Based on all of the reports this spring, it was a very tough time to hunt brown bear with blowing snow well into the second week of May. I've only been on one brown bear hunt to date, in the fall, and it was great, but I've read if you want a monster, go in the Spring and hunt Kodiak or the peninsula. The truly big bears are hungrier, less nocturnal and more active. It seems like the downside is if spring comes late, you can spend most of your hunt in a tent or cabin and even if you're outside won't see many bears.

So, I've already gotten an 8 1/2 boar last fall that I'm very happy with. If I go again I won't shoot anything less than a 10 footer fully understanding I may well go home without a bear. What season would you guys and guides recommend. If it is spring would you go as late as possible (May 1 to May 15)?I'm thinking either Phil Shoemaker on the peninsula, or Scott Mileur on Olga Bay a few years from now ...

Chuck, We just finished up spring bear and it was the snowiest and coldest I have seen in 33 years. About all the camps woke up to new snow on the ground for the first half of the season.
The bears were slow coming out of their dens due to snow depths of over 20 feet in some gulches but they eventually did and everyone ended up with 9 foot plus boars.
Typically I love the slower pace of spring hunts but fall is just as productive for the largest boars here on the peninsula.

Thanks Phil, I heard this was a real tough spring brown bear season. Congratulations to you and your hunters! Did you hunt on snow shoes?

quote:

Best time to hunt record book brown bears on Kodiak Island or the Peninsula

Easy, when you're young, bullet(and bear)-proof, and of strong back and naive mind!

I've always maintained that the real reason the good bear areas are one animal every 4 years is so that you have time to forget just how much WORK it is. If you could do it every year most sane people would swear it off after about year two!

To answer seriously, I'd go with fall. Spring wake up is always a crap shoot depending on the winter, and I believe them to be roaming less (for food and mates) and more concetrated in the fall. The numbers dictate that the more bears you can glass, the better the odds of finding your keeper.

Bob

Bob, it is true that you will see many more bears on a fall hunt but the actual number of large trophy male is not much different.

Phil, how about the true monsters, 10' squared or bigger 28" skull or bigger? Do you see them more often coming out of the dens in the spring or see as many in the fall? I've heard they tend to be more nocturnal in the fall?

Thanks!

Phil, thanks for the real world information.

I'd always thought about it from the standpoint that since I can only take one home with me, go where they're concentrated and I can 'glass' the greatest number of specimens to find one that suits me, just like when I was single and used to go to bars.

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by chuck375:
Phil, how about the true monsters, 10' squared or bigger 28" skull or bigger? Do you see them more often coming out of the dens in the spring or see as many in the fall? I've heard they tend to be more nocturnal in the fall?

Thanks!

Chuck, that is what I am talking about when I say trophy bears.

Thanks Phil! Sorry for so many questions.

i would say spring for kodiak monsters hands down....my experience on the peninsula, i've seen monster bears on both fall and spring hunts, but usually it's been one huge bear on each trip...and sometimes those huge ones you just can't get on.

You are right about Kodiak as the success rate on big bears is better in the spring. but on the peninsula I would say it is a wash.

This spring was the most unusual and the coldest and snowiest in the 33 years I have been doing this. The Peninsula was more like Kodiak as we took two bears right by their dens and the other hadn't been out long.

We only had one fubar and had to track this boar for three day before gun builder Lon Paul and I finally caught up with it. The snow on this pass was over thirty feet deep in place.






My feet were a lot colder than this boars

and the rifle is one that Lon built on a CZ 550 and is a 9.3x66 or 370 Sako

i was down near black lake this spring and we were camped on 6 or 7 foot of snow, every day was a snowshoe day for sure. I saw 8 bears in 18 days in the field. one over 10 and a couple right near it, took one 9'9" and passed on a high 9 because of a rub, half the bears we saw were rubbed, 3 boars were and one sow wasn't.
it was snowy, i was glad to get home and ditch my sunglasses for a few days!!

i believe the fall success on kodiak is a tad lower due to the later season, kodiak opens oct 25, four days after the ak pen season has been closed, most salmon areas are pretty much done...

Chuck, I've only hunted brown bears once and it was a long time ago, but I well remember what Lynn Castle told me if I wanted a big bear. He said that he felt the spring was the best time to find a truly big bear and I ended up hunting in April. We hunted Deadman Bay, which is now Tom Kirstein's area, and there was quite a bit of snow. Not a lot of bears were out, but most of the bears we saw were nice sized bears with good hair. I ended up taking a bear on the 9th day after losing several days to bad weather. It was a 9' bear and had fabulous long and thick hair. I was very happy with it, but if I ever go again, I'm not sure I'd go as early as I did last time.

On the other hand, I have a bear in my TR that a friend shot, and at the time it was (maybe still is, not sure) the muzzleloading world record in the Long Hunter Society's record book. The bear was well over 10" and had a very large skull, making both LHS and B&C. He shot that bear in November. He hunted with Harry Dodge out of Scott Mileur's camp on Olga Bay. My buddy told me the toughest part of that hunt was the weather. They had their tents flattened by hurrican force winds, and lost much of their hunting time due to extreme conditions.

I think that hunting Brown Bears is one of the truly great hunting adventures on this entire planet, and hope to do it one more time. If I ever get to go again, I'll be looking hard at Scott Mileur's operation, as well as whoever is hunting out of Port Heiden in John Swiss' old area. I hunted moose with John once and we saw more big bears in his area than I thought was possible. Of course, that was in September and we saw most of those bears along salmon creeks, from a super cub while scouting for big bulls. BTW, that place had great moose hunting. We found my bull on the 3rd day, hiked a long way to him on the 4th day and took a bull 63 1/2" that netted 217 B&C. I thought the Alaska Peninsula is the wildest country I've ever had the pleasure of hunting.

Thanks DLS! I hope to go one more time myself, or if the financial winds blow sweetly every other year.