2 June 2007
June 2, 2007 - Day 7 in Alaska - Day 1 After Taking My Giant Bear!
Posted by Darrell under: Alaska; My Journal .
Check my Alaska pictures from June 2!
Caleb and I awoke earlier than Chad. We just stayed in our bunks and read. I felt the boat moving (from footsteps) and knew that it wasn’t from Chad – as I could see him sleeping peacefully. What’s up?
Chris Crowe, our neighbor from the Salmon project, opened the cabin door and told us to hurry – there was a big brown bear foraging the shore line just 100 yards away. I grabbed the video camera and Caleb grabbed binoculars and we ran out to get some pictures.
What an awesome start to a day! Watching a big brown bear munching grass 100 yards away is just incredible. I can say that I was thankful to be on a boat 100 yards away. If that bear was foraging 30 yards from me (or even 300 yards away) – I’d probably be really scared. It was a big boar with a massive head. Not to be redundant, but AWESOME!
Shortly after this, we pulled our crab pots, said our Goodbyes to the Crowes, and departed Boat Harbor. Chad was able to get ahold of Keegan and we decided to head South to where he was hunting with his other clients. Apparently, Kevin had taken a bear on the same day as I with his rifle. Terry was still looking to fill his archery tag.
During our trip in the big boat, we saw lots of whales. It was another beautiful day and Caleb and I took turns driving the boat while Chad finished caping my bear. I was afraid to help as I didn’t want to damage the hide. Caleb and I were able to get a couple games of Rummy in during the drive.
As we got close, we started trolling for Kings from the big boat. Again, no bites. Chad took us to some shallow water by an island to bottom fish (shallow in this case was 180 feet deep) and we jigged for rock fish and halibut. No success. Caleb got bored so we headed to find Keegan’s boat.
We passed close by a rock that was home to a family of seals. It was really neat to see these animals so close up and in the wild. A couple of them were white – which was really neat, too. It was only about 8:30 pm and we didn’t expect to see Keegan and his crew until after dark, but shortly thereafter we saw his skiff racing toward us.
Returning early could only mean one thing – they had a bear! There buzzing our boat was the final give away. Terry had taken a beautiful bear with his bow. He stalked up and shot his bear at 12 yards in some brush while Keegan distracted it with a predator call. His bear then climbed a tree and he finished it with a shot from below, again at about 10 yards. Both his arrows blew right through the bear.
Terry was using a fancy new Hoyt. I later found out that both Terry and Kevin are Pastors and have been hunting together for a few years. Terry showed me pictures of some of the game he has taken, including giraffe, hippos, and animals that I don’t even think he knew what they were. This was his 9th bear and he had 7 full mount bears in his house along with 120 other mounts. He has been to Africa on hunts 14 times!
It didn’t sound like either of these guys eat the game they harvest. Caleb kept asking them as they were showing their pictures if they eat the stuff. “You mean you eat giraffes? Do you eat hippos?” They don’t eat black bear. I, on the other hand, love the stalk and the hunt and the experience AND eating the meat.
Tom, Keegan’s dad, fixed an awesome dinner. We had fresh crab (they had been more successful at crabbing than we had) and halibut, along with salad and noodles. Keegan’s boat was a luxury yacht compared with where we were living. I confirmed during the evening that Keegan is a nice guy. It would be a toss up if I was doing it again and had to choose. Would I choose to hunt with Keegan on his luxury boat eating gourmet meals or to hunt with Chad on his not so luxurious boat? Caleb and I have had a lot of fun with Chad. I think hunting with Keegan wouldn’t be too bad either.
After dinner, Keegan, Chad and I stayed up late telling hunting stories. We had a great time.
Tomorrow, we are going fishing.
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