I moved up here for a job and just met my residence eligibility. Looking to hunt bear this spring. Any hints on where to scout in units 14 and 16? Is there accesible public land?On foot and packing it out dont have the luxury of 4 wheeler or snow machine. Not loooking for your secret spot but a good place to start.

Call the BLM, Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service and Game Department and ask to talk you the area biologist for those GMUs.

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Originally posted by kdyson:
I moved up here for a job and just met my residence eligibility. Looking to hunt bear this spring. Any hints on where to scout in units 14 and 16? Is there accesible public land?On foot and packing it out dont have the luxury of 4 wheeler or snow machine. Not loooking for your secret spot but a good place to start.

Black Bears are thick on the Kenai look into GMU 15 & 7 Lots of areas on the way to Seward.

Kdyson.....You should come down to Hoonah and blast a brown bear ........Welcome to the forums...

Thanks for the suggestions. Went to the fish and game here in Anchorage and they where very helpful. Rules and regs are very different than those in Idaho. I feel very lucky to have been able to move up here to Alaska. Love the stories here in the forums!

.....What do you shoot ?????

Gumboot where the heck is Hoonah? I would love to shoot a brownie you say when and where. I am shooting a 300 rum handloaded with 200 grainers at 3100 fps. Potent elk medicine wondering from reading these forums if I am way under gunned for the big bears. Feel pretty good about taking a blackie with it though. I have some trigger time in so pretty confident about shot placement out to about 300 yards with a good rest. Last thing I wanna do is injure an animal and lose it. Whats your thoughts on .30 cal mags and big bears? I have a spare remington long action thats just waiting for an excuse to get up sized a bear hammer.
Father in law has a ruger no. 1 in a .416 that just plain sucks to pull the trigger on!

...........Your 300 is ok for Black bear ,,, The very first black bear I shot with a 300 win mag ......It worked but thats about the best I can say for it .........The 375 is pretty much the classic brown bear caliber ........And before any one starts arguing about it [ JUST SHUT UP ] ....For coastal brown bear it is right up there with the best ....... If you load 250 gr TSX , GS Custom , Swift , Trophy bonded ECT. bullets @ around 2800 fps it is an easy shooting rifle that most of the time demonstrates much better knock down than the 30 cal.s ......You don,t get nearly as many runners with the 375 as you do the 300 .......The 270 gr is my favorite bullet weight in the 375 .......Brown bear is a world class trophy .............I view shooting them with a 30 cal like I would shooting a cape buffalo ..... Hoonah is the largest Tlingit [Kkligkut] village in Alaska ...It is on the north east end of Chichagof Is....Brown bear central ...................The easiest way to hunt them frm the road system is with a bicycle and bike trailer .............Spot and stalk or just accidental bump in will often produce a good bear the 1st day .....

You really can't be from Idaho and be that Green can you? 99% Literally is public land, either owned by the state, the tribes, or the goverment.

I am a Wyoming-Montana Alaskan. If you don't have the big state wide topo map that sales for $25 you need to get one. It will show what is and what isn't public land.

Some Native outfits require you to ask permission to hunt their lands. Some won't give it some will.

Game populations for Alaska are much more spread out than they are in the west. With the exception of bears, where there are lots of them there are tons and where there are few there aren't any.

Wouldn't hurt to drive to Tok and hunt the Yukon river coridor north of Tok some of those areas are 2 brownie areas. Talk to a biologist and see when the moose calves are starting to drop, then hunt moosy areas.

Make sure you bring lots of salt and turn the ears, lips, nose, and split the feet correctly. 10 pounds of salt for a cape, 50 pounds of salt for a whole hide.

Good hunting!

........In the State Regs. it is in GMU 4 ........Northeast Chichagof Controlled Use Area ........If you take a skiff to the 8 Fathom public dock you can walk along the road ,but a bicycle works best ....The bears will think you are some liberal college edjucate and they won,t run for their lives .........KaBoom..........

Gumboot I would love to make that trip! Trying to figure out how to pack 50lbs of salt on the bike though jk. Do you have any thoughts on the 375 scovill? Like I said I have a long action from a remington 30 06. thinking of inexpensive way of getting the right gun. Unfortunately dropping over a grand on a new gun is out of the question right now. other option is making ultra mag a switch barrel but I hate messing with a gun that shoots under moa.

kdyson - save you money, with proper bullets and shot placement, your 300RUM will be fine for all hunting in Alaska. Really.
If want to get together to torch off some big bores at Rabbitt Creeek range, let me know -
That offer is for anyone in the area - maybe it is time to get together for a big bore shoot like some of the other folks are doing ??

KMule

Thats not a bad idea Kmule. I have to get my 416rem and 8x57 sighted in one of these months anyway.

.....No really kMule he would be better off with a better rifle for bear in Very thick cover ..., un accompanied ,.,...30 cals. are great if you like watching your bear dissappear in the brush without appearing to be hard hit ........There is a guide in Sitka that uses one for spring bear ...Thats because he seems to do the long range thing ............ There is no subsittute for diameter ,up to the point of complete affectiveness.....Which is drt knock downs .......Kdyson.. seeins you are in Alaska now ,you could take your 300 down to GNG and trade it on a Ruger 375 Alaskan .............Believe it or not it will go just about as fast with a 200 gr bullet as your 300 RUM will.........But with a 270 gr bullet will do a great job on a coastal brown bear .......It will be easier to pack around ,, not kick any more .... and be alot better general purpose ALASKAN rifle ........You will use whatever you do but don,t be wounding and looseing any bears in my home area if you would please ...

Do you handload? Since it's a '06 length action and bolt face, rebarrel to 9.3x62. 286 grainers at 2500 will knock the snot out of any bear here. Do I have one, no, but I'm getting one someday. Dig through the archives here and other places, it's a great round.

Thanks again for the replies. Kmule any excuse to go shoot is good for me name the day. Isn't rabbit creek the rang thats on the way out to the valley from Anchorage? Or is it the one out by the water south of town?
After waying the pros and cons and the expenses involved I am going to break down my 300 rum and make a switch barrel with a 375 rum. going to send it to pacnor have the action trued and the bolt face squared and the barrel installed. Buddy from Idaho shoots a switch barrel 6dasher and 22br and both barrels shoot very good. Does anyone have any experience with pac nor? gunsmiths in town seem to have a pretty long turn around time.

.........Kdyson ....I applaud your decision to go with the 375 RUM ..........I have a pacnor barrel and I like it but they don,t have a high speed turn around Mark Moffat ,, M&M Machineing,,,,,,, out in the Butte ' Palmer ; has alot of experience in building 375 RUMS and building switch Barrels ...his # is 745-3906 ....He can get the work done fast and is Very affordable .... He can make them so you can change barrels yourself in the woods if you want .....Give him a call....Tell him I recommended him .....,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,If I was going to do it I would use a Shilen barrel from Brownells 12" twist ....