ALASKAN BROWN BEAR HUNT......BOOKED!!

Well I finally did it, I have booked a cancellation Hunt for one of my lifelong "Dream Hunts"....

I was originally booked for '09, but this Hunt came up and I grabbed it. The other outfitter still has my money for '09, I called him before booking this Hunt, and he said he has no problem directing my $$ to a Moose hunt in '09 if I choose to not hunt Bears again.

The Hunt is this Fall from Oct 1-10. 100 miles south of King Salmon Alaska, in area 9e on the Alaskan Peninsula.
Its (IMO) the "Classic" Bear hunt, Spottin' & Stalkin' those big ole' boys while they fill their bellies with those big Hook-Jawed pink colored Chum Salmon.

The outfitter has put 3 Bears in the B+C book in the last 3 years & harvested 3 bears over 10' last year. I checked almost every reference on his last for the last 3 years, and they all said the Outfit & area are top notch, this Outfitter also got excellent praise from fellow Peninsula Outfitters Phil Shoemaker & Gary King. He runs a real good success rate, and told me (the same as most Bear Outfitters) that "The chances of shooting a Bear over 9' are real good.....if the hunters would just not shoot the 1st one they see thats under 9".......Thats what I like to hear!!

I have been in contact with hunting "Gear guru" Bryan Martin, finalizing some of the gear he/we figure I need for the usually harsh & always wet Fall Peninsula weather.

If successful on the bear, we will spend the rest of the Hunt catching Spring Salmon to 15lbs, & Arctic Char to 6lbs with the oppurtunity to do maybe doing a little Waterfowl hunting........................WOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Hey that sounds awesome! Which cannon are you going to take? Are you going to take along your 416?

this is one hunt i woudl love to be on, 2008 deffintly in store for one of these also, goodluck and bring lots of pictures home with you,,,which gun you plan on taking.

Congrats,.....i dont need to tell you how jealous i am.:lol


Look forward to your pics and story.



Good Luck....:lol

375 HH minimum,416 even better.:evil

are you gonna come shooting gophers still, it would be good practice..LOL

Good job Rod. Send me somepics when you get back. I still think you should come to africa in June as well. That would make for a good year of hunting.

I would like to ask what type of cal would be good for a bear of that size.

The Alaska F+G website states that still by a large margin the good 'ole 30/06 is without question the most popular Cartridge choice for ALL game by Alaskan Residents. As for Guided Hunters, the most popular is the .300 Win. Mag......These Cartridges are for all game, and not Small or Large game individually.

Long time Guide/Outfitter Phil Shoemaker has for years used a 30/06 (220 gr. Bullets) as a back up Rifle while hosting Alaskan Brown Bear hunters, with very good results.

Coastal Brown Bears (AKA Kodiak Bears) are like all Game....Shot placement beats all, BUT it couldnt/wouldnt hurt to have a little more oomph, when considering chasing a wounded Bear in the Alders.

For those who were wondering, I have a few different Rifles I could use for this Hunt. I have a Custom .416 Rem. Mag (and 150, 350gr. Speer Mag tips to load for practice), but I havent shot it a whole bunch, depending how much time I have to shoot before the Hunt, and how fast me and this Gun become "friends", if all works out then I will use this Rifle as my primary Gun loaded with 350gr. TSX, or 370gr. North Forks. It has a Leupold 1.5-5 Vari XIII in Talley QD Rings.
If things dont work out well with the .416 at the Range (or if they do, the following will be my spare I take), then I will use my Mark Bansner built .338 Win. Mag. shooting 250gr. TSX, it has a Leupold 2.5-8 Vari XIII on it. I use this Rifle for Hunting more than any other in the Safe. And I am intimately familiar with it.
I also have a Ruger #1 Tropical in .416 Rem. Mag, but would only use this if all else fails.
About 4 months ago I ordered a new Ruger Hawkeye "African" in the new .375 Ruger chambering. It should be in by June, and if it is, then it may add confusion in what to take. It will have a leupold Vari XII 2-7 on it. I would likely shoot 270gr. TSX out of it.

Part of the fun of going on any Hunt is getting prepared, and I know I will have fun loading & shooting which ever ones I decide to take.

Nube, give me a call, when your home next. We'll talk about Africa.

varmitr.... If the weather smartens up in the next few days I would like to come out and blast some Vermon, pm me if you like and we'll exchange numbers.

cmfic...i will take one of ever gun you mentioned please.:eek

The new Ruger Hawkeye "African" in the new .375 Ruger.....this will also be my next gun purchase.

I also have a Marlin Guide gun in .450 Marlin......a 400gr. Hawk bullet, or 300 Nosler Partition, would likely be fun in close quarters......Maybe next time

oh the things money can buy!

Congrats Rod! I hope you have a great time and shoot a monster. Your right on about the planning and anticipation, I'm just in the process of looking / booking a mountain caribou hunt for 08. I think we've (myself and a buddy) have got it narrowed down to the outfitter we want to go with. Man the fall of 08 can't come fast enough now!!

Cowboy Al, tell us what Outfitter you are thinking of.

Are you Hunting just Caribou, or doing a mixed bag Hunt?

In a couple years I'm gonna do a mixed bag for Caribou/Moose/Griz, cant wait for that Hunt. Hey I believe Gunslinger is planning a Mtn. 'bou hunt as well, maybe you two could share a little info with each other about your guys' research.

CM
If you dont mind me asking, what are the costs on this. Also who did you book with?

Thanks
Jamie

cowboy cmfic is right i jsut booked my mountain caribou hunt up in the nwt with stan stevens, who are you thinking of going with up there, never know might see you in camp.

Gunslinger,
Last summer i went with Stan Stevens on a dall sheep hunt. He and his family run a great operation. You will have a blast

awsome do you have any pictures of the ram you shot.

Thats awsome buddy, need anyone to run the camera???????

Jamie, the Hunt is with Gary Larose at his Pumice Creek camp, on the Alaskan Peninsula.The Hunt is $13000 US + air charter of about $600 US. Which is a bargain in my eyes. The 2 outfitters on either side of him, shoot the same size bears & run about the same success rates, for about $17-18000 US.

This hunt is a "Roughin it" type hunt, we sleep on cots in Dome tents, and not in Cabins like alot of other outfitters. While out hunting alot of the grub we eat will be MSR's (which is fine by me) we camp close to the Bears, and Hunt within 6-8 miles of camp everyday. If we arent happy with the numbers or the sizes of the bears, he will fly us in his Supercub, to a different area. He also stated that if something unforeseen happens, that I can stay longer if needed. But he said almost all his hunters are done by day 4! And that the chances for a 10 footer are greater with the better shape a guy is in, the amount of patience one has, with the ability to turn down all the 8-9 footers that they see.
He said on average we can expect to look at 6-10 bears daily. I gotta say that 1st Bear I see that the Guide is fairly certain will be 9'+ is gonna hit the dirt!!.........Cant wait.

Jamie, any other hunts planned? I would like to do 1 or 2 Hunts a year, and if you need a pard' I'd be willing to go with you, if you'd like.

CM. Thanks for the offer.
With some recent developments and possibilites I think I am going to be staying around home for a bit. Though Africa for my 40th is still available.'
It's somewhat unfortunate, but for the short term I will suffer for long term gain.

Jamie

Whens the 40th Jamie?
Like I posted earlier, I am very likely going to Africa next year for Cape Buffalo & maybe a Leopard. But I wanna do a plainsgame hunt too. Is that what you had in mind? and have you started your research?

I'm in!!

CM
I am 37 so not for another 3 years or so.
I was thinking Cape Buff.
My reasearch as kind of started. I was thinking Namibia. But that is still up in the air. I do know I dont want a fence of any sort. I plan on hitting SCI next January. I almost did it this year, but it didnt work out.
I am not so much into the Plains game. But I wouldnt mind a trophy or 2.
I think my wife wants to come as it will be her 40th also and our 10 year. She doesnt want to hunt, but would love to go on Safari. Loves her pictures!

Who are you going with?

Jamie

Jamie, It would have been fun to have you along this year for Africa. I am thinking of going again in a few years for my Buffalo and maybe a Leapord. Maybe the 3 of us can get together then. I tried to talk Rod into doing his plainsgame first so we could go together for the Buff but he sounds like he really wants his Buff first.

Jamie, if you and/or nube are real serious about doing a buff hunt in 3 years, then I would wait. Would be fun to go with a couple guys you know. That way we could also share the expense of a professional videographer if we wanted to.

My Wife would also want to come, it seems all the talking I have done of Africa, has piqued her interest. She now holds the Continent as her most favourite place to want to visit....Yayyyyy!!!

Like nube said, the Hunt I do next year can just as easily be turned into a Leopard/Plainsgame hunt. Leopard would be with Hounds, so it should be pretty exciting.

I agree Jamie, I too dont care to hunt anywhere near a fence, doesnt interest me. The Outfitter I was thinking of going with is Tristan Peacock, in the Selous region of Tanzania. But there are a pile of good PH's to go with, with real good Concessions, with Hunt cost and/or trophy quality being the biggest factor in deciding where to go.

When is 3 years from now here????????????

Nube, you married?

Jamie

Yes I am. Infact I laugh because I wasn't going to go with my buddies on this trip and she talked me into it. Then she asked what I was going to shoot and it did not include a Zebra. She said well that can't be and told me to shoot one of those as well and make a nice rug to roll around on. HAHAHAHA . I think I married right. Can't beat the one I have.

Heres a couple range pics of the .416. I didnt really shoot at paper, just used the rest at 25 & 50 yards to see exactly where the 1st sight was hitting. Its a little low @ that range, so I am going to order the next size higher fiberoptic front bead from NECG. Then I will, file the 2nd leaf to where I want it for 75-100 yards.
I shot it about 20 times, mostly from field positions, but I did hit the 100 yard 12" gong free hand with open sights. I have a Past shooting pad, & it really helps soak up the recoil from the bench. I also have a Caldwell Lead sled. I am only gonna put about 20lbs. in it, & this will help get the Scope fine tuned @ 100 yards. Then its off to the pasture with the Shooting stix & balloons.....FUN, FUN, FUN!