2007
September:
Central Alaska
Moose
After
sheep camp, I met up with a buddy of mine, TJ Shimunek, of MI. We had
another friend of mine who lives in Alaska fly us out for a spike-camp moose
hunt. We had only seen a cow until the morning of day number 4, when all
my calling had finally paid off. TJ and I had a bit of a late night the
evening before (we won’t go there), and woke up a little late. As soon
as it was light enough to shoot, I gave some loud cow calls. Just as we
were finishing breakfast a bull appeared 70 yards from camp! A minute
later, TJ had a 60” bull on the ground, just 100 yards from out tent,
and best of all, only 150 yards from the runway! I was going to try to
shoot a bull as well, but with only a couple days of season left, and
the fact that my pilot friend, Matt, was really busy at work, we decided
to just get the bull out of the field and head for home. It was a blast
to hunt with TJ, and I think viewers will see that on camera. After the
moose hunt, I headed home for 10 days to resume work on our house that I
had been building all spring and summer.
2007 October:
SW Alaska
Brown Bear
I returned to AK on the 27th of September
to the Alaska Peninsula for brown bear. I got in 2 days before
season, and my hunter, Phil Keene of FL, came in the day before season.
We suffered through some awful weather until day 6. We hadn’t seen many
bears, so we decided to move. It was a GREAT move! We arrived into our
new camp in the evening of Oct. 6. On the morning of the 7th,
we were spotting bears everywhere! Just after noon, I spotted a big bear
feeding on a salmon stream heading directly to us. We got into position
to cut the 10’ bear off, and waited for him to continue feeding his way
down the stream and come directly to us. We waited for 7 hours through
snow, sleet, and 80 mph wind gusts, until finally darkness closed in on
us and the bear was still 270 yards away. We hiked the mile back to camp
hopeful we would find the bear the next morning.
The next morning, we found the bear EXACTLY where we
had left him the evening before! We moved to the same spot where we had
waited for the bear the day before. As the 10’ bear was approaching, I
spotted another bear 1,000 yards away that absolutely dwarfed the bear
we were waiting for. I would guess this bear was over 11’ square. Phil
and I agreed that if this 10’ bear came in that we would take him, and
not take the chance on the larger bear. Lucky for the monster bear, the
10 footer came right in, and Phil dropped the 10’ 1” bear right in the
river at 90 yards. It was a hard earned trophy that Phil and I were very
thankful for. Phil was one of the funniest guys I had ever had in camp.
He is a doctor and a lawyer! I tried to use the 3 big words I knew just
to fit in, but we had a good time. After bear camp, I flew back home to
try to finish up my house.
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