Archery Grizzly Success
08-28-2009, 12:00 PM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 1,665
Archery Grizzly Success
Well, first night out and I filled my grizzly tag on the Dalton. Just north of Ice Cut we spotted a grizzly crossing the road and heading east towards the pipeline. Several big rigs (so called Ice Road Truckers on the History Channel) were heading through, and really worked him up, so he ran well past the pipeline and started foraging around out there. I was dropped off and began the stalk, but he was out in the open so I got to the pipeline and figure out what to do from there. He started heading further east, and headed down the ridge some, but turned and kept south, so I paralleled him on the west side of the pipeline VSM's (Vertical Stand Mounts) and was either going to head out after him if he crested over the ridge much further, or set up an ambush if he decided to come back my way.
As luck would have it, he came back my way, almost on a string. The VSM's are 60 feet apart, and he walked right between two VSM's. I was on the north one and he was about 5 yards in from the one to my south. He got back on my side of the pipeline and the wind carried my scent right to him. I had already drawn my bow when he was at 15 yards and his head was behind the VSM, so I was ready to go, but did not have a shot yet because of some bushes. He started to trot off, so I yelped at him a few times and he stopped for a quick second to look back at the noise. I already had my 30 yard pin on him and touched off the shot like it was second nature. The arrow sailed perfectly blowing right through him and sticked straight up in the tundra about 10 yards past him. He hauled fur across about 50 yards to the road and went another 50 yards past on the other side before laying down. About 2 minutes went by and his head was down and he was no longer moving. Meanwhile the adrenaline is flowing and I'm all sorts of jacked up. I knew it was a dead bear when I saw the arrow hit, it was just a matter of having to wait. 15 minutes later and we are taking pictures.
Unfortunately there was no video. My buddy driving had to drop me off and get out of there because of all the traffic. Tons of big rigs heading north and south, and a couple guys got a real good view of me shooting the bear. We gutted the bear and muscled him back to the road and took him up to the boat launch to show a friend and make him help with the skinning.
This makes three grizzly/brown bears with the bow in the last three years. I was fortunate to draw one of the 20 tags for this area. It is about 50 miles south of where I shot the blond grizzly two years ago. About 100 miles south of the Arctic Ocean. The bear is a respectible 6 footer, which is average for this area. Big bears are in the 7 foot range and an 8 footer would be a moster.
Hopefully next year I can hold up 4 fingers in front of another grizzly.
Off to chase caribou for the weekend...
Jerry
As luck would have it, he came back my way, almost on a string. The VSM's are 60 feet apart, and he walked right between two VSM's. I was on the north one and he was about 5 yards in from the one to my south. He got back on my side of the pipeline and the wind carried my scent right to him. I had already drawn my bow when he was at 15 yards and his head was behind the VSM, so I was ready to go, but did not have a shot yet because of some bushes. He started to trot off, so I yelped at him a few times and he stopped for a quick second to look back at the noise. I already had my 30 yard pin on him and touched off the shot like it was second nature. The arrow sailed perfectly blowing right through him and sticked straight up in the tundra about 10 yards past him. He hauled fur across about 50 yards to the road and went another 50 yards past on the other side before laying down. About 2 minutes went by and his head was down and he was no longer moving. Meanwhile the adrenaline is flowing and I'm all sorts of jacked up. I knew it was a dead bear when I saw the arrow hit, it was just a matter of having to wait. 15 minutes later and we are taking pictures.
Unfortunately there was no video. My buddy driving had to drop me off and get out of there because of all the traffic. Tons of big rigs heading north and south, and a couple guys got a real good view of me shooting the bear. We gutted the bear and muscled him back to the road and took him up to the boat launch to show a friend and make him help with the skinning.
This makes three grizzly/brown bears with the bow in the last three years. I was fortunate to draw one of the 20 tags for this area. It is about 50 miles south of where I shot the blond grizzly two years ago. About 100 miles south of the Arctic Ocean. The bear is a respectible 6 footer, which is average for this area. Big bears are in the 7 foot range and an 8 footer would be a moster.
Hopefully next year I can hold up 4 fingers in front of another grizzly.
Off to chase caribou for the weekend...
Jerry
Last edited by ArcticBowMan; 08-28-2009 at 12:52 PM.
Awesome!....you should truely be proud of such an accomplishment....
08-28-2009, 01:50 PM
#6
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Posts: 1,665
Thanks guys
So far I have only had one grizzly turned into a rug. The coastal brownie I shot last year had a collar on it that had worn the skin through to the meat, so the head just about fell off in tanning. The hide ended up being worthless for any kind of mount. I cut it down to just the good back fur and plan to make a small throw blanket or pillow out of it. This one will go in the freezer for a little while. The taxidermy bill is starting to build up with the mountain goat, musk ox and now a grizzly to deal with.
So far I have only had one grizzly turned into a rug. The coastal brownie I shot last year had a collar on it that had worn the skin through to the meat, so the head just about fell off in tanning. The hide ended up being worthless for any kind of mount. I cut it down to just the good back fur and plan to make a small throw blanket or pillow out of it. This one will go in the freezer for a little while. The taxidermy bill is starting to build up with the mountain goat, musk ox and now a grizzly to deal with.
08-28-2009, 03:22 PM
#8
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 1997
Location: Cheasapeke and Delaware Bay Region
Posts: 10,485
Well stranger, congrats and welcome back. BTW, hows the wife and kids, did she ever get that Doctors degree in LV? I think she was going to be a doctor wasn't she? Forgive me if I'm wrong. Have you been back East again or planning another trip back this way. If so we will have to get together again.
Last edited by Rickmur; 08-29-2009 at 01:29 AM.
