Hunt Dates April 30-May 3
Outfitter: Paul Brand’s Alaska Safari Unlimited www.alaskasafariunlimited.com
Species- Coastal Black Bear
Gun/Load: TC ICON .300 Win Mag- Winchester 180 gr Accubonds topped with Nikon Monarch 3x12
Travel: Delta and Alaska Airlines- travel booked through Kathi Klimes, Wild Travel

Still on the 54’ Alaska Adventure as I type this report of one of the absolutely most enjoyable hunts of my life. Let me start this report by saying that I have taken quite a few black bears and a couple of real monsters, so this hunt was to be a no pressure, fun ordeal. I wanted to take a good mature boar and get good video. The video was much more important than the size of bear. I was also hunting 2x1 with long time friend my partner on some of our TV ventures, James Brion.


Normally Paul Brand and AK Safari Unltd doesn’t begin their bear hunts until around May 6, but our schedules didn’t line up, so he took us a week earlier than he usually hunts. He also told me that the action would likely be slower, but we could still find a couple of bears.


First day, we all packed onto the 54’ boat and cruised about 4 hours to a big bay. On the way, we stopped and took photos of sea lions, saw otters, and on the side hill of the bay, we counted close to 60 mountain goats, some as low as 100 yards above the beach. The weather was cool with off and on rain, but not awful.




We counted over a dozen bears up on the sidehills, some quite high. Our hope was that they would move down in the afternoons and feed on the new grass on the tidal flats. Long story short, we didn’t see bears on the flats, but watched plenty up high.

So we moved the boat a couple hours to another bay that had lots of clear cuts on the sides, and grass on the flats. On the way, we stopped for about 20 minutes, and I caught a limit of rockfish on gigs, and we cruised on. Again at the new spot, we spotted 10 bears before we ever anchored. We took the skiff in, and began moving to check out bears. We saw one really big bear, but as we closed the distance, he moved out of the clear cut and into the thick forest.

We worked on around the hill, and spotted another bear. We stalked him, and got to 95 yards. He was a beautiful boar, with a nice head, but Paul guessed him as 6.5’, and he told us we should pass him as we could find more of that size without much trouble. We watched him for a while and enjoyed the show. I love to watch bears.

That evening, our captain caught a 15 pound halibut, filleted it, and threw it straight on the grill, wow! You can’t beat that kind of fresh anywhere.

The next day we moved the boat a couple more hours, and we took the skiff up into a huge tidal area with 2 rivers flowing out. It was miles of grass, and Paul said it was one of his “go to” spots. We spotted 3 bears on the way in. We stalked one to about 300 yards and decided he was too small, but then the sun went in and the bears just disappeared. It seemed when the weather was nice, the bears popped out, and when it got nasty, they went in the woods to lay up.



We went back earlier the next day after catching another good halibut and eating him as sushi. It was fantastic…We spotted a bear within 15 minutes. He was a mile away across the flats, and within a couple minutes, he disappeared. It didn’t take long and he showed up again, so we took off. There were a number of tidal ditches, streams and channels crisscrossing the flats, so we were able to use these for a stalk. He was lying just above the main creek eating triangle grass, and we found a huge old uprooted tree that we could put between him and us, and it made the final stalk perfect. We crawled up into the roots, and I ranged him at exactly 135 yards. We watched him lying and eating grass like a lawnmower, and Paul said he was a decent and mature boar. When he stood up, he said he thought we should take him, and my cameraman said that the over the shoulder footage was excellent. So, I knocked the safety off and hammered him in the shoulder. Bear Down…





We took photos, went back and pulled the skiff up to him, and loaded him up. I handed the rifle to James, and we took off to find him a bear. About 1 hour before dark, a bear emerged where we had seen on e the day before, and we took off. When we got within a couple hundred yards, we saw that he was rubbed all over his front legs, and we stood around watching him. Someone looked back the way we had come, and there was another bear, a mile behind us.

We reversed course, crossed a few streams (one over my hip waders), and 15 minutes later, we were standing in knee deep water, looking over the bank at another boar about 150 yards out. He looked a little better than my bear to me, and Paul again said he was a mature bear, but no monster. James decided to take him as we had good over the shoulder footage again, so he let fly and we had our second bear down in 5 hours.

We floated the skiff out at low tide, and it was a gorgeous and peaceful ride out. Harlequin ducks, pintails, eagles, otter and a host of other animals were everywhere, and the pristine snow covered peaks were a beautiful backdrop for the setting sun.

This trip was just plain fun. No pressure (everyone is going to kill bears), we ate like kings, and it was really nice to be able to come in to a warm dry “camp”, take a shower, dry your gear out, and sleep in a nice bunk. Also, being on the boat allowed us to move areas at will and find bears wherever they were. I just can’t say enough about the trip, and I feel sure if a guy wanted a 7’ bear, and wanted to hunt hard for 6 days, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be able to get one. Paul told us that this was the slowest hunt he had ever done due to it being so early, and he felt like 10% of the bears were out at this point. He told us that on the flat where we took our bears, on a good night in mid-May, you would see 20-25 bears.

The last day was spent catching a few fish, taking photos of eagles and cruising back to Homer. What a nice way to end an enjoyable trip.

I will be back on this trip in the future.

Tim

great write up.. One of these days I am going to do this exact hunt, twice in fact.. Once in the sprig for bears, then once in the fall for goats and sea ducks.

Thanks for sharing the pics.. They came out great!

I highly recommend it, and the goat hunt would be great. They have plenty in their area, kill some good ones, and the duck hunting would be spectacular...I will probably do that too. You can kill a goat, bear and ducks all on one trip...

Tim Great pictures!! Don't you just love everything Alaska? Looks like a nice bear that you found.

Great pics !! And of course nice bear .... Congrats !!

Tim ,great report. The coastal bear hunts for grizz or blacks is something everyone should experiance. Congratulations on a successful trip.
Doug

Beautiful photos!
Congratulations on the bear.I would love to do that hunt.

Looks like a great hunt. Will we see it on Nosler's Magnum TV?

How about so fish pics too?

Yes- you will definitely see this on Nosler's Magnum TV. Hopeing to get it on sometime between July-September if we can get it edited in time. Sorry...I was too busy fishing and not taking photos of the fish...

Another great report Tim,I've been there and we are going again this fall, it is IMHO the most beautiful place I've ever seen.

Great report. Congratulations on some real nice bruins.

Bill

Congratulations Tim. Sorry our schedules didn't work out.

Brett

Congrats on a successful adventure.

Great report with wonderful pictures

Another GREAT HUNT and REPORT! Beautiful pics!!

I live in Alaska and I want to go on that hunt! Good job, Tim!

Excellent report as always Tim!

Congratulations, what an outstanding hunt in one of the most spectacular regions, very nice photographs, thank you for sharing.

Aziz

Oh man, you take some pretty cool pics!



- mike

Great hunt, outstanding photos and a nice trophy blackie! Well done.

Congrats on a great hunt and superb pics of the eagles.

What a report Tim.
The photos are of the best quality.
This is a hunt that i must do within the next three years, as it must be very different of hunting in Africa, from weather to the stunning scenery.

Thank you for sharing and make us dreaming.

Roberto

Very well done. The location is what makes this hunt so special. Yep, a hunt like that is on my bucket list - love the adventure.

Thanks for sharing!

Great Pics!

Thanks for the story and sharing the great pics!

JUST GOT HOME FROM BEAUTIFULL NEWFOUNDLAND,FROM THE BEAR HUNT,IF ANYBODY CAN TELL ME HOW TO POST PHOTOS I WOULD BE MORE THAN GLAD T SHARE MY PHOTOS WITH U

Great pics Tim

Looks like it was a great hunt in a wonderful location.