Grizzly Bears
 

I would like to go on a grizzly, or brown bear hunt. If anyone has been on a bear hunt, could you tell me what it is like. Also maybe some reputable(I love that word)outfitters, I would appreciate it.

RE: Grizzly Bears
 

I hunted grizzly in northern B.C. with taku outfitters owned by guy antilla.We travelled by jet boat along the river and glassed from various viewpoints along the river then stalked the bears from there.I had an excellent guide and the facilities were first class.Weather was abnormally hot so we didn't see as many bears as normal but I was able to take a bear on the eigth day.

RE: Grizzly Bears
 

I don't think there are too many places for grizzly hunting that are similar to the area that I normally hunt them. The terrain is flat, wide open and offers very little cover with no trees. There are small mounds and bushes are abundant on the river beds, but this both helps and hinders stalks on grizzlies.
It's a bow only area, at least the part that I hunt, so getting close enough for a shot is fairly difficult. If the bears are out there, you can usually spot them easily, but getting down wind, and into a position where you can close the distance is very time consuming, usually, and sometimes impossible.
If your going to hunt grizzlies at close range, you need to have the right mindset going in. Save the excitement and the adrenaline rush for after the shot, and stick to the matter at hand like it's a life or death situation.
It's very rewarding getting within range, but you can take it from me, these grizzlies are tough and resiliant creatures. Making sure your equipment is in perfect working order, and your abilities are 100% are a must. Even when things come together perfectly, there is still the possibility of something going wrong. Bears are very unpredictable, very resiliant and very curious, as well as very skittish. Alot of factors that could make the hunt interesting or aggravating.

RE: Grizzly Bears
 

Hi Tussey:
Welcome to the club. I have to agree whole heartedly with ArcticBowman. It's definitely a thrill to sneak up close on a griz when there is very little to no cover.

Though griz are plentiful when hunting them, I always seem to find the most griz, and have more bizarre encounters when I'm not looking for them. :)

For your amusement, two such incidents follow:

I'll never forget the time that my partner and I had a close encounter. We had just spent the last 4 days cutting our way out of the Kahiltna basin, loaded to the gills with gear and meat, when his machine over heated and we had to shut down.

Swatting at the ever present bugs, I suddenly caught a whiff of that all too distinct bear smell (kinda like a wet dog, only much stronger). Instantly the hair on the back of my neck stood up. Quickly looking to my left, I noticed a large pile of debris, with a moose's hoof sticking out! Sure sign of a bear kill.

You never saw two guys grab iron so fast in your life. Here we were sitting in the middle of a small tundra opening, surrounded by thick brush, and a fresh carcass that a bear had obviously staked claim to, just 15 feet away, and his scent still fresh enough for our poor quality noses to smell…and no way to escape.

Seasoned in the ways of bears, both my partner and I kept our guns at the ready, each looking in different directions, with his 7 year old son between us, and with the occasional surreptitious glances at his confound engine temp light, waiting for it to go out.

Luckily the bear had thought better of taking us on, and the only sign of him, besides the smell, was the bushes moving, as though in a slow direct line away from us.

In another fun encounter, I had dropped a nice spike/fork moose deep in a swamp area, at about 8:00 pm. Darkness was setting in fast, and I knew that I was in heavy bear country. Normally this is not a big deal, because your partner and you take turns riding shotgun as the other skins, but on this trip, I was by myself.

Not 5 minutes had passed since I arrived at the kill, when I heard the "popping" and woofing noises associated with an agitated griz. My animal was in a bit of a depression, laying in about 6 inches of water, surrounded by high grassy tussocks. About 10 feet from where the moose lay, was the beginning of an alder thicket. The bear was in there, shaking the brush, making noise, and generally letting me know that he wanted my moose (by his proximity, I suspect that he may have been stalking the moose, in hopes of killing it for his dinner).

Sweating like a pig, with my much vaunted Beneli 12 gauge propped up against the carcass, I set a world record skinning that moose. Every few seconds, I would stand erect, wipe the sweat out of my eyes, and yell at the bear. I only actually saw him three times, but he never left me alone the whole time I was there.

Finally, after about 45 minutes, and with the light too dim to even see the bear if I had to shoot it, I got the last of the meat in a game bag, threw it in the back of my Polaris 6x, fired 'er up, and was out of there.

I fervently hoped that I had left enough gut like delicacies behind to keep the bear from feeling the need to follow me (trust me on this one, I and several friends of mine, have been stalked by griz while riding wheelers. The myth that they are afraid or deterred by the engine noise is pure nonsense).

It took me a good three hours of riding through the swamps (no trails in this area), dodging holes, small stumps, and all the many other hazards present in such terrain, with nothing but the dim, and all too narrow beam of my headlight, to finally make it back to my vehicle (thank God for the Advent of the GPS).

The next day, after the moose was hung, I decided to go back to the same area with a friend, and see if we could fill his tag. Again, there were no trails to follow as we were exploring new territory the whole way.

When finally we arrived at where my GPS said the moose carcass was, all we could find was scattered bones, and shreds of skin. The bear had eaten the majority of the gut pile, and drug the rest of the carcass (mostly the head, spinal column and pelvic bone) deep into the alder thicket.

These are just two of what I consider the more recent comical encounters.

As a life long Alaskan, who spends a great deal of time, exploring and playing in the wilderness (though the last trip I mentioned was not really wilderness, as I could get to my vehicle in one day) it is practically inevitable that I posses a vast repertoire of such encounters, including some that involved attack, surprise, mischief, and all too close of calls.

What ever else, you can be assured that grizzly hunting is one of life's most exciting challenges, and that it is never dull.

Oh, by the way, be sure to carry a back up weapon, just incase you miss with the bow, or your arrow happens to piss it off, and it identifies you as the source of it's discomfort :)

Never used a guide, so can't help you there...sorry.

<img src=icon_smile_tongue.gif border=0 align=middle> If You Ain't Hunted Alaska, You're Still Just Practicing <img src=icon_smile_tongue.gif border=0 align=middle>

RE: Grizzly Bears
 

Hello Tussey
Sorry I dont have any info for you but always wanted to do exactley the same thing
(stalk and hunt no bait) But if you need a partner let me know I am only about 12 miles from you .
I do have a question for Thaninator.
why the Beneli do you think it would have detured the Griz if he decided to stake claim to your moose. I have seen the long thread's from blain but wouldn't personly trust a shoot gun on a grizzly

RE: Grizzly Bears
 

old 3 Shoot:
Good question. I have two guns that I use for personal protection in heavy bear country. Both have been heavily tested, and passed with flying colors, but both depend on using the right round.

The first is my Ruger Redhawk, .44 mag. I use a special 320 grn Hard Cast Alloy bullet from JD Jones, on top of 22.5 grns of H-110 powder (a compressed load). This puppy is traveling between 1200 and 1400 ft. per second, and can drop anything in North America within 100 yards (used to be my primary hunting gun). I use this weapon when carrying a shotgun is not practical.

The second is my Beneli M3 Super 90. This combat shotgun is incredibly accurate, super reliable, and holds a reassuring number of slugs.

Contrary to what you may have read on Blain's posting, I wouldn't dream of using buck shot for defense against bear. Rather I use Breneki 3&quot; mag, Rotweill(sp?) slugs.

These slugs are very accurate out to 100 yards, and are hard enough to do some serious penetration.

Most of Alaska's agencies that are required to operate in bear country, or to dispatch rogue bears use this exact same slug. Both state and federal authorities use it. It works.

The situations that I use these weapons in, are always up close and personal, i.e. when a bear tries to crawl into your tent with you, or when he tries to steal your kill, etc.

One important thing to remember is PRACTICE. Just about any weapon will be worthless in a situation like a bear attack, if shooting it is not second nature. You need to be so proficient with your weapons, that you can shoot them accurately with out thinking about it.

So, though I was on the carcass by myself, and would have had to reach for the Beneli, to shoot the bruin if it did attack, I am very confident in it's stopping power at close range, and can think of nothing better (I had my .44 with me, on the machine, as well, but would take the 12 gauge over it in a close up situation like described).

Keep on inquiring, it'll keep you alive when the bear poop hits the fan <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

<img src=icon_smile_tongue.gif border=0 align=middle> If You Ain't Hunted Alaska, You're Still Just Practicing <img src=icon_smile_tongue.gif border=0 align=middle>

RE: Grizzly Bears
 

Hello Thaninator ever think of being a guide for griz . I know for a fact I would never turn my back on a grizzly that was only 10 feet from me unless I KNEW it was either dead or had a full belly. I have no experience with grizzly but I do know from the discover channel etc that they can cover allot of real-estate fast . I was just assuming that you had 00 buck shoot in the shoot gun to deture him . I wouldnt think you would have much of a chance with slugs and only being 10 feet from the bruin.
Mike

RE: Grizzly Bears
 

Count to 10!
Take two aspirins, and call me in the morning!

RE: Grizzly Bears
 

old 3 Shoot:

Now you've gone and done it. I'm force me take all the fun out of the story, by telling you a few secrets that will make you realize that I wasn't in as much danger as it's fun to think <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

Though I would never choose such a distance, the slugs that I have described earlier in this posting, are about the only thing that can stop a bear from 10 ft. (better be good at shooting from the hip though). But even then, you may have to do some quick moving to avoid being run down. This is why I kept the gun propped on the carcass, never more than arms length away, and made sure that the carcass was between me and the bear when ever possible.

The combination of many years of practice and some combat competition training, combined with actual instances of use, gave me the ability to asses my chances of ending an altercation with this animal with me on top.

Additionally, I felt that I had no choice, cuz I wasn't going to leave my moose out there to be eaten by the bear, when I have two freezers to keep full, and several families to feed.

Having studied bears and having had many close encounters over the years, it is inevitable that I've become very familiar with bear behavior, and can read a good deal of their body language.

Now for the secrets: While the brush line started at about 10 feet away, the animal vacillated between the edge of the brush (the three times I saw him), and deep in the brush. With that kind of surge and retreat pattern, you can pretty much bet that the bear is just trying to intimidate you. Otherwise, you would witness a series of perpetually advancing surges. Or worse yet, if things got unexpectedly quiet after such a commotion, followed by a sudden low growl, that's your cue that your about to experience an all out charge.

Since I could hear him huffing and popping, and batting at the brush interspersed with the occasional quiet period, I knew he was bluffing, and had a pretty good idea where he was, thus worked at never having my back to him.

Yes I had to reassure myself by standing up and looking around, and yelling at him to let him know I was still their, and no this was not an optimum situation, but by knowing a bear's language, you have a chance of predicting an actual charge.

This does not mean that I wasn't as nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof, or that I didn't have good incentive to hustle. I definitely did not want to be there after dark (hard to shoot a bear you can't see, and they tend to get a bit bolder after sunset).

Technically, I could have popped him on one of the occasions that I saw him, but I felt that there was a better than even chance that he wouldn't complete the charge, and that I could finish up just as dark was hitting.

Now don't make me give away any more of my secrets, or all the bear tales will lose their glamour <img src=icon_smile_dissapprove.gif border=0 align=middle>

<img src=icon_smile_tongue.gif border=0 align=middle> If You Ain't Hunted Alaska, You're Still Just Practicing <img src=icon_smile_tongue.gif border=0 align=middle>

RE: Grizzly Bears
 

Hello Thaninator
No you did not take any of the fun from the story Im still thinking you have balls of brass .
Mike