BROWN BEAR HUNTS

The brown bear hunts are in the Kodiak road system or in Afognak Is. Base camp is "The Bear Hunter" with its amenities while the actual hunting is conducted from the Avon in which we’ll range for miles in the bays and rivers. The Spring hunts are mostly conducted by glassing the shoreline where the bears come out to eat the first grass of Spring from a vantage point in the bays and estuaries. Their coats are at their best this time of the year. In the Fall, we hunt in the afternoon and evening along the salmon creeks where the bears are concentrated. The Fall hunts are usually easier than Spring hunts.

The bear’s coats and not as long as in the spring but their hair is still long and glossy. Weather is one of the most important factors in a successful hunt. A two or three-day blow could keep us in the boat. Or, we could have nothing but sunny, mild days, making hunting a pleasure.

Brown bears average about 8 to 8 ½ feet. This is measuring from nose-to-tail and from front claws to back claws, no 2X4 up the bear’s nose so that he measures over 9 feet. The skulls are between 24 and 27 inches. On occasion, we might take one that is larger, approaching 9 ½ feet and the 28 inch skull that will make Boone & Crockett.

(Dave Manson of Manson Precision Tooling,
 maker of fine tools for the gunmaking trade.)

We do two hunts in April and May and two hunts starting Oct. 25. At this time I am outfitting deer and elk hunts. The cost is $300 a day p.p. with 2 or three hunters. The Deer an Elk hunts are done on the south side of Afognak Is. The price includes all the meals. Additional costs are the trespass fee to the native corporations and the flight out with Andrew Air.

(Gary Strasser of the Northwoods Adventures,
agent for fine hunting expeditions.)