard, congrats!

Richard
Great Report and Congrats!

Nice bear! Great hunt! Congratulations!

Richard,

Congratulations on a great hunt! Brown bear is next on my list for North America.

Congrats again, and great report!

Greg

Congratulations. Your story proves that TENACITY pays off. I went to Alaska for brown bear in 2004 and didn't see one. Your story inspires me to go again sooner rather than later.

Scruffy! You old dog, you finally got your bear. Congratulations and thanks for the story.

Really good stuff. Well done.

Congratulations great bear Don aka Hollywood is a great guide.

Great bear and a great report. thanks for sharing.