Bear Hunt....the rest of the story.

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Hello Bloggers! I (Shawn) wanted to write and tell you more about my bear hunt. I am sure you have been waiting on the edge of your seat for the rest of the story.

Neighbor Tom approached me and asked if I had any plans for a Spring Bear hunt. I said I wanted to get one, but didn’t have any plans. He invited me to join him. Monday May 11^th, at about 0330, I gathered my things and went across the street. Tom had his boat prepared and we were ready to go. We loaded up and drove to the Douglas Harbor where we launched his boat. We were the only ones launching our boat at 0430, shocking huh? It was starting to get light at that time and the high tide had just passed. We wanted to get to the bay close to high tide, so we could anchor the boat at the right location and get to the right point on the shore. We motored toward Slocum. As we approached the Taku River, the wind started picking up and the waves grew larger. We pounded our way across the open water to get to Slocum. Slocum is about 15 miles south of Juneau. There are no roads to the area, so the only access is by boat.

We anchored, loaded the raft and headed for shore. We walked toward the back of the valley, saw some good areas for bears, but did not see one. We located a good area and sat for a few hours watching the opening. No luck. We hiked up the river to see what was there, but it was a thick jungle and it was unlikely we would find an elusive bear in the woods. We hiked back out and found a small hill that allowed us to look over most of the valley and watch the tree line. Spring bears, especially large ones work hard to stay out of view and will remain in the trees unless to feed. The fresh spring grasses are irresistible to a hungry bear getting the metabolism going after months of hibernation.

Bears are truly amazing. They will go into hibernation, purging their bodies of toxins, growing new hair, new claws and renewing their bodies. Bears are a biological marvel and a unique creation of our creator.

By now it was about 3pm. The sun was warm and sky was blue. I was not so sure we were going to find any bears at this point, so I was soaking up the sun and enjoying the day. Just getting some R&R. The wind started to pick up and was blowing strongly up the bay. We could see the seas were getting rough. Hopefully it would slow down or it would be a rough night sleeping on the boat.

Tom looked over toward the trees and excitedly exclaimed in a hushed voice, “there’s a bear.” I grabbed my binoculars and looked at the bear feeding about 100 yards away. He looked big. He was definitely a black bear. (There are brown bears in the area.) The wind was blowing strongly to his back and I could see his long hair blowing in the wind. I could see a light tan as his dark hair blew back. He had a tall snout and small looking ears, indicating he was a good size bear. Tom turned on the video camera. He video taped as the bear walked back and forth, eating the fresh grasses. Even though the bear was not too far away, I wanted to get closer. The wind was in my favor and the bear didn’t know I was there.

I carefully walked down into a depression and got a small group of trees between me and the bear. The ground beneath me crunched as I walked, but the stout wind kept the bear from hearing me. He was intently focused on grasses he was eating. I got around the trees and could see the bear still on the flat, eating grass. I slowly crawled up a small rise to get into position to take a shot. He was about 50 yards from me. I got up on one knee and aimed in with my .338 Win Mag. I aimed high on his shoulder and gently squeezed the trigger. As the shot sounded the bear dropped. The bullet hit its mark and the bear dropped without moving a muscle.

I approached the bear carefully and made sure he was dead. He was beautiful. His coat was full. He didn’t have rub marks. The hair is a light tan color with dark chocolate brown tips. His head is wide and deep. I could not have asked for a better bear. He was a large mature brown color phased black bear.

We cleaned him and took him back to the boat. That evening we saw a brown bear walking on the beach.

In the morning we took the bear to the beach, skinned him and quartered him. We put the meat in bags and took them back to the boat to get them on ice. Just before finishing, I looked and there was another bear further up the beach. It was below the tide line, out of the grass. He was not eating, but checking the scent field. He winded my bear. He walked in the trees and out of sight. We finished salting the hide, and got to the boat before the bear decided to come for a visit.

We finished securing everything and left for home. It was another beautiful day, so we trolled for a few hours and caught a salmon. He was less than 28 inches so we threw him back.

What a trip.

All bears must be taken to Fish and Game for sealing. Fish and Game was impressed with the bear. The skull measured 19”. They said the average adult black bear will be around 17”. Mine is very large. Truly a trophy in many ways.

The hide is off to the taxidermist. It will be a long time before I ever get him back, but I will have a trophy and memories to last a lifetime.