Grizzly Bear Hunt 2019

[6mm Remington]

How can that be? You did not use a whiz bang super blaster? Oh, the blasphemy!

I hit him perfectly tight behind the shoulder in the lungs. He spun 180 degrees into the shot and in one fluid motion did two somersaults and that was it. He was done and never moved an inch after that. The bullet mushroomed nicely and exited the off-side leaving a nice exit wound.

 

[ashersdad]

Dream hunt right there. Congratulations on a beautiful bear! Looks like a great adventure.

 

[6mm Remington]

This guy was awesome! He looked like he was having a really bad day and wanted to take it out on someone. You're not in Kansas any longer Dorothy!

 

[6mm Remington]

How cool is this guy? Made me truly realize just how far NORTH I was hunting! Guess were not in Kansas any longer Dorothy.

 

[mdeerjunkie]

How cool is this guy? Made me truly realize just how far NORTH I was hunting! Guess were not in Kansas any longer Dorothy.

View attachment 125826

That’s super cool, hope I get to see one of those on day!
Congrats on the great hunt and amazing bear.

 

[Crumb]

Congrats, looks like a great hunt!!

 

[6mm Remington]

I hunted with Ovis Outfitters out of Wasilla Alaska. A husband and wife team that are just fantastic people. Originally came from Montana so you know they can't be half bad. The outfitter told me that for 5 weeks straight it had been clouds and rain, sometimes snow for all of that time. It continued on my hunt. The first day after being dropped at spike camp with my guide out in the middle of nowhere on the North side of the Brooks Range, we set the tent up as quickly as we could and got all of our gear stashed inside and got warmed up and dry. The rain continued and visibility was very poor.

The next day same thing. We couldn't see 50 yards at times. Had to hunker down in the tent for the whole day. So goes the first day of hunting. The next day it was still raining, but not hard, and we could see half a mile at times or more so I just had to get out. My guide was also excited to go.
We went up on a ridge above spike camp to an area where the outfitter had suggested would be a good spot to glass from. We sat there glassing for a long time without seeing anything.

Not wanting to spread our scent around, but wanting to at least glass the back side of the ridge, we worked our way up over the top so we could see into the next drainage which was a huge canyon. We worked our way slowly down the ridge on the other side glassing as we went. We got down the ridge maybe half a mile from camp when we found a fantastic spot to glass from. We had not been there for very long when all of a sudden about 300 yards away a grizzly bear just materialized out of the fog. He was feeding along on roots on the other side of the creek. We had the wind in our advantage, we were above the bear, and he had no idea we were there.

We closed the distance to 158 yards and I got set up with my rifle laying on top of a pack. Had to wait what seemed like hours, but was roughly 5 minutes before the bear fed in a position where he was perfectly broadside. I held tight against his shoulder and shot. He spun around, did two somersaults, and that was it. Never moved again. My bear was absolutely gorgeous. I could not be happier with him.

I had a great time on my trip. It was for me the hunt of a lifetime. I almost got a wolf a few days later, but that's another story. Days later back at base camp I got to fish for Arctic char and graying. It was fantastic and the cook at the base camp was amazing. I highly recommend these folks if someone wants to hunt of fish in Alaska.

David

 

[6mm Remington]

P.S. - I did a review/evaluation on Ovis Outfitters in a another section if anyone is looking for an adventure of a lifetime. Wonderful folks, husband and wife, that make up the head of that team. Great people.

 

[Sask hunter]

Congrats!! Dream animal for me

 

[6mm Remington]

I forgot to mention in my description something that you northern folks in Alaska and Canada can attest to is the tundra. Oh my it can be fun. A lot of it was what I can only describe as walking on soft ground that has a really soft 4" thick sponge on top. It seems with every step that it sucks the forward thrust out of your legs. It really takes a lot of energy to walk on the stuff for any real distances. Kind of like walking on a really soft sandy beach.

Oh and that fails to speak to the tussocks! Oh my those who have never walked in them you are in for a treat. Think patches of grass and roots sitting on top of an area maybe a foot in diameter, some bigger, some smaller. Make those about knee high on the top. Now there will be open areas in between one tussock to the next and this distance will never be the same from on tussock to another. Then throw in the fact that they grow randomly as you would expect, and there is no straight "rows" of tussocks, nothing like that!

Now also you need to know that they may or may not support your body weight if you try and maneuver through them by stepping from one tussock to the next. Not recommended at least not as far as I could see. These things will support you mostly, but they roll and rock with your body weight in any direction possible. That mostly just depends on what side of your foot has the most body weight on it. Yes you can really take a tumble or twist an ankle. The "easiest" way to go through them I think was to try and step over them and sort of go around them at the same time. Kind of like walking in deep crusted snow that comes up to your knees. Throw in the fact that you might try to walk in a straight line towards a distant desired location, but know that this line will be anything but straight. If could track your course it would look like an extremely intoxicated person trying to walk in a straight line. You might as well just accept the fact that 1.5 mile away spot where you last spotted a wolf will take you at least 2 miles of real travel to reach your destination.

Oh my what fun but you know what, it was all part of the journey and the adventure!

 

[Salmonchaser]

I always describe the “Line” on a tundra hike as a drunken surveyor following a three legged coyote.

 

[6mm Remington]

I always describe the “Line” on a tundra hike as a drunken surveyor following a three legged coyote.

That too is an awesome description! Both combined might do the description justice!!

 

[6mm Remington]

I just have to tell this part of the adventure too since I made it pretty brief. Before my father passed away in 2012 he told me that he wanted me to do something just for me. Dad said I always to for my wife, kids, and never for me. He wanted me to do something special, something like a guided hunt even. He made me promise to do something.

Fast forward a few years and I actually started talking about going on a grizzly bear hunt, and a friend of mine down here was interested in doing a trip with me. He wanted a grizzly bear and a Fannin ram from the Yukon, or maybe a ram in Alaska. It didn't look like that would pan out for us at least not this year. I had contacted this friend because he's been fortunate to hunt many different locations to include Alaska already, and I was hoping he might help me find a guide. So this year didn't look like it was going to happen and we would see if we could make 2020 work.

Then this other tag was issued by the F&G at the last minute and the outfitter dropped the price of the hunt by $2500.00 hoping they could get someone to get the tag and book a hunt. Then Emily Thoft called and told me about this extra tag. She helped me fax off my application and an hour later she called and told me I had the tag and was going grizzly bear hunting in August! I was so excited, afraid, nervous about spending this money, wishing my father could hear this, and lots of other things. I started crying on the phone talking to Emily, well a little bit, maybe just had dirt in my eye or something. Anyway I got my composure back after a couple minutes. That's how special this was to me.

Okay fast forward a few months and I get this beautiful bear and I am happy that I made a nice quick clean kill on this wonderful animal. After he dropped my guide told me to just watch him a few minutes to make sure he's done. I was still watching 5 minutes later, and once again I had a couple eyes with leaks in them all over again. I was pretty emotional but I was not so emotional that would miss an opportunity that begged to be taken. My Guide Mike Lettis had by now relaxed and was sure my bear was done. He was giving me a few minutes I suspect and was looking around and not paying any attention. I got this idea and I shouted out all of a sudden as Mike was looking the other way, "Mike he's up he's running!" Mike spun around so fast thinking my bear was getting away. I started laughing, it was the funniest thing. He said, "You got me on that one!"

I just had to add that part as it's all part of the memory. Man what an adventure!

 

[Sytes]

Pretty awesome! Sounds like a whirlwind that resulted in perfect harmony.

 

[sneakypete]

Great hunt and one awesome bear. Congrats!

 

[BearFoot]

Well done, Grizz adventure, grayling & char! Nice write up on the tundra walk-about. Good stuff

 

[MT_elk]

Congrats on a great adventure and a great bear!

 

[C Bow]

Awesome thanks for sharing I was hoping you got him with a 6mm

 

[rustednuts]

Awesome hunt!

 

[6mm Remington]

Awesome thanks for sharing I was hoping you got him with a 6mm

My outfitter may have frowned on that just a wee bit. Quite a few years ago I got to meet an older gentleman locally in his home. He had two beautiful grizzly bears on his wall, and both of these came from the Bob Marshall Wilderness in Montana before they stopped the hunting of grizzly bears to get the populations back up. BOTH of these bears were taken with a 6mm Remington! I don't remember the exact details as it's been so long, but I seem to remember that he got each bear with one shot. Bullet placement, bullet placement, bullet placement. Pretty cool stuff.