Here is a picture, finally, of my black bear. She came out to be just over 5&1/2 foot dry sow with a 17" skull. Not as big as my bear last year, but a real nice hide, and the meat is out of this world! I shot her from 14 yards, she ran less than 15 yards at full speed, stopped, fell over dead and started moaning.
It was a pretty good hunt in all. We saw about 14 bears in two days, and I thought I was going home empty when she came in at last light and I decided to take her. The ground shrinkage was a little more than I had expected, but I can' t complain. She had fat on her hind quarters and back strap that was 2" thick. Quite the healthy bear.



We' ve had a lot more going on that has kept me from the boards. My wifes Aunt passed away in Ghana, Africa two weeks ago and that has consumed most of my time. Tammy was very close to her aunt, and she got most of her inspiration from her. We had a service for her in Fairbanks on the 19th. She was working for the international missionary board as a doctor in Africa and was killed in a car accident. She had previously worked for the hospital in Kotzebue for 13 years, acting as the department head for 11 years. There were a couple hundred people at the service including several from Kotzebue and outlying areas like Selewik since she had become such a big part of their families over the years.

I did manage to sneak away to Chitna and did pretty good. I caught 50 reds in a day and a half, 10 below my limit. I almost had in 2 kings, but they managed to get out at the last second, one was an absolute hawg. I could of had my limit if I would of stuck it out longer, but I had to get home in time for the services for Tammys aunt.

Back up to work now for 2&1/2 weeks. I have my bow, license and caribou tags. Season opens up in one week!