Alaska Family Vacation and Bear Hunt

Alaska family vacation and hunt
Dates: 8/8/12-8/28/12
Outfitter: Seth Kroenke w/Alaska's River Wild Lodge
Guides: Me and Mark Petritz
Rifles: Ruger M77 .338 WM shooting 225 gr TSXs
Kimber Montana 7mm-08 shooting 140 gr TSXs

This year was our tenth anniversary and we wanted to take a big family trip to someplace we'd never been before. I was sure we'd end up on a beach someplace but when my wife said she'd rather go hunting it occurred to me I'd probably better hold onto her for another 10! Anyway, we went to the DSC show where we met Seth Kroenke and his wife Jeelan who own and operate Alaska's River Wild Lodge in Port Alsworth , which is right on Lake Clark. They're our age and have three kids the same age as ours too and needless to say we really hit it off, so after a few beers we whipped out the ol' check book and made it official! The plan was to do an overnight black bear hunt with my wife, then lots of fishing and flying and then I would stay for 8 days for a brown bear hunt, while the family returned home.
As the dates approached we were really concerned about the weather which had been really, really bad!! Seth hadn't been in the air much because of the persistent storms and we were wondering if the trip would just be one very expensive bust! It wasn't. According to the locals, we had the best weather they'd seen in almost 20 years!! 65 to 75 degree days and zero rain (except for one brief moment)!

After an overnight in Anchorage we flew to Port Alsworth on Lake Clark Air.



Beautiful flight through Lake Clark pass!



Port Alsworth.



Since the weather was forecast to change in a few days we decided to get my wife's bear hunt in ASAP, so Seth and I went flying in his float plane on day 2 to scout for bears and a suitable camp site. My wife has NEVER camped outside in a tent and was more than a little apprehensive. Well, after checking out 3 or 4 lakes we found a good one and set the plane down. Within an hour, Seth and his summer helper Cole and I had a great camp set up with a big tent w/cots and pads, table, chairs, and a bottle of wine!
We flew back to the lodge for dinner and drinks, then Seth flew my wife and I back out to our beautiful camp and dropped us off. He and Jeelan, along with their summer employees, would take care of the kids (don't even think they noticed we were gone!) and all we had to do was call them on the sat phone when we were ready to get picked up. Unguided, all by ourselves, a cooler full of beer, half a case of wine, and more food than we could eat in a week......oh and no kids.....what a DREAM TRIP!
Setting up camp. Seth and Cole.



Getting dropped off



Bugs were pretty bad. My wife made a joke about me putting a bag over her head on our anniversary but I won't go there.....;-)




Next morning we headed out and hiked up the ridge and set up our glassing spot above the lake

View back at camp.



Up on the ridge.



Lunch of BBQ moose meat



We didn't see a thing all morning and after lunch we both napped but finally around 5pm I spotted a smallish bear about 400 yds below us. As luck would have it, it also started to rain, so here we were trying to move quickly downhill and get our raingear on while also trying to keep sight of this bear! We got within 230 yds and then I had to hold my pack up for her to use as a rest due to the steep downhill angle but sadly she shot over his back and that was that! He woofed and took off down into the alders, and we never saw him again. Oh well, that's hunting and frankly I don't think he would have gone over 6 feet, so some things work out for the best, eh!
We were back in camp by 8pm and skinny dipping in the lake by 8:15! A clean change of clothes, a couple glasses of wine and a phone call to Seth and the end of our little adventure was coming to an end.

The kids went for a hike while we were gone.

The weather stayed good so the next day we loaded up both of Seth's planes (he has one on floats and another on tundra tires) and headed to Katmai Nat'l Park for a little bear viewing. Funny thing happened on the way out of Port Alsworth. My daughter and Seth's oldest son were in the float plane, piloted by his buddy Josiah. Well, somebody left the master switch on so the battery was dead, which meant Josiah had to hand prop the plane. I was sitting right seat and he came around on the right float and told me, "I'm going to get this thing started on this side then I'll walk back and disappear for a minute before I come back up on the left float. Don't freak out when the plane starts moving, ok?" Ok, I'm cool with that. Well, he gets the thing started and sure enough we start moving and he goes racing back down my float and then the next time I see him he's all wet! I didn't ask about it until we were in Katmai. Turns out he'd set the throttle too high and the plane was taxiing away and when he jumped off the right float he had to grab the tie-down rope and it dragged him into the water until he made a leap of faith and was able to grab the rudder of the left float. He almost lost us!! Pretty damned funny.....until you get to the other side of the lake!!!







A couple of days later my mother-in-law arrived. It was also the day of arrival for my brown bear guide, who's from Hawaii. Seth and I flew at least four hours that day trying to find another suitable camping location for another attempt at a black bear but as luck would have it, when we returned our daughter started complaining of stomach cramps and ended up sick and in bed. Well, we couldn't leave a sick kid behind so we decided that we'd tap a keg that Seth had sitting around instead!! Sounded good to me!!
At about 3am we finally drained it :-)



The next morning we laid low (hmm, wonder why) and then in the afternoon Cole took us down the lake in the boat and dropped us off for an evening bear hunt. We hiked up over a ridge and found a good spot to glass but never saw a bear, though. Still had a great time just knocking around and gorging on blueberries! Cole picked us up that evening and we cruised around glassing the shore and did see a wolverine, which didn't open for another week :-(, but no bears.






Before we knew it, it was time for the family to leave.! That was tough..more for them than me. They'd all bonded so well with the kids and Jeelan. Lots of tears all around. The kids made some great friends and my wife and Jeelan became fast friends so we're already figuring out when we can all get together again this winter. Seth had a bunch of hunters coming in on this day so he really wanted to get me and my guide Mark out to camp so he could focus on them. Well, with the departure of my family, so went the weather. We loaded up in Seth's plane and made to within 30 miles of camp but had to turn back....we were at 50 ft AGL and could barely see the prop!!
The next day we finally got out around mid-day and so started the second phase of my trip.

We hunted unit 17, which is north of Dillingham and includes primarily the Nushagak river and it's tributaries. We had a spike camp on the King Salmon river and "usually" the salmon are running, so basically you just sit on a hilltop overlooking it and spot bears. Easy to determine size when they're on a gravel bar a couple hundred yards away! Anyway, it didn't work that way this time. Apparently, we were between runs and the bears just weren't on the river, but instead were up on the hillsides eating blueberries and crow berries. So after a couple of days of staring at the water going by we switched our attention to the hills behind us and started seeing some bears, but virtually all were more than a couple of miles away. If you haven't experienced it, the terrain is very deceiving----what you would guess at being a couple hundred yards is generally at least twice that far away-----just really big country!!

Sleeping tent and cook tent.

Anyway,I had two tags so I was prepared to shoot any respectable bear just to get the pressure off, then I could spend the remainder of the hunt looking for that 10 footer, but we were having trouble even finding an adult boar! We saw mostly 3 yo cubs and sows w/cubs....sometimes as many as 9 in one day, but no shooters!

This guy was our camp mascot.




The weather finally got back to normal!
My guide and I making the best of a crappy day.



Well, on the fifth day of my seven day hunt we had hiked about a mile and half from camp, which allowed us a view of the next valley to the east of us. Using the spotting scope we saw three or four bears but they were still just specks in the distance. Finally at 4:30 we decided to go after the biggest "speck" we had seen, but unfortunately he was also the furthest....our guess at the time was about 5-6 miles away.

Arrow shows the ridge where we initially spotted him.


We covered the distance in exactly an hour and half (we were haulin' [censored]!) but since we knew we'd loose sight of him once we started and not be able to keep an eye on him, we gave our odds of success at less than 40%. Once we closed the distance and came up on the ridge where we'd spotted him, sure enough the bear was gone! Figuring he'd be headed down to the river, we just worked our way slowly downhill and through the alders which was more than a little spooky! Just when I'd pretty much given up hope (I unchambered the round and slung my rifle over my shoulder) we came up over the last little rise and lo and behold there he was not more than 60 yds from us.....facing away, even!! My guide immediately hit the dirt and so did I but since I was a good 5 or 6 feet behind him I had to belly crawl forward to get a clean shot. While I was doing this he turned and spotted us, and immediately stood up on his back legs, at which point I really wanted to get a shot off but I was right behind a damned clump of grass! As soon as I was clear, he of course dropped to all fours and took off down hill at a dead run, but fortunately I was able to get one through his back hip, which caused him to turn my way and then the next shot I hit him in the right shoulder. He was still moving (albeit slowly)but this time directly away so I hit him w/a TX heart shot which dropped his back end. He'd managed to make it right to the edge of the bluff that dropped down into the river and he was still pulling with his front legs so I aimed right between his shoulder blades and "click"....only had three down so I was out of booolits!!! I jumped up and sprinted back up the hill to my pack (I'll never make that mistake again!), grabbed another round and finally put him down for good!! He literally dropped with his head hanging off the bluff!!



Well after lots of whoops and high fives we got him skinned out and loaded up and were on the way back by 9pm. Been a looooong time since I've had 80-90 lbs on my back but my new KUIU pack worked great and made it as tolerable as possible. We did run into a rather big bear at about 40 yds on one of our last alder crossings at around 11:30pm and man, there's not much more of a helpless feeling than being pinned in the alders with 80 plus pounds on your back and your rifle is stuffed in your guides pack!!!.....all while your staring at a really big toothy shadow!!!! (truth be known, I was so whooped at that point I was kinda hoping he'd just put me out of my misery). Anyway, we made it back to camp around 1am and after I was able speak coherently again we commenced to putting a big dent in a bottle of JD! Great day and night!!!

He squared 8'6". I suppose I'll do a full body mount.
I can't say enough good things about Seth, Jeelan and my guide, Mark Petritz. Each and everyone of them are fantastic individuals and I hope to have them as lifelong friends! Being in camp for 8 days and sharing a tent with another guy you've never met can be a crapshoot for sure but Mark was an absolute blast and I can't wait to share a camp with him again soon!
In fact, I'm probably going to book a Dall sheep hunt with Seth for next year...and Mark will probably be my guide.

Thanks for looking!

Regards,
Scott

Jaw dropping pictures

Now I need to read the stories with em.

looks like a blast, that hunt is the next one on my list after i get a few more out of the way. Awesome looking family, and congrats on a great trip.

flying on those float plains is a level of pucker i dont look forward to doing again for a while.

WOW!! Great post and pics!!

What caliber rifle did you shoot him with?

That looks like one heck of a vacation. Great story and pics.

Fantastic pic! Congrats

Very pretty

Never mind....it was right there at the very top of the post.

Great story and pics and great looking family. Just returned fom the Kenai on a killer fly fishing trip and hooked Silvers on the Nush last year. Love the post but still can't figure out why people want to shoot a bear.

That animal did nothing to earn that bullet.

AWESOME pictures!! Looks like a great trip. I miss Alaska!

this is a hunting forum, not a tree hugging fly fishing forum. Move along troll.

Awesome

and great story!

wow! what a great trip

Not a troll bro. I eat what I kill. You eat bear mustafa? Just don't believe that bear and lions etc are game animals. Take your tree hugging comment and well... You know what.

wife and i both took black bears in alaska this year and didnt eat either one of them. Brown bear is at the top of the food chain, and is the ultimate game animal in north america. Theres a forum called TFF, your kind can be found there. Sorry to hijack your thread, great hunt and great report.

That was a great read. Congratulations and Thanks!

I had a friend who's father made a bunch of jerky out of black bear I wasn't a fan of it but alot of people did eat it and like it.

Come on guys lets not start an argument on this guys awesome hunting trip with his family.

true that, great trip. What did you think of the float plain?

My apoolgies to Bear Creek. I should have kept my opinion to myself.

Wow, Bear Creek dont know what you do for a living but i have read hunting stories from prof. writers and none were as captivating and interesting as your vacation story, Great looking family and pics were great thanks for sharing. Congrats on the big bear.

Thanks everyone for the responses!

I'm having a hard time adjusting to ordinary life......Alaska is on my mind non-stop!!!

Regards,
Scott

The black bears this time of year are referred to as "blueberry black bears" and are supposed to be very tastey. In fact, the manager of another guest lodge in Port Alsworth and her french chef made me promise to bring them some meat to cook for their guests if we were successful, which of course we weren't.

Brown bear, on the other hand, is not considered very edible due to their diet.
Unit 17 is home to the Mulchatna Caribou herd, which was once one of the largest in AK, however due to the proliferation of brown bears, commercial hunting for these caribou has been closed for some time now. Moose numbers in the area have also taken a dramatic dip. This unit used to issue bear tags on an every-other-year basis, but now due to the large numbers of bears it is open every season with a two bear limit!!

Whether or not we agree on what constitutes a game animal, I DO hope we can agree that proper wildlife management is essential to preserving the balance of the ecosystem and ensuring future opportunities.

Regards,
Scott

Agreed Scott and again I apologize for my comment.

Great report. Enjoyed the pics and story.

Awesome narration and pics!!!

No problem at all!!

That sir is living life to the bone. Great pics, great story, beautiful family.

Honestly, none of the flying bothered me much. After spending a couple of weeks with Seth, it was very apparent that he's an extremely accomplished backcountry pilot and even though we flew in some very crappy weather he never once made me nervous.
The float plane is pretty tame compared to some of the tundra landings we made. For instance, the landing at our spike camp is along a ridge and frankly, given the best of weather, it's a real tough spot to get into, but both times he had a 40mph cross wind. That meant he had to land perpendicular to the ridgeline and the strip! Basically, he flew right into the side of the mountain and landed going uphill!! We had to lift the tail around to turn the plane and then he just flew off the side of it with no more than 50 ft of takeoff room! We lost sight of him and had to run to the side of the hill to watch his plane go down before he got enough lift!!

I've always wanted to learn to fly and this trip was the shove I needed. I'm signing up for flying lessons in the next week or so!

great story! that is one of my dream trips for the dall sheep up there. brown bear is not far behind either.

did the kuiu gear hold up for you?

those float planes scare the crap out of me. The o'god strap in ours had all the paint worn off of it where you hand goes in. My wife took some happy pills and loved, i didntg and left a little piece of my self on the plane. Id love to be able to take the whole family on a trip like that some day. I cant afford to hunt up there every year, but i could probably make a fishing trip. Theres something about being up in that country that makes you realize how small you really are.

KUIU gear did very, very well!! Love the Attack pants!

Stunning pics. That is my dream hunt for sure, along with the moose....

Great story and cracking pictures .

well written Scott, as always.
your story helps bring us along like we were there with you.
glad you and the family had such a good time.

awesome bear and great pictures.
congrats again

Thanks bud!!

Wow, what a trip! Great pics, great times and even better memories.

Great pics and story, thank for sharing.

absolutly incredable, Pics and story.

Awesome story and even better pics. Congrats!

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing!

I was just thinking the same thing!!!

What a great story and wonderful pics. You and your family are well blessed and have built memories for a lifetime.

great pics and story

Thanks for all the comments guys. It was a great trip!

Great story!

Wow.. what a great hunt. Thanks for sharing!

Thats Awesome, Congratulations!!

Thanks for sharing your adventure. Those are some excellent photos of a happy hunter & family.

Thats a vacation