A Recent Report on Grizzly Bear in Alaska
Hunting Report subscriber Richard Scott highly recommends a grizzly bear hunt with Master Guide Clark Whitney of Alaska Wilderness Trips (Tel. 907-262-4979. E-mail: info@wild-alaska.com). Scott and a friend hunted with Whitney this past September, and he reports seeing 26 bears between them in three days. Six were shooter boars. Scott's friend took an 8 ½ footer the first day of his hunt. Scott says he took a bruin of the same size only two days later.
The hunt took place in Unit 19 on the Alaska Peninsula, about a two-hour flight out of Anchorage. Scott says they flew into the main camp first on their arrival day for lunch and orientation. From there they flew to a spike camp that was already set up for them, and they spent that afternoon glassing for bears. The terrain in the area is all open tundra and rolling hills, he says. The hills are rocky and can be difficult to climb, so Scott warns fellow hunters to be in very good shape to hunt there, as you must conduct some very long stalks to get within shooting distance. He says his guide spotted his bear four miles away after glassing several hours from a knoll. Scott says they walked across the tundra for almost three hours to get to his bear. He shot his trophy at 275 yards and says his friend took his at about 240 yards.
Scott is very impressed with Whitney's operation. He says it is professionally run, with the safety and comfort of hunters as high a priority as the hunting itself. He says the outfitter checked on them every day by radio and flew over their camp every other day. He says Whitney was interested in what game they were seeing and would drop off fresh food every time he flew over them. In fact, Scott says this constant re-supply allowed them to enjoy "incredible" meals on a daily basis out of a simple spike camp. As for the guiding, he says both his guide and his friend's guide could not have been better. They knew the area, the bears and how to successfully hunt them. He points out that Whitney has been hunting this area for 30 years and has a wealth of knowledge and experience there hunting for grizzlies, moose and caribou.
The only downside Scott reports on this hunt is that weather can interfere with the hunting. He says their first night in camp the wind began blowing from 40 to 50 mph. It improved the next day, when his friend took a bear, but he points out that it could have been a problem and hunters should be prepared to lose some hunting time. He gives the cost of this 10-day hunt as $8,500, plus a charter flight of $2,100 split between three hunters. Licenses were another $500.
|
