KODIAK BEAR HUNT IN ALASKA 2014 HAND IN HAND WITH A GIANT!!!! May 2014 This story starts back in 2013 when my friend Edgardo and me booked a Moose, Caribou and Grizzly Bear hunt in Alaska with booking agent Eber Gomez Berrade, from Argentina. The hunt was in late September 2013 but an early snow blizzard shortened our stay in the mountains and we had to go back to Anchorage and finish our trip abruptly. By that time, Edgardo had already taken his bear and I also had my moose, but I hadn’t had time to hunt my caribou or my bear. So, our outfitter Chet Benson offered me to hunt again the following year in 2014. Our hunt had taken place in the mountains, at an altitude of over 7,500 feet, and in those areas grizzlies are not over 8 feet tall, so I asked Chet to trade my Caribou and my Grizzly for a Bear hunt in Kodiak Island, famous for holding the largest bears on Earth, to which he agreed. For this new adventure, our booked dates were from May 1st to 11th, 2014. After lots of preparation, we finally left Buenos Aires on April 29th, just in time to arrive into Kodiak on May 1st, where Chet and our packer Mitch would be waiting for us. All flights were on schedule, Chet and Mitch picked us up at the airport, and we went to the Fishing and Game Office to get our proper paperwork needed for this hunt. Our licenses and tags had already been taken in Anchorage. With all papers in hand, all packed and ready, we went to the airport to take a charter seaplane. Our bags were weighed as there’s a limit on weight and this was a small plane only for 5 people. I had decided not to take my own rifle, so Chet gave me his 416 Rem., more than enough for this hunt. We left at 6 pm and after only a 25-minute flight, we landed on a small lake of about 40 acres. We camped by the lake, had dinner and repacked our bags, getting ready to climb the mountain the following morning. That evening while we were having dinner, Chet told me that the previous hunter there had seen two huge bears, one dark brown and another one lighter, with yellow ears, but he hadn’t been able to hunt them because during the 10 hunting days he was there, there had been 7 with permanent rain and the temperature had also raised to around 90º. As a result, bears had climbed very high looking for snow to cool off themselves. This gave this hunter no chances. You should know Kodiak Island is very humid and it rains almost all the time. We were lucky to start our first morning with beautiful sunshine. After climbing for 3 hours, we started looking with our binoculars, and at about 4 miles, Chet saw two bears, but he decided to keep climbing. We continued walking for another 5 hours, set our fly camp, in a strategic viewpoint to be able to see all the side of the mountain in front of us. Between the mountain where our camp was and the mountain in front of us, there was a valley with a mighty river along which salmons make their way up to spawn. We carefully started our bear viewing that afternoon after lunch. After a couple of hours, we saw the two bears again, high in the mountain, where there were some patches of snow left. They were at about 3 miles from us, and between them, there was a little less than a mile. As soon as I saw them, I asked Chet to go to them, but he told me that mountains in that area were too steep and we wouldn’t be able to reach them. He also said the best way to hunt them was to wait and not to move around, because moving only makes them go away as they can smell us since the most developed sense in these bears is smelling. That afternoon we just looked at them walking in the high mountains, rubbing against the snow to lower body temperature, until it got dark and our first hunting day was over. Days are longer that time of the year, sunrise is at 6 am and sunset at 11:30 pm. Our second day started with a shining sun, something unusual in Kodiak in May. Mid-morning we had the most incredible experience. First, we saw a big bear running among the gorges, quite fast, and suddenly, another larger bear started chasing it. It was amazing to see the smaller bear frantically running and looking constantly behind to save its life. They climbed up the mountain for about 1 mile, until they got out of our sight on top of the mountain. Not longer that fifteen minutes later, the larger bear showed up again and went back to the area where we saw it first to disappear in the mountain gorges. Chet explained to us that at that time of the year, bears are taking possession of the best areas, because in a short time, the river would be full of salmons coming to spawn from the ocean. Time went by and our great bear was still high hidden in the mountains, giving no signs to go down. At about 9 pm, we saw a bear close to the river, about 2,000 yards away. It probably was the same one we had just seen in the morning. We took our binoculars and it must have measured 8 or 8.5 feet high. For a moment, I thought about getting close to it, but cold-blodded Edgardo reminded me that there were many more hunting days to come and that the huge bear of yellow ears Chet had told us about would give me a chance. That day ended watching the big bear disappearing among the river forest. The following morning started completely different. A thick fog blocked somewhat our view, and we couldn’t see more than 30 yards away. At about 10 am, the fog turned into rain, temperature went notably down, but we had more visibility. We were all the time checking what we could see in the mountain in front of us, which was quite hard because binoculars got wet and that didn’t give us a clear vision. At about 5 pm, with tired eyes, we went to our tents for some coffee, some food and a short nap. 45 minutes later, we heard Chet run to our tent, and very, very excited, told me the yellow-eared bear was going down the mountain heading towards the river. I took the 416 quickly, put on my water-proof gear, and went down the mountain watching where the bear was entering the river. There were closed and high trees by the river shore, so there existed the possibility of losing sight of the bear. Almost running, we went down for about 25 minutes and we saw exactly where the bear reached the river. Mitch stayed about 100 yards above us to see any change of direction and we would go to the river bank hoping to see the bear among the forest. We got to the river in an area where the vegetation was not so thick, looked up, and saw Mitch trying to tell us the bear was walking into us. We waited and in just seconds, we saw it on the opposite bank of the river coming towards us. It was just out of this world to see it moving its huge mass body from side to side, at only 150 yards from us. The wind was blowing towards us, I just relaxed and waited for my shooting chance. It was hard because the bear was right in front of me, it didn’t give me a good angle chance, but at about 100 yards away, it showed me one side and I decided to shoot at its right shoulder. The 400gr of Nosler partition did their job and the bear fell into the ground instantly. I loaded again as this was a very dangerous animal, and when I was about to celebrate, Chet told me it was trying to stand up. It did, and showed one side, and without hesitating, I just shot it again on its right side, where its lungs were. I couldn’t describe with words what I felt like at that particular moment, I was as happy as I could ever be on any other hunt. We crossed the river and got closer and closer to the bear making sure it was dead. When I was 20 yards away, I couldn’t believe my eyes! Huge giant on the ground… I can tell you that one thing is to see a bear like this on TV or hunting magazines and a completely different story to see this monster at your feet! Once we were absolutely sure it was dead, Chet and me hugged each other, in absolute happiness! Mitch, up in the mountain, had been watching everything but as quickly as he could ran down to join us in our celebration. Time for pictures, and of course I took so many that my camera battery went dead, but I took all possible shots from all angles. You can’t imagine how hard it was to move more than 1,200 pounds among the branches. The skinning took more than 2 hours and we finished at about 9 pm. After that, we still had a long walk back to camp and it was almost dark when we got there. It was really hard to do all that walking under the rain, carry 200 pounds of skin, and all that up the mountain. We felt exhausted, but proud and happy! That same night, we called home using a satellite phone, gave the great news, and did all arrangements for the seaplane to pick us up the following day. Next morning, we got up at 7. Chet and Mitch had some coffee, but Edgardo and me drank some mate, our typical Argentinean tea. Then, we started packing because the plane would pick us up at 1 pm at the same place where it had left us. It was a long trail, a 3-hour walk under permanent rain. We went back to civilization, reached Kodiak at about 1:30 pm and first thing was to register my bear into the Fishing and Game Office. Everybody was very friendly, and the person in charge started to measure it. This fellow congratulated me in an unusual way, seemed very pleased, but I didn’t understand very well why. Chet explained to me the skull measured 29” and that meant I had become a new member of the Boone and Crocket Club. All Kodiak bears’ skulls measuring over 28” enter the club. It also measured 9.5 feet long, and that was what crowned my wonderful hunt. We slept that night in Kodiak and at 6 am we started our long journey back to Argentina, which took more than two days from airport to airport. On the plane, we spent all the time watching the pictures, and talking about this incredible experience we had just lived. I’ve been blessed to be able to travel the world on my hunts, but so far, this has been the most exciting hunt of all, different from all other, surrounded by mother nature that demands all your strength and endurance. I’m just short of words to explain my feelings over such a strenuous, physically challenging, and highly rewarding adventure, trip of a lifetime, memories that will last for ever... Kodiak Bear Hunting is not on my bucket list anymore! By Jose Luis Grasso (JJ)
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 03:36:11 +0000
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