Written By - Phil W - 05/13/2007
Link to Original Article here

I hadn't intended on doing a bear hunt, there were still too many horned and antlered animals to hunt first. But here I was descending from 35,000 feet to the airport at Ketchikan, located on an island in the Alaska peninsula off the coast of British Columbia. The month was April and there was still snow on the mountains, but the sky was crystal clear and below me were hundreds of islands, including Prince of Wales which is famous for its exceptional Coastal Black Bear. Little did I know at the time that this was the last sunshine I'd see until the day I left Alaska.

As our jet touched down I noticed that the airport was on an island of its own. There to greet me was my outfitter, Sam Dalin, all six foot five inches of him. It's rare that I meet someone taller then myself but it gave me comfort knowing that the 31 foot boat we'd call home for the next week would have beds long enough to accommodate my short six foot four inch stature.

We gathered up my bags and rifle and proceeded to the ferry that runs every twenty minutes between the small airport island and the much larger island Ketchikan is on. As we crossed between the two I saw dozens, perhaps as many as a hundred seaplanes, mostly Beavers and Otters, including ones taking off and landing in the ocean between the town and the airport. I realized that airplanes and boats were the primary transportation up here, cars and trucks really only used to get from home to the store and back. This was to be a much different hunt then I expected.

We stopped in a local restaurant for a bite to eat then were off to WalMart (yes even in the wilds of Alaska) to get my hunting license and pick up a little more food, which was not really necessary considering the four big containers and three huge coolers already on the boat as I would later see.

I spent the night in Sam's comfortable Bed & Breakfast, a small house next to Sam's place, with decor you'd hope to find in Alaska, complete with shoulder mounts of Sitka Blacktailed Deer, Bear rugs, giant salmon and furs from a previous trapping season.

The next morning we headed to the harbor, loaded the remainder of our provisions and my gear, cast off and headed for the main channel. The weather had changed since the day before, the wind was blowing and it was raining. Once we cleared the channel between the islands the seas quickly grew to five and six feet. With the wind continuing to freshen Sam decided to play it safe and head around to the back side of the island Ketchikan is on, Revillagigedo Island, instead of Prince of Wales.

After a two and a half hour boat ride we pulled into a bay, out of the rough seas. No more cell phone coverage, no cars, no roads, no towns, no boats and no people, except for a remote Salmon hatchery serviced weekly by seaplane.

Sam anchored us up in the middle of the bay where we could see the shoreline all around us. This is where we would hunt, along the shoreline, as the Black Bears came out of their winter dens to feed on the only food available, shoreline grasses and shellfish on the rocks.

The snow line was only about 500 feet above sealevel which concerned Sam. Winter was staying late this year and Sam was worried the bears might not come out with the snow so low on the mountains.

The rain was lightly coming down, and in fact it rains 220 inches a year in this part of Alaska, the only place I know of where they measure annual rainfall by the foot. We unloaded the zodiak like raft from the back of the boat, slipped it into the water, attached the outboard engine and placed the spare outboard into the floor of the small raft. We'd use this each day to cruise the shorelines, perhaps 30 or 40 miles a day, in search of Coastal Black Bear.

I was ready to go hunting but Sam headed for his bunk to take a nap. I was soon to learn that in the spring the Coastal Black Bear only comes out of his den to eat in the evening. I've never been very good at sleeping during the day so I spent the afternoon glassing the beaches, just in case, while thinking of places where you can hunt all day.

Around 4:30pm I spotted a Black Bear on the beach, flipping over rocks looking for food. We jumped in the zodiak and headed for the beach a couple of hundred yards in front of him, looking to ambush him if he was the one we were looking for. We beached the raft and positioned ourselves on one side of a very small creek coming down out of the mountains. The bear was on the other side about 300 yards away working his way towards us. I took a prone position, flipped open the scope covers on my rifle, and put the bear in the cross hairs as he continued towards us.

The rain was coming down heavier, which made it difficult for Sam to judge the bear's size. He was now only about 15 yards away, directly on the other side of the small creek. Even on its lowest power the bear filled the scope. I whispered to Sam that with the bear so close we needed to make a decision, either shoot him or let him know we were there, before he crossed the creek and got in our pocket.

Sam peaked over the gravel bar we were hiding behind but the bear was gone. Up the creek into the woods. Perhaps he winded us, perhaps he heard us, or maybe he just wanted to get back to his den for a nap. With darkness falling we headed back to the boat, fired up the grill, threw on the steaks and ate like kings. Thus ended the first day of my hunt.

I woke early the next morning and couldn't help glassing the shoreline. But Sam was right, no bears came out that morning. In fact we never saw a bear that day, and we cruised about 30 miles of shoreline. Fresh snow had fallen the night before, down to 500 feet. As all hunters will do we wondered if the decision to pass on the bear from the day before was the correct one. Another great dinner and day two came to a close. And the rain was still falling.

I awoke on day three to seals hunting for breakfast not far from the boat. This was the only thing that reminded me that we were on the ocean and not some high mountain lake. In fact I had been tempted to ask Sam what altitude we were hunting at, but before that question escaped my lips, and I looked like a greenhorn, I remembered - sea level.

Sam told me that later in the year pods of killer whales come into the coves hunting seals. But for now these seals were safe. And it was still raining. I took my rifle out of its case and noticed rust had started to form around the scope bases, even though I oiled everything well before I left Texas. I took out my cleaning kit, brushed away the rust and put another coat of oil on the rifle.

Breakfast came and went, as did lunch, both great meals. The rain was falling harder now. Again we ran the shoreline in the little raft. After three days of not seeing another person I appreciated the spare outboard on the floor of the raft as we got further and further away from "the mothership" and I realized if we had a problem it was up to us to fix it. I've never been anywhere else where I felt I was truly a long way from civilization - and I was loving it. Of course Sam had a sat phone - just in case.

Afternoon was turning to early evening as I glassed the shoreline of the cove we were in. Sam was readying the raft for another evening of running the coastline when I spotted a bear on the beach.

Faster then it takes to tell it we were in the raft headed for the shore to intercept the bear who was busy flipping over rocks. We beached the zodiak on a small point of land extending into the cove. I got as comfortable as possible laying on the seaweed covered rocks and flipped the scope covers open again. The rain was coming down even harder but the bear didn't care, and neither did I.

The bear was somewhere around 250 yards away. I settled the cross hairs behind the shoulder and waited for Sam to tell me to shoot or not. Again Sam couldn't be sure of the bears exact size because of the heavy rain fogging up his binoculars. But he knew it was at least seven feet and I was cleared to shoot.

I squeezed the trigger and sent a bullet into the bear, right behind the shoulder and he started spinning around biting at his wound. I aimed center mass and squeezed off another round. I heard it hit but so much steam was coming off the now hot barrel that I could no longer see through the scope. With my naked eye I could tell the bear was hit hard and I wanted to put a third round in him but still couldn't see through the scope because of the steam.

Before I could take a third shot the bear limped into the trees. We jumped back into the raft and crossed to where the bear had been on the beach. With the rain coming down hard, and darkness falling, we knew we needed to find the bear fast. Fortunately there was a good blood trail and about 100 yards later we found him where he had crawled into one of many dens we came across. I marveled at how many bears there must be on these islands.

He was a big Black Bear, the biggest Sam had ever hunted. We muscled him off the mountain and into the raft and headed for the boat. By the time we got back it was too late to cape the bear so we gutted him and left him on the floor of the boat until the following morning.

At daylight both Sam and I were up, and in the light of day we could see what a huge bear this was. Sam caped him out while I stretched and held him. His teeth were worn down, so much so that Sam guessed he probably wouldn't have lived but another year or two. Huge claws, lots of scars, and long, matted hair. This guy had been in a lot of fights. It was still raining.

Green, he measured nearly eight feet which means a grizzly bear mannequin instead of one for a black bear will be needed for the full mount I have planned.

After caping my bear we had a leisurely breakfast, then weighed anchor and headed back to Ketchikan and although my hunt was over I wasn't quite ready to leave Alaska as I had a client coming in for his bear.

This time we were able to get to Prince of Wales Island. And this time we put out crab pots and had fresh crab every night as part of dinner. And yes it was still raining. But what little snow fell at night was higher up in the mountains and we started to see a lot more bears.

I had planned on leaving this hunt early and was excited about getting picked up by one of the seaplanes I had seen, a Beaver, and seeing the area from the air on the way back to the airport. But it wasn't to be as in just two days my client had his bear and we were headed back to Ketchikan.

The next morning the sun broke out and I boarded Alaska Airlines with my bear for the journey home.

To this day I can't explain why but this hunt brings the same smile to my face that Africa does. I hope that feeling never goes away and I'm looking forward to my next Alaska hunt, whenever that comes.