Idiots out in force on the Kenai Peninsula

[skydiver_99654]

Went down to the Kenai today for a little goat/blackie hunting. Skunked on the goat for this year, by the way. Anyway, I decided to pull over at Turnagain Pass to glass for Blackies. Didn't take long to find one. I spotted a really nice Blackie and observed him for about 1/2 an hour. He was a coupla thousand feet up. Definitely do-able. I also noticed another guy spotting this same bear. He was there before me. He didn't appear to be making an effort at going to get this bear. So, I started to get ready. Then I walked over towards him...wanted to make sure he wasn't guiding another hunter up the mountain. He was alone. In a roundabout way he told me that that bear was "his" bear and he was gonna take it. I asked him what he was waiting on. He said he was waiting on his son to come down from the Valley to shoot it. I figured if the guy's son wasn't there in about 15 minutes, I was heading up onto "his" bear. His son did show. I didn't think it would've been a fair fight or even a needed fight. Thought that fightin' over a bear was senseless. I would'nt have minded it so much, but the guy sure was cocky. Anyway...he proceeds to pull out this really nice HIGH DOLLAR rifle. Not sure what it was. He was bragging about how expensive it was (looked like it),something about a .416 chambered in a .338. The scope on it was at least 24 inches long. Never saw anything like that before either. He was bragging that it was a Special Forces sniper rifle from Russia/Germany/England blah....blah...blah...He told me that he could put a 3/4 inch 3 shot group at 1100 yards. Pretty impressive....who is he? Carlos Hathcock? He used a range finder to range the Blackie at almost 800 yards. He said that shot would be no problem at all for him, but he and his son would head up the mountain anyway just to get a little closer.
Anyways.... the "best sniper in the world" and his son(20 something yr.old) head up the mountain after this Blackie. I'm watching thru binos the whole time. They get within 200 yards of this bear and shoot twice. I was shocked when the bear turned and ran away. 2 misses ! The bear runs about 500 yards and it takes another 2 hours for these guys to put another stalk on him. This time, they get within 300 yards. Boom! Boom! The bear turns and just looks at them....then he runs another 500 yards! These guys take another 1 1/2 hours to get a coupla hundred yards from him. This time Dad (Mr. Sniper) takes a crack at it. He shoots at least twice. The bear again turns around, looks at him, and then runs a coupla hundred more yards away. The bear was in a clearing each time it was shot at. I figured that they would again go after the bear. This time, they turned around and came all the way back to the truck. They used all of their ammo. Its kind of ironic that the guy's wife (who stayed in the truck) told him to take plenty of ammo, and Mr. Sniper said "It's only gonna take 1 bullet". He did take 6 with him at his wife's and son's urging. At this point, I was talking to Florida Boy in the parking lot, and apparently he will head down there tomorrow and hopefully finish off what Mr.Sniper couldn't do. At least Florida Boy seems genuine enough. I hope he gets one.
I know that there are people all over like Mr.Sniper, but you realize just how much of an idiot these guys are when you have one-on-one interaction with them. So if anybody heads down toward Kenai, remember that their may be a guy down there claiming a bear as "his", and it would be who of you to go after that bear before he does.
Johnny

[NORTH2AK]

Identified

I think this might be Mr Cranium. I've run into him before. I believe his first name is Richard. I think all of us have met Mr Richard Cranium.

[BRWNBR]

LOL Mr. Cranium....ya he's everywhere seems like!!

[Blink]

Thats the main reason why I dont hunt south central anymore. To many richard craniums around.

side note, in 12 years I have never seen a bear at the top of the pass. anything beyond granite creek, I've seen them but before that never seen one.

[Western]

Maybe he was too close?

I went antelope hunting with a friend of my step dad. This guy was also a sniper (maybe just a wannabe). He wanted to shoot an antelope at over 700 yards. A normal guy will try to sneak within 300 yards for a shot. This guy had tons of long shot stories. This guy kept shooting at every buck at 500 plus yards. I never had a chance to get close enough for a decent shot. Was an interesting day, watching this guy miss most antelope by 30 yards (dusty in Eastern Montana). Only time I went hunting with this guy.

[theilercabin]

Blackies

Doesn't surprise me. Anywhere you go now seems you have to compete.

I actually saw a huge, black bear two days ago about 50 miles outside of Girdwood. I am thinking about going tommorrow after reading this post. I am a bit bored doing too much internet work on my website.

Tell me more about goats. Is there a place to glass and walk and stalk along the Seward highway?

[BrownBear]

Those kind of folks have been around for the 40+ years I've been hunting. From the numbers of people taking up golf, I figured their numbers would have thinned a bit. Looks like I was wrong.

Wouldn't you love to be a mouse in the corner and hear him tell his friends about his "hunt!"

[skydiver_99654]

At first

I thought about going after that bear. Then I figured the a-hole would try to shoot me for going after "his" bear. Of course hindsight is 20/20....but looks like I would have had nothing to worry about. He sure as heck wouldn't have been able to hit me, he couldn't hit the bear which was a much larger target!
Johnny

[kenaislider]

This story is kind of funny to me, now bear with me skydiver this is not an attack, just playing devils advocate! Now you said he was there first and had already spotted the bear, this is where i would have left, but that is me. Second you asked him and he said he was hunting the bear, but you chose to stay and watch, I'm sure it ticked Mr.head off that you were still there and put a whole lot of pressure on him, maybe thats why he missed maybe not, who knows. The point is, there is way to much country to be hunting on top of each other.
This year my hunting partner and I felt as if we were hosting a moose hunting clinic, every time we turned around there was someone watching us. I guess we should of hauled our moose out in the dark the last 7-8 years, but to many people seen us and word got out, and what do ya know, 3 camps within a 1/2 mile of us this year hunting where ever we did.
Maybe I was raised wrong but hunting is not a competition sport and you don't "play through". If someone is in the area first, move on.

[BRWNBR]

man, i'm gonna have to disagree to a point with kenai, lotta country out there, but if i'm hunting and someone spots the same game as me, dang man, you'd better just move faster than i do. plain and simple, tons of ground to hunt, but there ain't game standing on all of it. If i'm glassing and someone sits next to me in the middle of knowwhere and starts glassing thats different. but from teh highway, only certian spots you can access, pull off, habitat and so on. when you hunt the roadsystem you gotta expect the game to be wide open and don't figure because you parked there, that you've laid claim to the turf. I respect skydivers decision to wait the guy and and let him have first crack at the bear, i think he did the right thing. The way he played it, theres only one idiot instead of two, had he ran the bear down in front of the guy, there'd been two idiots. I think he made the right call, if they guy ain't friendly about the whole thing, back out. but if he seems like he likes a little compitition, go for it.
Everyones different in situations like these, images in optics don't translate to ownership like this guy figured. good call skydiver, got my respect.

[skydiver_99654]

Thanks BRWNBR

To answer Kenai's question... The guy in question was just standing there in the parking lot. He had no hunting gear on, nothing that I could see in his vehicle (laying on the floor in the back seat), and looked like he had no intention of going after the game. That is why I approached him before I decided to head up after Mr. Blackie. OUt of courtesy. The only thing he had at that point (1/2 hour) was a pair of binos. When I stopped to talk to him briefly, I wanted to find out what his intentions were as far as hunting, just wild-life viewing, etc. I told him I was spotting a Blackie and was going to go after him. He said that he was spotting the same animal, he saw it first, and that it was "his". To be honest, I didn't know if he was looking at the same bear or not. Could've been another one. Just wanted to confirm.
BRWNBR is right, if somebody is just going to stand there without even looking like he is going after the game, then why shouldn't I?
Johnny

[AK4Life]

notes/thoughts

did he use a cell phone to call his son to come shoot the bear? isnt that treading on the illegal side?

Mr. Cranium drives a car and goes to work and I can deal with him there, I just dont like it when he wants to try and play a sportsman!!! free country though, right?

I know this one is stupid but--- If it was a 416 necked to 338 I am guessing it was a 416 rigby recked down and called a 338 Lapua in which he does have some $$$ rapped up in it. Where does the Cranium family get their dough? LOL!!!!

[skydiver_99654]

Bingo!

That's what it was. A Lapua! I knew that sounded familiar. Either way, when you have that much money, and B.S. invested in that rifle, why not make sure it is sighted in. The scope itself had to cost at least a grand! Yep, he did call his son by cell phone to have him come down. His son left work to run down there to get the bear. You are right, that is illegal, I believe.
Also, going back to what Kenaislider said earlier about him being nervous because I was watching him. BY the time he got up to that bear, there was about 10 of us in the parking lot watching. This isn't like we were out in the boonies! We were on the side of a freeway. Why should I have to leave to find a different spot? ONce he goes after a bear...everybody in the parking lot has to vacate so as not to make him nervous?? If he was nervous, its because he talked so much trash that he couldn't back it up. He could shoot a quarter 3 times at 1100 yards, but he couldn't shoot a 500 pound blackie at 200??????? I know you were just playing devil's advocate, but in this case, I did everything right. Trust me....i'd admit if i was wrong.
Johnny

[skydiver_99654]

Illegal

Now that you mentioned it, as far as the illegal thing is concerned... his wife was sitting in the parking lot using a cell phone to direct her husband/son each time the bear ran. Everytime the bear ran after MR.Cranium shot, she would call him on his cell phone and direct him to where the bear was. Never thought about that. I shoulda called the ABWE Troopers right then. Thanks for bringing up that point. Bad enough calling his son at work to come shoot the bear, but even worse his wife directing them onto the bear. The guy had all the tools at hand, and he still couldn't get the bear!
Johnny

[Mark]

man, i'm gonna have to disagree to a point with kenai, lotta country out there, but if i'm hunting and someone spots the same game as me, dang man, you'd better just move faster than i do....

I've never run into Mr. Cranium before, but I've sure seen you around. Ricochets flying through the air, people running around in the brush like Zulu Bushmen, etc.