Back From P.O.W. Hunt

[HONDO]

Spent seven great days on Prince of Wales Island. It was awesome. The hunting was a little slower than I thought it would be. We saw a total of fourteen bears during our seven days. All but three were sows with cubs. I ended up taking a pretty good bear that had some blue in his hide, I know there are some glacier bears on the island which would explain that. My uncle took a really nice bear. The taxidermist that we left our hides with thought that my bear would score around 18" and that my uncles might push 20". We caught a bunch of crab and some shrimp and of course some coho. I rented a cabin from boathunter. His deal includes the use of a 16ft. skiff, 4x4 vehicle and crab and shrimp pots. I found him and his entire family very friendly and willing to help with anything. His wife even checks for laundry that needs to be done. What a great experience, I will certainly be going back to hunt those bears again. My picture is on the bottom.

 

[Elkhunter]

Sounds like a great time and congrats on some nice bear.

 

[jkhunterid]

Congrats on the hunt.

 

[csutton7]

good job...chris

 

[DavidAk]

Congratulations...

What did Skip say about the blue in your bear's hide?

 

[Moosie]

And our IdahoFalls bear hunter Scores again !!!!

Kudos buddy, those are some nice bear and sounds like a Fun time. Once on a Hunting trip I caught craps and It took 2 weeks to clear it up. See your doctor right away ...

 

[HONDO]

David, Skip said that it was uncommon to see bears from the east side of the island to have any color like that, but that it is not unheard of. That Skip is one hell of a neat guy. He sure can talk, but it look likes he does good work. He is only sealing and salting our hides and sending them back to Idaho. We sent our skulls to a guy out of Washington that Skip recommended to have the bugs work on them.

 

[DavidAk]

I'm guessing that your skulls are being chewed on by the bugs of JJHACK...they'll turn out great.

It is very uncommon to have a blue hue to the hide, but not impossible.

Consider writing more, such as hunting tactics, calibers, and gear....if you have the time.

Congratulations again.

 

[TBinKodiak]

Nice bears, congrats. That's on my to do list in a spring or two.

 

[BW]

Congrats on the fine looking bears! A 20" skull is doing pretty good!

That Skip is one nice guy...

 

[MarvB]

Congrats on the bears Hondo....and ignore Moosie's one-liner, or tell him that he has to learn to S-P-E-L-L for them to warrant a rim shot!

 

[waterboy]

Did you hunt the clearcuts from the logging roads, or did you sit the streams? The one picture looks like the bear is in a clearcut, the other on the road. I spent some time in Thorne Bay this year and was also surprised at how tough the hunting was as well. Never did find a buck, but my buddy got a decent bear while we sat on a stream. Wife made a fine bear stew as well.

Congrats on the bears.

 

[Tom]

Crabs, you eat them! Pretty neat, congratulations! Did you see any deer?

 

[HONDO]

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you guys. Here is the story. When we got to the island I had planned on just hunting the creeks and the flats where the rivers dumped into the ocean. I had done my homework, a ton of research online, talked to multiple guys who had hunted the island, and had talked to biologists about hunting the bears on the island in the fall. For the first three days we hunted the Harris River and different areas around twelve mile arm. After three days we had seen nine bears, all sows with cubs. On day four we decided to take the skiff over to an outlet we had heard wasn't hunted during the spring because it was being logged. We had just gotten out of the boat and were unloading our gear when I heard a faint scratching sound coming from the trees around the beach. I looked up to see a black bear slowly making it's way down a pine. I yelled for my uncle who had his rifle to take the bear, for some reason he hesitated. The bear stopped at the bottom of the tree to look back at us and then took of into the forest. We concentrated our efforts on this outlet the rest of the trip. On our next to last day I wasn't even carrying a weapon when we rounded a corner on the logging road we were walking and I see a pumpkin head thirty yards off the road to our left munchin on berries. Fortunately the wind was in our face and the bear didn't know we were there. My uncle hadn't spotted the bear, so I pointed the bear out and whispered for him to take the shot NOW. Again my uncle was hesitating so after a few explitives from myself he was on the bear. I told him not so nicely to put a bullet into the bears armpit. Well at thirty yards should be a chip shot right. So after the first shot we come up to the top of the hill where we last saw the bear and the bear is about fifteen yards away, he was hurt bad but not finished so I had my uncle put one into the bears spine. Amazingly the bear rolled down the other side of the hill and onto the logging road we were walking on. After working on the bear it was getting late, and we did not want to be on the water after dark. It was decided that I would head down to the water and let my other uncle know what had happened and to keep the boat at the beach. Well on my way down to the water, I see a bear working it's way through a clearcut headed towards the logging road I am on. I don't have a weapon. So I hustle back up to where my hesitant uncle is finishing his bear and grab his 30.06, when I get back down to where I saw the bear he is on the logging road going away from me and out of sight. So I head down the road after him. When I get to the last spot I saw him he is nowhere to be found. Keep heading down the road when I look up the ridge above the logging road and see a bear standing on a stump looking at me about 130 yards uphill. Not the shot angle I want, all I can see is his head and chest, but it's all I got. The bullet entered the center of his chest and exited out the spine. The bear died right where he stood. We decided to leave my bear and get him done the next morning.

 

[HONDO]

Waterboy, I knew not to expect an easy hunt and I made sure that everyone I was taking knew that we had our work cut out for us. I wanted to concentrate on the creeks and flats where water drains into the ocean. Based on the information I got during my research this was your best chance at a trophy bear. I saw a ton of big bear sign in these areas but no big bears. I think that the boars were feeding at night, because even the sows we saw were right before dark. The clearcuts are great because they still had berries, I can't tell you how much sign we saw that was striclty berries. I wanted to get up to the alpine but it was locked in with fog the whole time we were there. I think you could find bears anywhere during the fall on POW but you have to work for it, just like any other hunting experience. Don't be afraid to try different things. When I go up again it will be in the spring. I want to shoot a bear that pushes seven and a half feet.

 

[waterboy]

Hondo

When I was there I saw a guy that had shot a nice 6.5 ft bear just off the highway near Coffman Cove. It had a melon of a head on it, not sure of the size, but easily bigger than the skulls on the 7 footers I have seen. POW has genetics of producing big skulls on moderately sized bodies. I saw lots of bear sign on the Thorne River, Sal Creek and Slide Creek. I was working while there, so we just got to hunt the evenings. We got into the alpine one evening, found a dead fawn with the hind quarters knawed pretty bad. Saw some other bear and wolf sign as well, but no deer. I wanted a deer, my buddy a bear, and thought that for sure we would bump into a bear in the clearcuts at some time, but it did not happen. We sat on a stream for 2 nights and he got a decent bear the first night. Seems like the bucks are scare till the rut. Thanks for the details. Seems like the hunt just came together.

I was a little discouraged after hearing all of the hype of POW. I was told that anyone deer were everywhere and we'd just be able to see them in the clearcuts. Going out every evening and a few mornings was not enough. Hell, we did not even see a buck in the headlights, plenty of does though.

WB

 

[sergeant B]

Hondo,
Myself and a couple of pals are going to POW next september so I was wondering if you had any do's or don'ts. We are going to be staying in Coffman Cove but will probably fly on the floatplane into Craig and rent a vehicle. I understand what you said about it not being as easy as some say to find a bear. I live in Wyoming and it really is easy to find an antelope to shoot but I prefer to have to work for it a bit. Let me know about the fishing as we will be doing some of that too.

 

[HONDO]

Sergeant B, I am headed back to P.O.W in 2007 as well. As far as going in September, you are making the right decision by flying to the island. Are you going to have a boat available? How long are you going to be on the island? Are you going for the hunting or the fishing? Do you want to hunt both deer and bear? Let me know and I will help you out the best I can.

 

[supersider34]

Great bears and sounded like you had a fun time. Keep knocking them bears down.

 

[sergeant B]

Hondo,
We are going to POW 08/31/06 to 9/7/06 and will be primarily hunting. Two of us are mostly interested in bear and the other guy in deer. We had a fourth guy but he backed out this week so instead of renting two vehicles I think we will get just one. We are going to fly on pacific air into Craig and rent the vehicle from wilderness car rental and drive to Coffman Cove. I came to the same conclusions as you in my own research about where to find the bears in the fall. The salmon streams. I talked to a guy who told me that if it rains alot and the streams blow out it will be tough to hunt as the bears almost exclusively go to berries. I'm not sure if we are going to rent a skiff or not. If we do I don't think it will be for a whole week. If you are willing I would like to call you directly to talk about the trip. If this is acceptable to you maybe you can include a phone number in your next post or email me with it at [email protected]. Thanks for the help!