Success Rate for Brown Bear Hunts

Alaska Private Guide Service

Smokey Don Duncan,
Master Guide #136

Alaska Private Guide Service Moose Hunting Trophy

2015 Brown Bear

We skinned out 2 brown bears. Many more were shot at or wounded. Several good bears were turned down in the first day/s of the hunters' hunt. Early on we saw several wolves that should have been killed but were not. This season, over all species, produced 8 wounds or misses and there were over 30 unnecessary hunting days as a result. Plus there were numerous turn downs. There will be a new policy in 2016. Every hunter will be required to shoot their weapon on the ride up river to camp. In the past we declined to do that once in camp because we hunt close to the camp or cabin. So now we will take the time to stop at a gravel way down river away from where we hunt so the hunter can shoot. Missing the whole bear or wounding them has got to stop. And I will say again; IF you elect to turn down bears you accept the risk associated with going home with nothing. And the higher your minimum size requirement is the lower the success rate is. And chances are, any animal you turn down, you will not see them again during the hunt. Forget the notion that it will be around to shoot later on. I do not want you to shoot something you will not be happy with. I will not try and talk you into shooting something smaller than what you want. But I expect hunters to be skilled enough to kill what they shoot at and be ethical enough not to pull the trigger at something they are not certain they will kill. 2016 is a pink salmon run year and we always do great on those years. It will book up early.

2014 Brown Bear

The river was low when we arrived to set up camp August 14th. It immediately started to rain. There were plenty of fish but the grass in the sloughs was tall and with the low water some of our best hunting spots were impossible to sneak in by boat. I sent Brad and one hunter up river to scout the hills 25 miles north. They returned with a report of no berries at all on the hills and no bear sign either. There were no berries on the tundra beside the river and few high bush cranberries along the river. A dry winter and very dry summer meant no berries. The bears had to be still on the river. We had scouted the pink run river before the hunters arrived and determined the pinks were running good but not dieing and stinking yet. The bears were not there either but we figured they would be there in a week or so. About day 6 we moved over to the pink run river. The bears were there now. We took one right away and soon got another one 3 days later. We were getting ready to head out for the evening hunt when one stuck his head out across the river looking for fish. Ken, the hunter, took advantage of his seat on the cabin porch and the railing for a rest and knocked the bear down at 200 yards. Everyday we saw more and more bears even through moose season. The next hunter arrived on the pink run river September 4th and took a nine footer Sept. 6th. One night they saw 27 bears. Plenty of sows and cubs and smaller bears for sure but some dandies also. Just not big enough for the hunter to shoot another one. I had commitments in another hunting area starting Sept. 17th. I wish I hadn't. 2014 was the year to call anyone that could come on a moments notice. The hunt would have been quick. The combination of no berries, the commercial fish buyers quitting buying pinks, millions of stinking fish drawing in every hungry bear with in 30 miles and low water will probably not happen again soon enough. I wish.... We now have 2 cabins and the K1 camp to hunt from.

Spring Brown bear 2012

We had 3 hunters and they shot 3 bears. The first 2 hunters were 1 guide/2 hunters and they arrive 4/14 in camp. The weather had been warm with some rain. The snow as rapidly melting and loosing the top crust. The wind blown tundra areas were already showing brown tops. The snow would not last long on the route we were taking in to camp. For staff we had myself plus 3 registered guides, a plane on skis and 6 snow machines 4 arctic ovens and several pop up tents. We did not realize how deep the snow was in the mountains we were going to hunt until we started setting up camp and 8 foot poles stuck in the snow had not bottomed out. The tops of 10 foot alders were covered. The weather was warm to hot in the sun and freezing or close to it at night. Faces and noses got sunburned. Wind blown ridges began to turn brown exposing rock, tundra and overwintered berries. Everywhere else the snow remained and the brown up stalled. Even though the snow was melting it was still many feet deep especially in the higher denning areas and the bears were not popping out of the dens. We had some routes around and behind the mountains we hunted and we ran the routes twice a day and the hunters were hunting with one guide each going different directions to cover more ground. April 18th started out as a crappy, foggy morning and I staid in camp until noon when it began to clear off. The hunters were still out when I went to the first spotting bluff. With in seconds, I spotted our first fresh den hole 4 miles away and I could see the bear 100 yards below it. I went looking for the hunters. I missed the first group (they eventually found the bear later on their own) and went looking for the second group and found them as far away from camp and the bear as possible. By the time all the hunters gathered at the spotting knob to plan the final stalk, I had been looking for over 50 miles and needed to refuel. The stalk was successful and the shots were about 100 yards or so. 7 1/2 foot boar brown bear. Now the bears will start popping out like popcorn. Wrong. 4 more days of looking before we found the next bear hiding in the high rocks late in the day. All they could see were some tracks. When they walked up to investigate, the bear ran down from behind the rocks for a close range shoot out. 7 foot bear. The third hunter had arrived that day. He had been delayed 1 day by Penair and had now lost the first day. The plane was flying every evening but seeing nothing until the 26th when we found 3 dens in and near our hunting area. We set up on one. The next morning he stuck his big head out and gave us a look. Big boar head. He went back in all day. He had tested the snow before we found him and walked down hill about 200 yards and back to the den. We waited until the bright sun was nearly on the horizon setting for the evening. We walked up to the den from the side and slightly up hill with the setting sun directly at our backs. Me the client and registered guide. 3 guns and one spotter still down hill. The bear must have sensed something because he gave 2 grunts and came charging out. First we see a big boar head then big bear. 8 foot 9 inches with a 27 inch skull. Usually a head that big will be on a bigger body. We put the quick skin on him and headed back for camp. We had one steep mountain pass to cross and even though it was the easiest of several passes the sled pulling the hide and gear had to make a couple runs at it. We arrived to camp in the dark about 1 am. The next day it took 5 plane loads and 5 sled loads to get everything out. We got back to our Dillingham B&B at 3 am. Done. Minus 10-15 Grand on top of what the hunters paid. No more.

Fall Brown Bear 2012

We shot 8 brown bears. The pink run river was a big disappointment. The pinks were late arriving along with all other species in all rivers of Alaska this year. Weak and late seemed to be the rule this year. We shot 3 of the bears on that river but none were easy to come by. By the time the fish did show up the river was very high which made fishing tough on the bears and hunting tough on us. When the fish did finally start to die off and create a stink to really attract the bears; the high water blew them out downstream. We took 5 of the bears on the main river, 4 around K1. One bear was spotted from camp. When he was shot he fell in the river and it was pure luck he got hung up on a snag 6 feet down. The felt him with a stick and pried up a leg good enough to get a rope on it. We shot 3 other bears while sitting in our hunting blind and stands. We had 3 moose kill gut piles to watch during and after the season but even though the bears found 2 of them, they quickly went under water and were useless. The last hunter traveled up river and shot one in the hills. Of the 8 bears shot, 5 were taken before moose season, one during moose season and one after moose season. With the high water and the fish getting blown out, this would have been a great year to have a lot of hunters after moose season. I keep telling people, bear season use to open Sept. 20th and we always did good hunting the upland hills when the bears were on the berries. IT is more of a spot and stalk hunt that you need to be in good physical shape.

Brown Bear 2011

We did not have any spring brown bear hunters. The fall hunters began with a group of three August 20th. One hunter went up the pink run river where we have done good in the past but this was not a pink run year. They found some big bear tracks down river but never did find the bear associated with them. They came over to the K1 camp to finish the hunt and rolled snake eyes. Wrong place each time. One hunter flew in to our old K2 camp site where we have killed many bears over the years. We were disappointed in the number of bears spotted. They covered a lot of ground and saw a few bears, chased them and wounded one that was found the next day but still alive. I could not shoot it by law because I had been airborne. Never got him. The third hunter went up river and saw quite a few bears but turned most of them down and only stalked a few. The last day he saw one that was big enough but the stalk did not work. He did not get any. We had 1 bear hunter at K1 and he shot one, 7 1/2 foot, practically from camp across the river the day after the 3 bear hunters left. The moose and bear combo hunters staggered in over the next 10 days. We had a monster bear on a resident moose kill that 2 of them stopped to hunt. The first guy for 2 days and the next guy for 6 days. The bear was big enough to spend all season trying to get but no-one ever saw him. He was strictly nocturnal and they couldn't find him in the day light. At K1, the oldest hunter, 73 years old, got an 8 1/2 footer upriver right at dark on day 1 or 2. Another hunter saw several bears, heard more and shot at 2. Wounded or missed, don't know. We spent over 20 man hours looking for both. Another hunter wounded a bear that was on a kill site. We tracked him a short distance before it was impossible to find any more sign. It is not easy or fun or safe to track these wounded bears through the thick willow and alders along the creeks and rivers. The grass is high, the brush thick and these places have a million bear tracks and trails. The first shot has to be fatal.

Another hunter shot a nice 8 3/4 foot bear near where the older hunters' bear was shot. We had killed a sixty five inch moose 10 days earlier and a bear finally found the kill site. The next 2 bear hunters flew into our late season fly in camp. We were in camps about 4 miles apart. We could not see each others bears from our spotting bluffs. The first day my camp saw 11 different bears (4-5 were blacks) and Jimmies camp saw 7 bears, 1-2 black bears. We took 3 browns and 1 black in 5 days. The biggest was a little over 8 foot. Final thoughts. I probably should have kept the first three hunters on the main river closer to camp. I didn't because I wanted that area to be undisturbed until the moose hunters arrived. And we had done excellent in years past everywhere they went and I was not worried about it. Big bears don't get big by being stupid. And when you go up against one you have a choice, give up or stay. There is always the risk of possibly not getting him. But you might. The real beauty of the 2 bear hunt is that you can shoot the first one and you know you are going home with one. If you turn down decent bears, you increase the chances of going home empty. Your choice. We rooted around and found some new spots to hunt along the river and to land the plane in the hills. Ever since they began opening the bear season earlier, from Sept. 20 to Sept. 10, to Sept 1 to August 20th it seems everyone wants the early hunts. 2012 is a pink run year and it will be good hunting along the river as always. But the late season, fly in, spot and stalk hunts in the hills are just as good and in a way better than hunting the river corridor. This fall, I hope, was just an aberration. We had more missed or wounded bears than we had in 20 years prior total. Know your weapon and the range you can shoot, practice off hand shooting because that is what you will do after the first shot. MAke the first shot count. Lead a running bear. Get closer if your guide says to get closer. Demand a back up shot if the bear is standing next to the alders or other escape route or reconsider taking the shot.

Brown Bear 2010

Bill Johns 2010 Brown Bear

Spring one hunter for 6 1/2 days turned down one and went after several and left one sitting on the ridge at mid night. Came back in the fall with a friend and got an 8 footer. Fall hunters total was 9 hunters shot bears. No monsters but some were seen and tracks found. Some of the hunters were just bear hunters and some were moose and bear. All of the just bear hunters shot bears. 2 of the 5 moose and bear hunters shot bears but one didn't care so much about bears since he already had six with on big one. And one hunter left for business reasons 7 days early. He saw several bears and turned them down. The last hunter was hunting with a bow and had a family emergency and could only hunt 3 1/2 days. One of the bear hunters also shot a wolf feasting on a bear carcass. The 2 biggest bears were over 8 foot. One bear came along and picked up a whole bear carcass and carried it off with out leaving drag marks. We tried to find him but never did. We shot 2 of the bears at K1 while sitting on a moose gut pile. So at the end we had one moose gut pile and 2 bear carcasses and 2 other bears were feeding on them but we were out of hunters.

All in all we did well considering the river was at near flood stage and was bank to bank or bushes to bushes when the season first started. The bears didn't give us long to look. They would jump from the brush, grab a fish and scamper back into the brush. Hardly enough time.

Another point that needs to be made. The even numbered years at the N1 camp river has a massive pink run. We shot 7 of the nine bears there. But I no longer believe the massive amounts of fish attact more bears per se. Over all the K1 river probably has more bears. I now believe our past success has more to do with the river layout at N1. The river is channelized with bays. Except for a few islands the rivewr and fish are all in one place. Hence the bears appear to be concentrated. Where as the K1 river has many different channels and sloiughs to hold fish. The K1 river has a multitude more places for bears to fish and those places change with the water level. There may very well be more fish on the K1 river but being oin the right place at the right time is harder than at N1. All that being said the K1 river has massive runs of red salmon every year, large king salmon runs and sometimes massive chum runs. And since the Board of Game opened the bear season 10 days earlier, I consider both rivers and camps as pretty much equals on any given year. With the K1 river maybe being better on an odd numbered year and maybe, just maybe the N1 river better on even numbered years. And finally, the bottom line for any year is the numbers of fish that get up the river (more is best) and the water level (low is best).

2008 Alaska Brown Bear Hunt Results

Zelinkski brown bear 08 Martin Spring 08 Brown Bear Mark_Smith_brown_bear08 Hunter_Vermillion_brown_bear08

2008 Spring Brown Bear Narrative

We had 3 hunters. One hunter, Ted Martin, at the cabin on the lake got an 8+ bear a couple of miles behind the cabin. The other two hunters were further north at a camp between 2 lakes. Ted's friend, Billy Ray, turned down a bear early on and never got a shot at another one. We missed seeing the tracks of a 10 footer one day and he was long gone by the time we did see them. He was one of the only bears to lay tracks down low, most were high. Tom Owen saw at least 6 bears and moved on 3. The snow conditions were good and the weather decent. Maybe too good. The bears stayed up high on the peaks or rapidly went there. We stopped about 150 yards short of one bear down in the timber that we didn't know was there until we saw him 300 yards up on the mountain and running up. 2 other bears had been close by recently. Never saw them. We watched 1 bear we had moved on for several days. Each time he made a move down a chute, we moved to intercept only to see him back at the top later on.

We had hunted the area we camped in many times before but had used it primarily as a day hunt from the cabin. We have adjusted our hunt plan accordingly to give us a better chance throughout the area.

If we had some hunters later in the season, I believe we would have done excellent as the weather warmed and the snow softened.

2008 Fall Brown Bear Results Narrative

As with the fall moose season, the weather was warm, no frost, a lot of fog and drizzle. We killed 5 bears. 4 bears were taken on the river from the boat. 2 of the bears were taken the first hunting day. 2 bear hunters were moved to the river and shot bears with in 24 hours. One bear died on the mountain side and rolled down and hit the boat.

2009 Brown Bear Narrative

We did not have any spring bear hunters. The fall hunters enjoyed an earlier than ever brown bear season which now opens Sept. 1, even before moose season opens. We went in and set up camp early and began setting up new spike camps sites near new ground blinds and new tree stands. Everything was looking great. I fully expected 4 bears to hit the dirt on the first day and surely by day 2. Before the hunters arrived, we saw 8 brown bears including some big ones from the boat landing. They were on the bank looking for fish and several were seen crossing the river. Some during the middle of the day. We had to stop the boat to keep from hitting one bear on our way back to camp one evening. Several bears were feeding 50 yards from the boat landing and we set up a blind there. The Commercial Fish Division let the comm. fish boys catch too many red salmon. The reds were there and the silvers were late but they were not there in the numbers they usually are. There was no doubt the escapement numbers were way down. The bears were actually cleaning out some of the fishing holes and traveling more between fishing holes. That was not really a big concern but it did eliminate some spots. The river was dropping rapidly since it had not rained but 1 morning since we arrived 2 weeks before. The day before opening day the 2 bear only hunters arrived in Koliganek and went to camp. The bear and moose combo hunters got to Dillingham and then had to wait until 5 pm the next day to get their luggage from Penair who left it in Anchorage for at least 3 more flights. This put me and them getting to Koliganek late in the day and in to camp just before dark. The bear only hunters had waited as long as they could and were waiting to leave for their spike camps upriver when we arrived. They did their best but the bottom line was they were with the wrong guides going to the wrong camps, with the wrong boats and there was no time left to switch. Thanks Penair them sorry FKS. That evening the winds shifted 180 degrees and all the camps were now up wind and a 2 day blow of wind and rain ensued. Some of our best locations were ruined after that. The bears were still there. They just didn’t come out of the woods where we were set up in range. The 2 bear only hunters saw and could have shot bears, they just didn’t see the size bear they wanted. The first 2 days of rain had opened up the back river channels but we were back to low water and no rain after that. Eventually we had to forgo the back channels or walk them from the main river. That didn’t help. The moose & bear combo guys both shot at bears. One guy was a pistol hunter and he missed a bear twice at 44 yards. The bear jumped in the river, grabbed a fish, and stood on the bank fish in mouth. The hunter shot and the bear jumped into the willows. 2 minutes later he came out looking for the fish he dropped. The hunter shot again and missed again. And 5 minutes before that; a big bear was walking our side of the bank 35 yards away behind one over hanging bush. We were laying on the bank next to the water. When I leaned back and pointed to the bear; the hunter looked past the bush and saw the other bear 250 yards down stream. He moved around getting settled for that far off bear and spooked the one that was going to walk right by us. Later on he hunted his moose kill site which was being hit by a decent size bear. The problem was there was no way we could approach the kill site on our quiet trail with out getting busted by the wind. The bear was coming in after dark and leaving when we would walk in the morning. We probably could have gotten him sooner or later but we ran out of time.

The other hunter saw several bears including one that was at the bottom of the tree stand ladder looking up at him. At another tree stand he shot at a monster. The bear had come out where we figured and was fishing in the right spot. He came out of the water and was climbing the steep cut bank after catching the second fish and the hunter shot. Missed? Could not find any sign. The hunter killed his moose the last day of his hunt so we could not hunt his kill.

Our last bear hunter flew in to a spike camp Sept. 23. He was a day late getting there. By the time he showed up we had seen several bears from camp. With in and hour and a half of his arrival we saw a nice big one 400 yards from camp feeding along a creek. He could not pursue the bear because you can’t hunt same day airborne. The first hunting day turned up nothing of great interest but we did get some snow squalls and fresh tracking snow. The second day he shot a 7-1/2 footer at 100 yards and only 400 yards from camp. He was afraid to wait for a bigger one and risk not getting one. It was his money and his decision. It worked for him.

Conclusion. 2010 is another pink salmon run year like 2008. It should be excellent bear hunting early and late in the season. The Board of Game has opened the season earlier and they want us to kill bears; of all legal sizes. So do the area natives. I have lowered the prices to encourage brown bear hunters. We now have a very cheap base rate with a minimal kill fee not based on size. And the prices are even lower to encourage hunts later in the season. We have been “running out” of bear clients at the end of moose season the last few years. In the past when bear season opened 20 days later we always did excellent. A lot of the bears were out on the open tundra and they were fairly easy to spot and stalk. Plus we had some moose kills to watch. And for 2010 the later hunts are priced even better. Along the river, we are going to have more spike camps near bear hunting tree stands and blinds set up set up for 2010. And ways to approach them when the wind shifts like it did this year. The idea of the nearby spike camp is to be close enough you can hunt before and after daylight with out having to run a boat to get there. The camps are far enough away but close enough to walk to the hunting area. I fully expect the 2010 to be as good or better than the 2008 season and I expect the bear hunters to tag out in the first day or 2.

If you are considering a moose and brown bear combination hunt; look at the prices this way; You can hunt both animals, you are paying for a moose hunt with a kill fee on the bear, or, second animal. So basically the option to add a bear is free and you pay a kill fee if successful. It is not priced as buy a cheap bear hunt and then add a cheap moose kill fee.

2007 Alaska Brown Bear Hunt Results

We had no 2007 Spring brown bear hunters, but the 4 Fall hunters took 3 moose and 2 brown bears.brad carroll alaska brown bear | Buck Carroll 2007 Bear

2007 Alaska Brown Bear Hunt Results Narrative

We did not hunt spring Alaska brown bear in 2007. All of the K1 hunters were moose and brown bear combo hunters. We did not have any brown bear hunters at the new non-permit moose hunting area but they did see some dandies while moose hunting. At the K1 camp along the river system in the permit area we had 4 hunters take 3 moose. Two 62" and one 59”. The one unsuccessful hunter got on more moose (moose answered calls) but only got a wolf. We got 2 brown bears. One was 9 foot 6 inches with a 26 1/4 inch skull and the other was 8 foot with a 24 + inch skull. One hunter took his moose the last night and it took us until the next morning to butcher and hang the moose and the next day to get it out to camp, so he didn't get to hunt bear except the last night. The other hunter hunted a moose and bear kill site the 16th and the morning of the 17th before leaving camp. A huge bear, as big as the 9' 6" bear, was feeding on the carcass. We heard him fighting with another bear/s while we were working on the midnight moose. I think he killed them about 300 yards from the moose bear kill site. At least the ravens indicated so. We never saw the other big bear. We figured he was nocturnal but it may have been he was on the other kill site and time ran out before we figured it out completely. The night of the 16th he got a huge male wolf, blondish with some black, while sitting at the kill site. No one will ever forget the bears roaring that night. In my 32 years in Alaska hunting brown bear, I never heard anything like it or as loud. And we were 1.2 miles away! -- top

2006 Hunt Results

Spring hunt yielded a 8 footer and a near 9 footer in the Fall.

2005 Alaska Brown Bear Hunt Results

The spring started out early and we were there. The weather was nice and snow conditions decent. We found a den where the brown bear had come out but had not left. We kept an eye on it for about 2 days then found an 8 foot + browny about 4 miles behind the cabin and got him at 175 yards. The next hunter came in and we got on the brown bear that left the den. He was looking for moose and we followed the tracks. We got on the brown bear 3 times. He was over 8 1/2 foot according to the tracks.

The judging and shot time the client needed combined with a snow machine wreck ended the hunt before the bear got dead. The third client arrived and we tried to pick up that brown bear's tracks again and 2 other bears we had seen the night before chasing one another. The wind blew hard from the north for 6 days. The snow got rock hard and the bears were not coming out of the dens, the ones that were out held up in the timber. We saw where 3 bears had dug new dens to wait out the cold. There were no fresh tracks in the rock hard snow. When the weather changed it went from bad to worse. 60-100 MPH winds from the south with lots of rain. The snow crust rotted 6 feet deep making it tough to ride very far or fast. The lake ice shattered making it unsafe and traveling around it through the mountains was marginal even for a good rider. For 2006; I am renting two cabins on some other lakes that should move the whole operation to a more centralized location with better access to more of our guide use areas.

The Fall hunt was much better even if the weather wasn't. This was the first year that we could hunt moose and bear at the same time during the seasons overlap of 6 days. Some of the moose hunters changed to moose and bear. We ended up with 7 moose and 6 bears. On opening day 1 bear was taken from a tree stand at a salmon fishing hole at K1. At the K2 spike camp, 1 brown bear was taken from a tree stand over a moose gut pile. A day or so later we got another bear at K1 from a ground blind at a moose kill. Eventually the King Salmon camp got 2 bears out on the tundra eating berries. K1 got another brown bear on a moose gut pile about the 16th after hunting several mornings and evenings. The rain and high water hurt us hunting the salmon fishing holes by eliminating several good spots. 2 guys should have shot bears but didn't have the patience to wait and sit. 7 moose and 5 bears were taken in an 11 day period. Not bad, considering the wind and rain we had to deal with. I expect the moose + brown bear combination to be the big seller for 2006 and it shows signs of being booked early. -- top

2004 Alaska Brown Bear Hunt Results

5 Spring brown bear hunters took 4 bears. The fall was the worst season ever. 6 hunters total took one bear the first day. The bears seen didn't get shot and the bears shot at didn't get hit. The unique thing about fall 2004 was the extremely low (never been lower) water level. Typically I like dropping water levels during the fall bear season. That keeps the bears on the salmon streams longer. High water will blow the dying fish down river and the bears will go to the open tundra for berries. The combination of record numbers of fish still on the river and the dry summer with fewer berries kept almost all the bears in the brush and timber along the river. We were there and so were they, lots of them. But! They went mostly nocturnal. We had a full moon. BUT! It was going down with the sun. Sunrise and sunset are usually the prime times for bears on fish. With any extra moonlight we can hunt after dark. What if it happens again? I do not think it will happen to this extreme any time soon but if it did we would change tactics sooner. Calling, staying through mid day on the streams and stalking in the brush along with re-locating upland hunters and working the moose kill sites more aggressively. (Which is exactly what we successfully did in 2005). -- top

2003 Alaska Brown Bear Hunt Results

Thanks to the impending war with Iraq, I only booked one spring hunter. The hunter agreed to a new deal for the fall hunt. The hunters that I would normally get in the spring booked for the fall season. Instead of the usual 2-3 fall hunters I had 7 fall hunters. Five of the seven hunters got bears. 3 of the fall hunters were brown bear, moose and caribou combination hunters and they all got bears. 3 bears were taken on the first day including the spring hunter that rebooked for the fall. 2 bears were taken at the K1 jet boat base camp opening day within 1/2 mile from camp. 2 bears were taken at the new KS bear hunting jet boat base camp. The K2 fly in base camp only got 1 bear. That was rare. Usually K2 gets more Alaska brown bears than anywhere else. Of the 2 unsuccessful hunters one elected to leave 3 days early due to a large impending storm. The (last) other hunter arrived just before the storm. He tried hard but the weather never gave him much of a break. You can't find them and shoot them if you can't see them. We had rain, wind and fog practically the whole time. -- top

2002 Alaska Brown Bear Hunt Results

Nine spring hunters took eight brown bears; one 10 foot, three 9 foot, three 8 1/2 - 9 foot, and one 7 1/2 foot. Four hunters shot their brown bears the first day. The one hunter that did not kill a brown bear had plenty of chances to take bears in the 8- 9+ foot range. He had a self-imposed minimum size limit. He chased 2 that got away. Plus, we got three fall brown bears - 8 foot; 8 1/2 foot; and 9 1/2+ foot, with a 27 1/2" skull. -- top

Enjoy our photos of BIG brown bears from spring and fall hunts!!!

Phils brown bear | Smokeys grizzly bear | Larry Fenton 10 foot brown bear |

Smokey Don Duncan, Owner, Master Guide #136 and P.H.
299 Alvin St. Fairbanks AK 99712
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Email: apgs@gci.net

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