Southeast Alaska Bear hunt

[dk88]

I returned from a self guided Southeast Alaska bear hunt. I went with a group of 6 and it was all of ours first trip to Southeast Alaska.

The weather was perfect on the day we arrived and proceeding to rain everyday after that. The boat I was in ended up going 3 for 3 of bears but no real monsters. The boat did a good job of getting on the halibut but did not have much luck with the bears.

In total we had 5 days of hunting with 1 day of travel on each end. The trip was absolutely amazing and a huge learning experience. The biggest lesson learned is we should have planned for a longer trip, no one wanted to leave at the end.

Thanks to all on this forum that helped, reading the previous black bear posts and watching Randy's videos was a huge help.

Here are a few pics from the trip, we were really getting use to eating fresh halibut and bear meat everyday.

 

[Hullguy]

Good catch, you really had fun. Thanks for sharing this.

 

[jejack26]

3 for 3 on bear, and they look like decent bears, great trip!

 

[ChaosOneZero]

Congratulations. Looks like y’all found plenty of precipitation, too. Thanks for sharing.

 

[brownbear932008]

Congratulations. Looks like y’all found plenty of precipitation, too. Thanks for sharing.

Pretty normal weather up there. Just gotta plan for it to rain day in and day out. Saying that we had one spring up there that we had one day and the rest were just beautiful days! I'd love to go back it's been way to long. The bear look really nice what did they measure out?

 

[dk88]

Pretty normal weather up there. Just gotta plan for it to rain day in and day out. Saying that we had one spring up there that we had one day and the rest were just beautiful days! I'd love to go back it's been way to long. The bear look really nice what did they measure out?

I should have clarified, all the bear pics are of my bear which was the largest and the best fur quality. Mine measured just under 19”.

I can’t wait to go back, the weather was not ideal for bear but when the fish didn’t seem to mind. Besides the halibut we caught a few types of rockfish and some greenling. We were covering 20-30 miles of shore line a day and only saw 2 other boats the entire time we were there which was pretty amazing.

 

[Blacktail Addiction]

Awesome trip looks like a blast! Definitely a bucket list trip for me. Awesome bear.

 

[Young Buck]

Dandy bear! I will be hunting Kupreanof May 2021. Which island were you hunting? Did you hunt all day or did you fish in the mornings and then hunt? Im guessing tide flats at low tide in the afternoon were a target for you?

 

[dk88]

Dandy bear! I will be hunting Kupreanof May 2021. Which island were you hunting? Did you hunt all day or did you fish in the mornings and then hunt? Im guessing tide flats at low tide in the afternoon were a target for you?

I was on Kuiu. Since it was raining everyday we found that anytime there was a break in the weather the bears would be really active. Outside of that we always hunted the afternoon low tide. For fishing we generally just fished to kill time until the weather cleared or low tide hit.

Following a night of storms we woke up to it being 55 and sunny and spotted 3 bears from camp at 10:00AM.

 

[Salmonchaser]

Outstanding, well done.

 

[Young Buck]

I was on Kuiu. Since it was raining everyday we found that anytime there was a break in the weather the bears would be really active. Outside of that we always hunted the afternoon low tide. For fishing we generally just fished to kill time until the weather cleared or low tide hit.

Following a night of storms we woke up to it being 55 and sunny and spotted 3 bears from camp at 10:00AM.

Awesome! I have heard the afternoon low tide is where its at for highest bear activity. I hope to catch some halibut while my brother and I are up there. Never fished for them. I hear jigging is a popular way to catch em.

 

[CRAZYCARL]

Congrats

 

[Orion’s Breath]

Looks like a great adventure, thanks for sharing!

 

[David Gough]

Dandy bear! I will be hunting Kupreanof May 2021. Which island were you hunting? Did you hunt all day or did you fish in the mornings and then hunt? Im guessing tide flats at low tide in the afternoon were a target for you?

How was your hunt? I also had Kupreanof this last May.

 

[Young Buck]

How was your hunt? I also had Kupreanof this last May.

I apologize. I will be there May 2022. I would like to pick your brain about your hunt though.

 

[Slate]

Awesome congrats

 

[ThunderNocked]

Great looking hunt! I want to get back down that way from the Interior! I have a couple buddies in Juneau and Ketchikan so I need to just make it happen to bounce down there - definitely need to get the Helly Hansen ImperTech before I go - spent 5.5 years in Juneau so I know how the weather goes!
great bear and sounds like an awesome trip.

Some of the Juneau guys do a big Spring Black Bear/Shrimp and Halibut(?) trip. I know they normally come back with a few bear and gallons of Prawns. always wanted to do that trip with them.

 

[dk88]

I had a Impertech jacket and it was perfect, everyone else had some form of high end camo rain jacket and mine performed the best by far and was only $75. I am really hoping I draw again for a 2023 tag and plan on changing units up and trying to hunt the area every year if possible.

The fishing was the biggest surprise, we truly had no idea what we were doing and were all using cheap basic spinning rods that fit into our checked luggage and we were able to catch a handful of decent fish. We were hoping to just catch a rockfish or two and ended up catching more halibut than any other kind of fish. Im also hoping next trip to be able to have a crab pot and try to catch some crabs.

 

[ThunderNocked]

I had a Impertech jacket and it was perfect, everyone else had some form of high end camo rain jacket and mine performed the best by far and was only $75. I am really hoping I draw again for a 2023 tag and plan on changing units up and trying to hunt the area every year if possible.

The fishing was the biggest surprise, we truly had no idea what we were doing and were all using cheap basic spinning rods that fit into our checked luggage and we were able to catch a handful of decent fish. We were hoping to just catch a rockfish or two and ended up catching more halibut than any other kind of fish. Im also hoping next trip to be able to have a crab pot and try to catch some crabs.

That is probably the most fantastic part about hunting Southeast - especially the more remote areas.
I'm looking to get the Impertech this year. I bought the Kuiu Chugach NX Gear for Sheep Hunting but I've got some concerns about it - I need to give it a good go. We shall see.

It would be awesome to go back and make that a yearly or every other year trip! Keep it up and good fortune on your other hunts

 

[BearFoot]

Awesome!