I just returned from a good grizzly hunt in AK with AK Big Game Hunting and Clint Mayeur. One thing I want to say up front is that I have never seen an outfitter who is so willing to fly for his camps. Of course we didn't hunt on the day of flying and he did not scout and tell us where game was, but the day a hunter had a moose down- Clint was out there flying loads of meat out. We were filming - and he would drop us off batteries and take others to recharge. This part of his service was great, and he wasn't afraid to move camps either.

Anyway- we flew into camp in Clint's supercub...


We were at the base of some pretty decent sized mountains, but certainly not sheep mountains. We had a river down low and bald mountains high. There were no fish - and honestly I doubt they ever get that far - so we found the bears on the berries.

Anyway - we set up a typical tent camp. It was two tents for me, my cameraman Rob Snider, and our guide Billy West.

Here are Rob and Billy looking at all our food for the week - MT House!


Here is inside...pretty tight...

We glassed and the first day had an encounter with a sow and 2 cubs. We ended up about 60 yards away, before I got busted taking photos, and they vacated the area, sort of.




The second day, we again saw the threesome, but in the afternoon, we hiked about 4 miles from camp to glass a higher drainage. My guide Billy, spotted a loan bear up in a bowl, and we watched him from about 2 miles. He looked decent, so we moved closer.


SO we really made some time, and got above where we thought he was eating berries.


When we got where we wanted to be, there was a strip of berries about 15 yards wide between head high brush that went to the bottom of the mountain. As we eased ahead and tried to peak over, I spotted the big blonde head of a grizzly walking straight at us only about 40 yards away. I sat down, got my gun up and tried to get the others down. I don't know if the bear heard us or what, but he stood up, and then he could see us over the crest of the hill. That was it, he was gone.

We walked over the hill to see if he would go down the drain and possibly come out on the other side, and suddenly Rob said, "there's the bear in the rocks above us. He circled."

Sure enough, the grizz was walking parallel to us about 80 yards above us going across an avalanche shoot. I got on my sticks at a severe uphill angle and looked for the shot.

This is a staged photo for a future mag article, but you get the idea.


I wanted a broadside as I was shooting a .300 Win, but he was always moving when he was broadside. He stopped twice and peered down at us, and the third time, I decided I had waited long enough. With his squared head looking down, I put the crosshairs just under his chin and squeezed. The rolled and then was running down the hill into thich brush. Great - 30 minutes before dark, and I have a wounded bear on a steep hill in the brush...

We were discussing the situation when I looked way down the mountain, and the bear was standing broadside barely holding his head up. I quickly put one in his shoulder and he dropped like a sack of potatoes.

We recovered him, but we were 6 miles from camp. It was a long trek back, and the fun had just begun.

We made it back to the general area of camp about 11:30 PM in the dark. Here I will show my stupidity- I didn't take my GPS. Just flat forgot it. Come to find out, my guide didn't have one!!! We walked around until 1AM and couldn't find camp, and I told the guys we needed to get out of the wind by some brush and wait it out til morning. It was clear out, thank God, and was in the 40's. The bad part was that we were in the general vicinity of where we had seen the sow and cubs for 2 straight days. Not much sleep that night!

The next morning, we walked to camp (about half a mile), drank lots of water and took a nap before we went back to get the bear. Bugs were terrible, so the photo session and skinning was in a hurry. The bear is obviously blonde, but the photos don't show the almost white collar all the way under his neck. The hide was just fantastic and he was a good solid bear to not be coastal. My first shot went in beside the sternum and lodged in the hide just in front of the tail. Second shot went through the heart and was under the skin on the far side shoulder.


We then flew to moose camp, but only 2 days of season were left. We had some crappy weather, and didn't see any moose.

Here is Rob and camera overlooking some beautiful country.


Finally Clint came to pack us out for good, and the adventure was over.

Bravo !!!! I am so low on a big furry bear.

Way to go Tim!! Looks like a good bear.. And like you said, lots of white in him..

Congrats bud

Nice Bear.

Congratulations!

Great story, great photos! That looked an awfully lot like the country I hunted in 2005. Were you in SW Alaska?

Bear hunting, always fun!! Good job, and congrats.

Aaron

Awesome! Good looking bear. How big?

Well done and an excellent trophy! ?Thanks for sharing the story. Beautiful country, what part of Alaska?

Nice Bear!!! Congrats!!!

Tim, Great photos,congrats on the bear!

Great looking bear! Thanks for sharing and congratulations.
Exceptional photos, btw!

Great bear Tim, Congratulations.

Very nice bear Tim.

Sounds like you had a great hunt and congratulations again on that AWESOME Grizzly!

Very nice bear... congratulations! Taking a nice grizz is on my bucket list. Will consider your outfitter.

Tim Looks like a great bear! Do you have contact info for the outfitter?

quote:

AK Big Game Hunting and Clint Mayeur

mayeur@mtaonline.net

907-242-4207 or 907 357-4835

Great pictures, beautiful country that I long for about this time of the year, thanks Tim. And I can almost taste those blueberries (I'm a pretty poor glasser, but I do love grazing on berries!)

I am pretty good at eating those berries myself Bill. It always amazes me that a bear as big as those up there can eat enough berries to ever make it! They are like vacuum cleaners...

Hey Tim,

I enjoyed the pics and the report!

Very nice bear indeed!