"DIY" bear hunt costs

[Mallardsx2]

My wife and I are heading up to hunt in May.

Lots of people are asking me what I have invested in the trip.

We are looking to be right at 4500$/each. That is an unguided Black bear hunt.

Boat
Lodging
Tags
Licenses
Airfare
food

It will probably be the only time we ever do it due to the costs.

Will post up pictures when I get back.

 

[Hannibal]

My wife and I are heading up to hunt in May.

Lots of people are asking me what I have invested in the trip.

We are looking to be right at 4500$/each. That is an unguided Black bear hunt.

Boat
Lodging
Tags
Licenses
Airfare
food

It will probably be the only time we ever do it due to the costs.

Will post up pictures when I get back.

Just curious. Why spend such a substantial amount of money for an unguided spring black bear hunt in Alaska when Idaho or Montana offer essentially the same opportunities for significantly less money? There are areas in Idaho where spring black bears can be hunted by boat, if you prefer to hunt by that method.

 

[LCH]

Good luck on your trip.. I'm estimating around 3k for me, plus baggage (hopefully) for meat/hide, and that's sleeping in the rental truck. No real cheap way to do it.

 

[Mallardsx2]

Wife wanted to hunt Alaska. And we get to catch fish while we are there.

 

[UncleRick]

My i ask what unit you are hunting?

 

[cfree]

Does anyone have a breakdown on the estimated cost for each item? Been researching and trying to make an accurate spreadsheet. Right now it ranges from about $2500 to $3200 with various options. Just wondering if I am missing something critical or unforeseen.

 

[Mallardsx2]

I'll be hunting DL030 unit.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I have a POW hunt on the books for 2019 (DL028)
I'm playing on going with my father-n-law who will be fishing not hunting.

Estimates
Airfare $600 (Companion fair for my FL so ~ $20 for him)
Transport to Camp on POW $1400
Boat rental and some heavy gear I don't want to have fly out with $1800
Tags ~$600
Looking at about $2200 per person.

As a backup plan in case I didn't draw a POW tag I had a hunt planned in the Chugach...
Airfair $0 with Alaska airlines card
Tags $160 license + $450 bear tag
Rental car ~$300

I think if you don't count food, you backpack camp (and go ultra light), you get the Alaska airlines card, and you hunt off the road system you could probably do the hunt for around 1k.

Hannibal, I have killed bears in both MT and ID and they aren't really comparable to SE AK... I mean I guess if you are road hunting both or you only care about killing a bear than maybe yeah... but it's kind like saying hey you can go to Chicago why would you want to go to Madrid or Vienna.

 

[npaden]

When I did this with another guy on Hunttalk in 2016 we came in quite a bit lower than that, I want to say $1,500 each or so.

This year I'm going back with a buddy and we are looking a breakdown like this:

Tags - Approx $600 each
Airfare to Ketchikan - approx $600 each
Ferry from Ketchikan to POW - approx $100 each

Hotel in Ketchikan $160
Pickup Rental + fuel - $1,000
A place to stay on POW - $1,000

So looking at $2,400 per person.

Now if we tag early we will do a charter fishing day - $600ish total
Price to have taxidermist flesh and dry bear - $200ish per bear
extra baggage to ship home bear/fish - $250 - $500

So potentially another $1,000ish per hunter if we are both successful and go fishing for a day.

Also if we end up unhappy with what we are seeing via logging roads, we may rent a skiff and that would be another $250ish per day.

As mentioned you can do it cheaper if you work at it a bit. You can save on airfare and luggage fees with an Alaska Airlines credit card. I also don't count meals as I would be eating whether I was home or away. The grocery store at POW is not much more expensive than anywhere IME.

 

[LCH]

When I did this with another guy on Hunttalk in 2016 we came in quite a bit lower than that, I want to say $1,500 each or so.

This year I'm going back with a buddy and we are looking a breakdown like this:

Tags - Approx $600 each
Airfare to Ketchikan - approx $600 each
Ferry from Ketchikan to POW - approx $100 each

Hotel in Ketchikan $160
Pickup Rental + fuel - $1,000
A place to stay on POW - $1,000

So looking at $2,400 per person.

Now if we tag early we will do a charter fishing day - $600ish total
Price to have taxidermist flesh and dry bear - $200ish per bear
extra baggage to ship home bear/fish - $250 - $500

So potentially another $1,000ish per hunter if we are both successful and go fishing for a day.

Also if we end up unhappy with what we are seeing via logging roads, we may rent a skiff and that would be another $250ish per day.

As mentioned you can do it cheaper if you work at it a bit. You can save on airfare and luggage fees with an Alaska Airlines credit card. I also don't count meals as I would be eating whether I was home or away. The grocery store at POW is not much more expensive than anywhere IME.

Your breakdown looks similar to mine, except I plan on taking the float plane over to POW and bearing the cost of the vehicle solo. I'm also going for 10 days, which ups the truck $$ a bit.

Did you hunt off the road system last time?

 

[npaden]

Your breakdown looks similar to mine, except I plan on taking the float plane over to POW and bearing the cost of the vehicle solo. I'm also going for 10 days, which ups the truck $$ a bit.

Did you hunt off the road system last time?

Yes, we saw bears every day. Did some walking on logging roads as well as just driving. Also looking out on some inlet areas. You can burn through some gas just driving around getting from one place to the other. When we were there gas was about $1 per gallon higher than the lower 48. Lots of daylight hours, more daylight than you can hunt which takes some getting used to. VERY thick stuff.

 

[LCH]

Yes, we saw bears every day. Did some walking on logging roads as well as just driving. Also looking out on some inlet areas. You can burn through some gas just driving around getting from one place to the other. When we were there gas was about $1 per gallon higher than the lower 48. Lots of daylight hours, more daylight than you can hunt which takes some getting used to. VERY thick stuff.

Thanks, that's encouraging to hear! Good luck on your hunt.

 

[----]

When I did this with another guy on Hunttalk in 2016 we came in quite a bit lower than that, I want to say $1,500 each or so.

This year I'm going back with a buddy and we are looking a breakdown like this:

Tags - Approx $600 each
Airfare to Ketchikan - approx $600 each
Ferry from Ketchikan to POW - approx $100 each

Hotel in Ketchikan $160
Pickup Rental + fuel - $1,000
A place to stay on POW - $1,000

So looking at $2,400 per person.

Now if we tag early we will do a charter fishing day - $600ish total
Price to have taxidermist flesh and dry bear - $200ish per bear
extra baggage to ship home bear/fish - $250 - $500

So potentially another $1,000ish per hunter if we are both successful and go fishing for a day.

Also if we end up unhappy with what we are seeing via logging roads, we may rent a skiff and that would be another $250ish per day.

As mentioned you can do it cheaper if you work at it a bit. You can save on airfare and luggage fees with an Alaska Airlines credit card. I also don't count meals as I would be eating whether I was home or away. The grocery store at POW is not much more expensive than anywhere IME.

That's the numbers I remember too, and real close to what we're looking at this year also. We save a bit on airfare and baggage living so much closer.

We're only paying $175 per person on lodging also. We'll see if my dad's back is still okay with that on days 8-9.

The tag increase adds a couple hundred bucks. Taking the fishing charter added quite a bit too, but man that freezer full of fish was great.

It's as cheap of an Alaskan adventure as you'll find. Comparing hunting bears in SE Alaska to Idaho and Montana is like turning down tickets to the World Series because you watched your nephew's little league game.

Good luck to all of you guys going up there this year. It's a fun hunt.

 

[cfree]

That's generally what we are looking at for next spring. Planning on hunting 9 days with a day of travel on either end. One hangup we have is whether to get a hotel in Ketchikan for a night(as I think our flight in will arrive about 30 minutes after the ferry has left), or get a flight to the island. Looks like the hotel and roundtrip ferry ride/truck ride will be about 7 hours each way to where we are going and about $180 each ($100 for the ferry, $80 for the hotel). Seems much easier to take a 50 minute flight to our destination on the island for $280 roundtrip depending on what they charge for extra baggage on the way back. Anyone have experience with those fights and their fees? We seriously can't wait!

 

[npaden]

I've thought about flying over with Taquan Air and then coming back on the ferry. If you are successful I think the baggage fees on the flight back would be pretty excessive.

They don't have scheduled flights on Sunday though and I get in too late on Saturday to make their scheduled flight.

Their baggage allowance is only 40 pounds and that includes your carry on.

Passengers are limited to forty (40) pounds of luggage, including “carry-on” items. All
items are weighed at check-in. Passengers may carry small or fragile items to the
aircraft prior to boarding. However, all items must be stowed by the pilot in the
appropriate cargo compartments.

http://www.taquanair.com/images/page_elements/TermsAndAgreements.pdf

The ferry lets you push/pull/roll as much crap as you can get up the ramp and onto the boat. You could see several folks who had obviously been in Ketchikan shopping and coming back with multiple carts of stuff. All for the one low price of $50 each way.

The timing doesn't work that great going over though. I'll be killing about 8 hours in Ketchikan on Sunday morning. Last time I did a half day charter but the fishing in Ketchikan isn't as good as it was out of Craig and cost a little more as well. Not sure what I'm going to do to kill time this go round.

 

[muskeg]

Lots of people travel from Ktn jetport to Klawock on Island Air Express ... they meet the jet schedule and are IFR, so can fly in weather and darkness. But you will need to arrange transportation from Klawock airport.

Expect extra baggage fees when flying on Island Air or one the float plane companies.

'For reasons of safety each passenger is limited to 45 lbs. of baggage. Excess baggage is subject to a charge of $.75 cents per pound per flight (roundtrips = 2 flights). Excess baggage is on a space available basis and may travel on a later flight.'