Just got back from a hunting trip on some very remote Alaskan rivers. I covered 65 miles of river in a canoe. On the second evening I shot a nice interior grizzly, one of the animals I have dreamed of hunting since I was a little kid. It was a good sized sow, no rub marks and some "silver" across neck and shoulders. She measured 82 inches from nose to tail. I also got a wolf on the trip. Want to try a hard shot? Try a 200 yard shot at a moving wolf from a rocking canoe floating downstream. Forget a nice smooth trigger pull, wait till the crosshairs jiggle somewhere close and yank. There was definitely some luck involved! Anyway the trusty .35 Whelen has a couple more kills to its credit. I will try to post some pictures when I can find my camera cord.

Congrats Roklok. Sounds like ya had a fine trip. Lets see those pics .
Joe

Well done mate. That would have been an awesome hunt.

I reckon shooting from that canoe would have been like shooting from the back of a galloping horse....bloody difficult.

Look forward to seeing your pics.

Cheers, Vince

roklok: first and foremost, congratulations! I hope you will take the time to give some added details of the hunt and the griz kill. You know, things like distance, time of day, bullet used and performance, number of shots and, of course, how you got that bear out! If you packed it out, what type of backpack, how many trips, etc? Weather? Inquiring minds yearn to know.

Alaska is a magical place to visit. I've made three trips and only regretted having to leave. Some of the friendliest people and incredible landscape awaits the visitor.

I have the pictures on my computer now but have not figured out how to make them smaller to post on here, any suggestions? It tells me the attachment is too big. I am not especially computer literate. As for details of the hunt, thats easier. I became a legal Alaska resident(resided in AK for a year) on August 5th which means I was able to hunt grizzly/brown bear without a guide. The season opened on August 10. I had a friend take me up river with his motorboat and drop me off on Friday 65 miles north of Fort Yukon on a small river with a canoe. My plan was to float the river for a few hours each evening when bears would most likely be out and camp during the day. My friend was going to return the following Friday and pick me up. Saturday at 9 pm I broke camp and started to float the river. An hour later at 10 pm(it doesnt get dark here till close midnight this time of year) I saw the back end of a bear disappearing into some willow brush close the rivers edge. I grabbed my rifle but figured the bear had saw me and I had lost my chance. A few minutes later the grizzly emerged from the willows heading for the rivers edge. Range was 40-50 yards, the bear was coming almost directly toward me quartering slightly. I shot the bear in the near shoulder and the grizzly collapsed and rolled into the river. It appeared to be finished but I immediatly shot it a second time just for safety. I was using a .35 Whelen with handloads, 250 grain Nosler partitions in front of Reloder 15 at 2542 FPS. I was extremely pleased with bullet performance. The first shot broke the right shoulder and continued through chest cavity and abdomen and bullet exited just in front of left hind leg. The second bullet entered the right hind quarter and was found under hide on the left shoulder. It was perfectly mushroomed but the front core was gone. It was apparent that the second insurance shot was not neccessary. I was able to get the bear partially out of the water to skin it after a lot of wresting and getting soaked to the knees. If I can get the pictures posted it will show the position of bear. I then skinned it and transported the head and hide in the canoe. I did not keep the meat. I would have liked to try grizzly but this one was digging last years rotten salmon out of mud on riverbank. With the position of the bear partially in the river on the muddy bank till I had it skinned both hide and meat was covered in mud and sand. It was not an easy job skinning a large animal half in the river all alone. Alaska does not require hunters to keep the meat of grizzlys as they are not generally considered edible. I then loaded the head and hide in canoe(I believe this weighs close a hundred pounds,will find out tommorrow when I take it to Fairbanks to the taxidermist) and headed for town as I was racing the clock for the hide not to sour. It took three days to float the 65 miles back to town.

Sounds like a dream hunt for me Very cool. The pics need to be no bigger then 2048kb in size. If you have a photo shop on your computer you should be able to crop them with it, if not I think there are various free downloads that will resize images. Can't wait to see the pics.
Joe

I will try this again!

Hey,it worked here are a few more!! Thanks for the interest and hope you enjoy.

Wolf

Very nice bear and wolf. Glad ya got the pics posted. Congrats again well done......
Joe

Roklok,
I see you skin Griz.....

Good trip, good pics. I sure do envy the hunt, but not handling the 1/2 in the river griz by yourself. I can only imagine what it was like, having shot a 400lb boar and trying to handle it by myself, but on dry land. Trying to move that bear must have been a real trick in the mud and all. I bet you wished that bear had a handle on it somewhere, a dozen times.

Nice wolf and a good shot. Every once in a while the shooting Gods smile upon us, just when we need it.
Thanks for sharing,
Ed

Great pics mate. Do you tan the bear skin or mount the head?

Great hunt. Wish I could do it.

Cheers, Vince

I am getting a rug made with the hide tanned and with the head mounted in the rug. Do you see any bear rugs like that in Australia? It is a pretty popular thing to do with bears here. I cant stand the thought of cutting a nice hide like that to have a head mount, although that would be a lot cheaper.

Never seen a bear rug in Australia.

The only "bear" we have out here is the Koala, and I don't think that it would go down real well if I had a rug made from one of them (you would need about 10 for a rug).....especially since they are very heavily protected.

I agree with not cutting the hide. Too nice to cut (I reckon the bear probably felt to same way too :lol:...unlucky).

Cheers, Vince

Great job, and congrats on a succesful hunt.