hi
i wonder which kind of weapon and caliber is used by native alaskan for hunting moose and big bears?
regards
yazid

yazid, we use to use sharp pointy sticks and snares but now use fast flying projectiles. We use to harveste bears by sending boys down a bear den and shooting them in the head with a handgun when we wanted to eat bear meat-black bear meat use to be gourmet. Rifles of old were the military 06 and .30-30's, were some old .30-40 Krags about and some odd ball calibers but these were normal due to the old stern wheeelers brought up river in spring time for sales or trade. Now days what you have for selection is easily the same for us as well. By boat in summer/fall or in winter by snowmachine I have gone to other villages and have seen everthing from AK47's to .458's, some who came from wars will only carry Colt AR's, theres a few old Mausers if I can talk some of them ole timers out of them - not ever likely due to their connection to the guns. The old thought and behavior of bears is not welcomed in hunting camps or fish camps and if they approach we just 'kill em", simple as that. Leverguns are still highly favored and if you ever want to see some shootin just check us out and see how fast them levers work.

You would be suprised at the variety of rifles found beating around in bush AK but the most common, in my experience, and verified by both the AK F&G and state ammo sales, is the 30-06 with the .223 not far behind.

i would say .223 remington.

the natives will shoot just about anything with that...

In my neck of the woods its the lever action .30-.30! This is mainly due to the fact that the .30-30 is the main rifle given away at potlatches, so there are many in circulation.

cold zero, it is funny you say that, I have a good friend that favored his mini-14. I carried my .338 and took a running shot at a young bull and struck in him right in lungs, I preferred the shoulder but anyways he opened up with his mini14 and went thru 2 clips. He did not want me hitting again with my magnum so I watched appauled. We skinned and talk about holes and he never used it again. I done as much as I could say to these people that adopted me thru a marriage and very few to this day and down river of here as well use them-for caribou it a fine meat gun-minimum damage. The region I am from (Koyukon)use and favor quite abit of the 30 calibers. I can see where in the coastal areas of the state where the use for harvesting seals,caribou and whatever else that fancies them it works just fine. Elders like the .243 for both moose and caribou here too. Most times irregardless of ones choice there is generally a couple of us who go with our elder folks and help them in most all situations and at the same time they continually stress certain behaviors we need to be aware of hunting conditions or animal posture if you will.It is nice to come back to camp with meat and to a hot cup of coffee or tea and something to eat-our elders are a treasure. Again like .458 mentioned you will find a diverse range of arms - it would interesting to have F&G note what is used around the Flats the most. .270? .06? I think we are aware of a healthier bear population and as we experience more encounters we are upping the bullet diameters--even more handguns are being carried. interesting observations overall.

While I lived in Barrow it was 17 Remington and 223 for Polar Bear, seals, and caribou.

I have heard of other cartridges being used, but most of the 375 shooters are white men.

You have to realize that there are many different Native tribes in Alaska http://www.kstrom.net/isk/maps/ak/aklinks.html and also the terrain of the state varies tremendiously. As such, I don't think there really are paticularly common calibers used by the Alaska Native's at large, though there certainly are some regional prefrences.

I've heard of the 22 hornet and 223 used for critters large and small, as well as some Aleuts on Kodiak using a 458 win mag and a 10 ga on bears, and most everything in between.

The only generalization I've seen, and I hate making them, is it seems most natives don't get all hung up on calibers, they just go out and hunt. That said, a good number of non-native hunters do the same, it's only us gun loonies that seem to have to chase the nats ass of ideal calibers and guns

Paul H ----- My brother-in-law lived in a small village on the Alaskan Peninsula for two years and taught school there. His best buddy was a Brown Bear guide with several brothers and a very large family. I hunted with him and got a nice Bear, after he hunted with me down home for six weeks and insisted on a return hunt. All of the natives (Aleuts) in that village except one other guide did not hunt the Big Bears, they were Salmon or Crab fishermen. The guides owned larger chamberings usually seen for Bear hunters, the remainder of the natives used .22's up to .243's with a few .270's thrown in. They used them for small game and Caribou and seals, as well as duck and geese. They wanted very flat shooting rifles and shot the Caribou in the small of the back, breaking them down, then sticking them to bleed them, before they died completely. The same methods used in our slaughter houses everyday, except here we shoot them in the head or use a stun gun. These so called hunters would not hunt the Bears, but they would take pot shots at them from boats. The other inhabitants thought you were crazy if you hunted the Big Bears, and they wanted no part of it. The Eskimos also shoot the flat shooting rifles, however I have no first hand experience with their hunting practices. To say the natives in the part of Alaska I saw and my brother-in-law lived in and hunted in used small rifles to hunt Big Bears was not the case. This is my experience, for what it is worth. Good shooting.

Although I've been to several villages and seen all kinds of calibers as mentioned, when I lived in Barrow, we had a store and I brought in ammo. I could count on selling 243, 22-250, and 223 most heavily but we ended up selling a box of 30-06 or 270, you will find some native are "gun loonies" in the sense that I am but they don't necessarily use them that heavily. Even for Polar they might use an AK 47 or SKS for polar bears. The 17 is liked for seal but you don't see a lot of them anymore as both the ammo and rifle are hard to find in the bush. The first moose I saw shot was with a 243 along the Yukon River near Holy Cross. I was carrying a 338 and wasn't impressed with his choice of rifles but killed that moose dead as hell. He did shoot it several times and got lucky hitting an artery in the neck. The animal bled to death. They like the smaller calibers on seal and Oggarik (walrus) because they have to get to them while they are still alive or the animal will sink. Most native I know aren't to big on hunting bears although will kill one if they run into them. It varies from Upik, to Aleut, to Athabaskan, Inuit, and Klinket. Many have different belief systems in play about the whole thing. I guess the only thing you can say in general is the native I've met "tend" to use smaller calibers than the rest of us. And they don't disect everything the way we tend to looking for some magic bullet. It's pretty all matter of fact.

In my experience, they use whatever they have at hand on any and all species- .223, ,44 magnum, 30-06, etc. no matter if the target is seal, moose or walrus. They usually don't have the luxury of choice many of us have in our gun safes.
I do know a few that are regular "gun nuts". They use multiple calibers for different game ranging from .22-250 to .340 Weatherby and .375 H&H.