10 ft

Is he sitting on a jacket or someone?

Beautiful Bear! You really should have dragged Phil out from under him before you took the picture though.

Very nice - congrats!

quote:

Originally posted by Fury01:
Beautiful Bear! You really should have dragged Phil out from under him before you took the picture though.

No need to drag him out, Phil's just resting under there getting ready to stand up and haul the bear out muscle, bone, hide and all.

Really really nice bear, congrats to the hunter and Phil

Well done!!!
What load did you use?

Excellent! Hair looks really nice as well.

Tia was the guide and my cousin from Cincinnati the hunter
Blaser R93, 375 H&H, Federal Premiums w/300 Nosler Partitions

Awesome bear, congrats to all! I was Tia's last Fall bear client; she is a great guide.

Great, I really like the hump
George

Unusually nice day for the Peninsula.

Nice Bear Jim!!!

Jim

The always popular paw picture

quote:

Originally posted by georgeld:
Great, I really like the hump
George

For a minute George I thought you said "you really like to hump" LOL

Nice bear. He's on my bucket list.

It was a very strange & tough fall season on the Peninsula. High winds delayed guides & clients getting into camps. We were stuck in King Salmon with many others for 3 days. We didn't get to Phil's base camp until opening day. Luckily, we made it out to our spike camp the same day so we could start hunting on the 2nd. The 2nd broke calm & sunny. We spotted our bear soon after arriving on our spotting hill. A short but intriguing stalk resulted in a "bear down" within 3 hours from a Texas heart shot. The stalk was short in distance but the bear eluded guide & hunter for about an hour as it mucked around in some pucker brush (aka alders). I was watching it unfold from some high ground. You could follow the bears movement in the thick brush by the flushing ptarmigan.

I'm a long time Alaskan who was blessed to accompany my Cousin from Cincinnati on this hunt. In Alaska, we are accustomed to the challenges of hunting here in the "Great Land". Weather (high winds, cold, rain, snow, ice), transportation requirements (boat, plane, ATV, even horses), natural events like ash fallout, and confusing retaliations; but we have never had to deal with a government shut down of federal lands. What a season.

Through all this, Phil & Rocky adapted and provided their clients the best opportunity to harvest a bear. I suspect this was not one of their best seasons but it was not due to a lack of effort by Phil's outfit. Phil & Taj flew their asses off in some marginal conditions getting hunters from King Salmon and then into spike camps and moving parties as required. Phil employs very knowledgeable guides who are a pleasure to be around. Even his packers are a "hoot" to be around. There are certainly some great guide outfits in Alaska, but I assure you none of them work harder than Phil's crew.

Here's my happy cousin an his guide, Tia Shoemaker.

Measuring the hide

Great bear! Congratulations Phil, Tia, and the hunter!!!

Brett

Way to go Tia and Dad. Job well done.


Mike