Alaska Black Bear - Part II

[stillkickin]

Randy, Unbelievable tale........truly the hunt of a lifetime. I think Theodore Roosevelt summed up your experience in this famous speech.


THE MAN IN THE ARENA
Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic", delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.




My hat is off to you Troy and Joe, thanks for sharing the story....

 

[photofin]

Pics

Randy did his part in telling the story. Here are a few more pics to share of the trip. Great trip...and it will make a great episode.

 

[noharleyyet]

That Yeti cooler must be empty...takes 4 to carry a loaded one.....on level ground.

 

[Lawnboy]

That Yeti cooler must be empty...takes 4 to carry a loaded one.....on level ground.

Randy loads them full and your right they are heavy buggers. They keep ice forever though.

Troy are you still peeing in your platypus bag? Sicko!

 

[photofin]

yeah but don't tell randy. The water there was definitely a bit off color....so nobody noticed.

 

[Bigfalls32]

I just want to tell everyone that wasn't there how professional Randy and especially Troy was on this adventure. I really had no idea what I was getting myself into by agreeing to this trip of a lifetime! I told Randy that if Troy could make me look somewhat intelligent that it would be his greatest feat to date.
I have not seen the footage but I know if there is a chance for me to shine it would because of Troy and Randy!
I have had a hard time expressing in words how great the trip was and how great Troy and Randy were and are. Randy is and always has been jovial, and always the life of the party! Troy is the consument professional but at the sametime is alot of fun and is able to give advice to a beginner and a non-actor. I will ALWAYS cherish the time I spent with both in SE Alaska!
What an Adventure!
Joe

 

[Bigfalls32]

I just want to reiterate Randy on the products we used. The Primus omni-fuel container was Awesome! Less than 2 minutes to have boiling water! The Howa rifles were great! My .308 with the Luepold scope was unbelievable!

 

[Big Fin]

I just got the first draft of Part II of this episode. The part where I hit and we do not recover the bear.

Watching this on the big screen for the first time, I cannot understand how that bear got away. The point of impact is right on the front shoulder joint, maybe high, if anything, rather than low as we first thought when looking through the little viewfinder. He was smoked hard. Given how a bear's vitals are lower in the chest, I may have missed hitting vitals, going just above them, but below the spine. If not for that big rock in my way, a follow up shot would have ended the gig.

Did not realize I was that demoralized on camera. Think we might have to take some of that out, as to prevent guys from going into depression.

I like this one very much. Not because of the bear getting away - still bumming about that. I like it because we are taking a topic other shows hide. We are taking it head on.

I think we do a really good job of showing how hard we searched, the jungle we were crawling through, the emotions I was going through, and the many other powerful images that come with an event such as this.

Too bad it won't air until July. Seeing images of that many big bears would give a lot of guys "bear fever" come about April 1. Kind of shaking my head as to why I passed that big bear. He looks really big on camera. The one I shot is no slouch, either.

This is always the fun time of year, when the work of the previous hunts gets turned into a finished product. Still a lot of fine tuning for this one, but it will be one of our best episodes.

Have a college graduation to attend this May, so no AK bear this year. But from 2013, until they plant me in the ground, I will be hunting bears on the islands of SE Alaska.

 

[Big Fin]

Well, this one is finished and ready for network delivery. It was my greatest hope that we would capture on film all that I felt when I wrote posts #114 and #115. I have watched the final cut four times and I think this might be the most powerful episode that OYOA has ever produced.

We have hid nothing. If anything, I wish we had more than the normal half hour, as it is hard to compress this message into that half hour slot.

I am sure many of you will see the shot and wonder as I have, "How did that bear not die immediately." Still a mystery to me, but a mystery that will probably never be solved.

Can't thank Joe, Troy, and Jim enough. And for the couple guys who gave me their honest feedback on an episode such as this.

I am opening myself to a ton of criticism. I know there will be the complaint that I blew the shot, that I did not keep looking until the snow came in October, that I should have gotten closer, that ..........

That is fine. That comes with the territory.

I hope the majority of comments will come from those who have more understanding of the message and why I feel so strongly that we show this message. From those who realize that we didn't just edit that out and pretend it didn't happen. That we shared a very difficult side of hunting when I would have preferred it never have happened in the first place.

This one will be toward the front of the roll order for Season Four.

 

[rmyoung1]

Randy, good for you for being honest about stuff that happens in the field in a fair chase environment. That's a part of the deal even for the ethical hunter who tries his best. Thanks for being willing to show it. Just another thing I like about the show and the OYOA message.

 

[BuzzH]

I cant wait for the episode to run...and to see what comments will come up.

All I have to say is anyone that has never shot and lost an animal is one of these three:

1. A person that doesnt hunt much, if at all.

2. Very lucky.

3. A liar.

It happens, and I've been in that ( figurative) boat with Fin...

 

[KRS]

If anything, I wish we had more than the normal half hour, as it is hard to compress this message into that half hour slot.

Can you sell a DVD with the extended version? Include all that you want to along with pics, etc.?

I've been in THAT cabin, done THAT hunt, do-it-yourself, with 2 other buddies. It's a butt-kicker. We were dropped off for 6 days.

Keith

 

[THWAK1]

After reading this entire thread, all I have to say Randy, is that it happens. It sucks. Sounds like you did everything an ethical person could and I look forward to seeing this episode on TV.

I've been contemplating doing a thread on my dads bear hunt this spring, and I think this thread has helped me make up my mind. We'll see.