A fellow co-worker mention that he and his hunting partner took a 9 ft brown bear on the road system around Juneau........I thought sure, another six footer made into a 9 footer, until I went to the taxidermist and saw it for myself and spoke to Mike over at Rug & Rack Taxidermy. Big old pumpkin head boar. I'll ask for a picture here shortly - The crazy thing about it, later on in the year lots of people camp where this bear was taken. Just think - these guys walked about a mile off the road and took this 9 footer, plus it was his first bear! More to come about this one.........

So, I'm thinking Echo Cove.

Guy told me his first hand account of this big old bear charging a guy last year. He ran like hell and made it to his skiff.

Am I right?

Or, maybe up Montana Cr. My boy had a real scare last year when the sow + 2 cubs gave him a false charge while we were fishing within eyesight of the end of the road.

Details, please.

Yep....Echo Cove area at the end of road. I guess this guy has been there for awhile, scarring the crap out of people.........Sounds like it was time for him to be taken out anyway......I'll try to get of hold of Pat (the guy who killed this bear) tomorrow with all the details and a photo. I know he's pretty proud.......Who wouldn't be, plus your first bear. I'll have more details tomorrow, I hope.....

Wow. I hunted black bear with a buddy (actually, there were four lads in our party) in an area close to Echo Cove a couple seasons ago. We actually put out at Echo due to engine trouble running the canal. Two of our guys were looking for brownies on our trip, but we saw none. We did remove three blackies from the local population, however, and all went to Mike at Rug and Rack. I'm looking at an example of his work as I type, a fine brown specimen, and I couldn't be more pleased with it. He did a great job.

Anyway, interesting and good on the guy who tagged it! Story and pics would be great.

Cheers,

KG

CK: Congratulations to your friend...this bear hunting stuff is always exciting. I imagine your friend will have adrenalin pumping through his veins for a while. A 9 foot bear is huge...

Here it is -
[url="http://www.hunt101.com/?p=287006&c=500&z=1"] [/url]

Here's Pat, the happy hunter! I talked to ADF&G they said the raw scull came in at 23 13/16.

What a beast! Good before photograph too! What was he shooting? That bear looks a little close. Good work.

A one shot kill? - Which cal?
Very nice bear - Congratulations to your friend.

Roland

Pat's hunting partner said, he threw one round into the shoulder/chest area to anchor and a follow up shot threw the neck. He was up a tree hanging around for blackies, when about 175-200 yards away this brown bear comes into view. The rifle, a 300 win. mag with 200 gr. Federal factory rounds loaded with Trophy Bonded bullets. Pat just so happen to have registered his brown bear permit in several GMU locations with ADF&G before the hunt.

More of a follow up - Pat just called me,
(the guy who killed this bear) he said the bear in the raw measured 9'8" from paw to paw and 9'4" from nose to tail. Pat sends his thanks to all for the congratulations.

That's one hefty looking bear. Nice going!

Maybe it's just the photo, but does he
seem to have an unusual facial hair scheme to anyone else? Is that spot actually bald between eyes, maybe rubbed? Just curious.

Nice bear. Poor tree hugger is most likely crying. Oh well great bear.

I have a few more comments:

1. This is definately a bear that was spotted at Echo Cove last years. Even before you posted the photos, someone had described this bear with his bald spot on the head between the eyes to me. He was agressive to humans, so it's a good thing he was harvested by a lucky hunter. I'm sure his genes have been passed on in the gene pool.

2. You've really thrown a monkey wrench into the minimum bear caliber. Consensus is that you start at the .338 Win and work up from there. I had a M70 PF in .300 Win that I hunted with in S.E. AK for 20 years. It was nicknamed "Chester the Molester." Never shot a bear, but I did feel comfortable with carrying it. I certainly had several face-to-face discussions with brownies whilst deer hunting. They alway elected to leave peacefully, rather than experience the wrath of Chester. Chester was "reborn" and is now a 375 Taylor.

3. The "before" photo was taken by Pat Costello. Pat is not a "tree hugger." He is a hunter himself. His has a website - Juneau Photos.com

Juneau Photos

While his photos probably appeal to greenies, it is unfair to label him as one. He is a sportsman all the way. Why do you say he is a "known" tree hugger.

4. The word "tree hugger" bothers me. Not because I'm a eco-nazi either. Just spent the last day reconn'ing a highway project on POW island - the Klawock-Hollis Hwy. You will see some of the most obscene logging practices ever along this highway. They pretty much logged all the way around Klawock Lake, in many places to the shore line. Severe hillside erosion, increased water temps. All the locals blame the highway project and the drainage culverts for the dramatic drop in Sockeye returns and I had to tell the BS.

I use wood products and realize you need to cut trees, but it needs to be done in a responsible way also.

. . . . o.k off my soapbox now.

Gotta go get on the Spring King Derby leader board list!!!

MM

Muskeg Man, I sent you a PM...

dave

Great bear. Would really like to have one that size hanging on my wall or made into a rug. Its on my long list of things I want to do before I die.

Great bear and thanks for the pictures.

Nice bear! Not trying to ruin anyone's parade, but is it as rubbed as it looks? It looks like it have short fuzzy hair. Still a big creature that sounds like it needed to be eliminated. Nice job.

The kind of big brown bears dreams are made of. I'd love to get one this nice someday.

Congratulations to the hunter. Job well done.

Russ

I am amazed at the variability in body size and skull size found in these bears. The bear above squared at 9'6" with a green skull measurement of 23 and 13/16 inches...My partner and I just shot bears that squared 8' and 7'9" respectively..both green skull measurements were 23 and 14/16 inches (the young man at ADF&G there on Douglas Is where we got the bears sealed measured twice when the same number came up for both bears). TJ, on a related post, reports that his 10'5" brown bear has a skull that scores 27 and 13/16 inches (that makes sense)...Is it that body size is based on age and diet and, holding all things equal, skull size is not? It sounds like you can go after either a bear with a big skull (27" or better)and get a big rug too, but if you go after only bears that have big bodies, you may only get a big rug and not a big skull. A lot of this variation has also go to be attributed to age, I would imagine.

CK: What happened to the before-picture of this bear? I think not having the before-photo alters the sequence and perception of the circumstances of bear being shot.