20 October 2019, 11:44
highstepperBecharof Wilderness Brown Bear Hunt with Kelly Vrem's Rough and Ready Outfitters
Hunt ReportSpecies Pursued: Brown Bear
Booking Agent: Mark Young, Mark's Exclusive Adventures
Outfitter: Rough and Ready Outfitters- Kelly Vrem
Guide: Rick Taylor
Dates: Oct. 7-16
I have just returned from my first trip to the great state of Alaska. After many years devoted to my career and to raising a family, I decided to pursue a lifelong dream of a wilderness brown bear hunt. As I began to do my research on making that happen, I discovered AR among others and in April saw a post from Mark mentioning an opening for this fall. Game On! Then came months of collecting the necessary gear (over collecting, actually), setting up a proper rifle( a used McMillan Talon in .375 H&H), finding a cartridge that it liked (270 gr TSX at 2730), and familiarizing myself with it. Finally I left the heat of the Deep South en route to King Salmon. Kelly and his guides met me at the airport, although my luggage failed to make the rendezvous until the next morning. After overnighting at the Antlers Inn, we collected my gear and drove to Kelly's plane at Naknek. Kelly had flown Rick out to set up camp earlier that morning, now it was my turn to be ferried to a beach landing past the awesome scenery along the coast of the Sheilikof Strait. As a younger man, I crewed many fixed and rotor wing MedEvac missions. After that experience, I can distinguish an airplane driver from a pilot's pilot. Kelly falls into the latter category in my view.
Although bear sign was abundant and we saw a few bears with diligent glassing, no shooters were identified within striking distance. We did catch a glimpse of an extremely dark boar across the bay we were camped on, well out of reach. Bear activity was not helped by the fact that for 3 of those 4 days the wind howled at or near gale force. While I might be a novitiate, my guide with 3O yrs of Alaska experience, a fair amount of it on the Peninsula, even remarked how the wind was extreme even by AKPEN standards. On the positive, we didn't get nearly the amount of rain that I was led to expect.
However,even during the lulls, we weren't seeing much bear activity and almost all sows with cubs at that. On the evening of the 4th hunting day, we got the message that we were to be moved to another camp at the next bay up the coast, 6 or 7 miles away. Once again, Kelly flew Rick on the first trip to the new location and I waited with the remaining gear on the beach. Imagine my surprise when two Alaska State Troopers came walking across the hill, having landed by skiff around the point. They were very professional and appropriately friendly as they checked my license and waited for Kelly to return to check his as well. While we were talking, they mentioned that the had seen a good sized, really dark bear up the coast as they cruised down the strait. At the conclusion of those festivities, we took off for the short hop to our second camp. Naturally, since hunting was now out of the question, the wind laid down to near calm for the rest of the day.
On day 6, we arose to spitting rain and the zephyr whistling over from Kodiak. We saw a few bears but nothing worth putting a stalk on, and did see a sow on the beach across the bay focused on one spot in a cove off the beach for hours. Finally it was clear that she was on a carcass of some type, probably a seal. Just as we were about to call it quits for the day, and as a bit of relative evening calm descended I spotted a very dark bear step out of an alder patch on a mountainside over a mile away- after sitting for a moment and staring at the ground he turned and descended into a thick creek bed. Too late and too far for that evening but could it be the same dark bear we and the troopers had glimpsed? The realist in me said not likely, but as we were now getting into the last third of a 10 day hunt- I could only hope.
The sun wasn't completely up on day 7 and we were on the spotting knob when a god awful ruckus erupted across the bay with roars that echoed across the hills. The sow we had watched the day before had been run off of her prize by a dark boar. We watched him all day across the bay, initially thinking that he was nothing special and not really worth fooling with because his head looked too large in proportion to his body to be on a big bear, but "those dark ones are hard to judge". We did see a few other bears that day, including about a 9 footer trucking in the wrong direction to fast for us to catch up with, and a sow with a cub that walked within 40 yards before woofing and taking off over the nearest ridgeline. Let me tell you, that'll get your attention! That night both Rick and I debated whether the dark bear was worth a closer look the next day, or to just wait it out another day before making a decision- would the carcass last that long, we wondered.
Day 8 dawned with a low tide and a wind that had shifted 45 degrees, making it possible to walk towards the mouth of the bay and loop back out of the sight and downwind of the dark bear, who was where we left him the evening before. We decided a closer look was in order, as we were now really getting into crunch time. We walked down the tidal flats, with the bear facing us but paying us little mind, as we were hundreds of yards away and moving perpendicular to his position. Once we were safely past him and out of sight, we crossed the bay and peeked into his cove from 120 yards away. Our apprehension about provoking an aggressive response from a bear on a kill was compounded by the sow that had been evicted, who was still lurking above and on the beach hoping to reclaim her stolen goods. Such fears thankfully were unfounded, as when we looked he had turned around to face the cliff, laying on the carcass and watching the trail down from above at a 45 degree angle to us. He didn't know we were in the world. My intrepid guide once again said he wasn't convinced the bear was that big, but that "those dark ones are hard to judge...he does look better than he did from across the bay". I asked if he thought this was the best chance I was likely to get and he said "probably". With that I took aim as previously instructed at the bear's shoulder and a round was on the way. I heard a thud- and zero reaction from the bear. I cycled the bolt and sent another TSX. Same result. The bear had not moved, laying over the mound of grass covering the carcass, motionless. Only after we closed the distance and walked to his other side 2-3 minutes later did he try to lift his head. A couple or three rounds through the boiler room shut that down. Man, those beasts can take some punishment. The first round had smashed through his shoulder, severed his spine, and was just barely poking through the hide on his neck. The second shot was about an inch from the first.
As we took photos and began to skin the bear, the rightful owner of the stink pile came strutting down the beach, at first utilizing the same tactic we had used of "walk perpendicular angling ever closer" but then decided that she'd walk right in, stopping 150-200 yards away. We yelled and dog cussed her but she only stopped and stared. Then Rick, master of bear psychology, decided to put it in terms she could understand: he charged the bear (with me covering him, of course). Sure enough, after he had gone about 25 yds, she loped off a quarter of a mile or so- only to then try to sneak back to us along the cliff wall along the beach. Every time she rounded a corner, I'd fuss and wave my arms. No charging for me. Finally she turned tail and disappeared, but we always had a gun within reach while skinning the bear.
On closer examination, this was a much better bear than we had appreciated. I've seen many cases of ground shrinkage, but this was a rare example of ground expansion. This was an old, scarred veteran with cracked off caninie teeth and missing lower incisors. I'm very curious to see what age the ADFG comes up with. When the skull was brought to be sealed, it measured 26 4/16- not a world's record, but not a dink by any stretch of the imagination. I'm thrilled to have had the opportunity, and it was everything I had hoped for. The pic below actually makes the bear look lighter that it really was- he was almost black:
The Becharof Wilderness is an utterly spectacular part of the planet. And even though the later opening of this years bear season along with the ungodly winds may have put a bit of a damper on bear activity, the other wildlife- from mountain caribou to sea otters to emperor geese was awesome to behold. As I've said many time, even a mediocre day of hunting is a superior day of ecotourism.
With regards to Mark Young, he certainly honestly portrayed the hunt and paid attention to details beyond the transaction, including checking with the outfitter on how things were going while I was out in the field. I appreciate that.
Kelly Vrem, besides being a master pilot, clearly has the outfitting piece down to a science, with solid and serviceable equipment- aided by his wife Linda. His experience and competency, as well as his desire to accommodate the hunter was well and often demonstrated. I also appreciated his no BS approach and his expansive knowledge. When (not if) I return to Alaska to hunt, I'll be looking to Rough and Ready first.
Rick Taylor did a great job guiding, and someone needs to chronicle his guiding adventures, especially with regard to bears. He too was extremely knowledgeable and supremely competent in his role. I was fortunate to have these gentleman mentor my introduction to Alaska.
