AlaskaCub
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- Apr 25, 2006
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This is a very long story so I will try to tell it in short form to describe the adventure we kind of had. For starters we showed up in Homer AK after we drove 600 miles , to get on the Ferry which would take us to Kodiak,AK, and finally arrived 2 hours prior to loading time for the ferry in Homer, we were pumped to say the least. We went and got something to eat as the Ferry terminal wasn't open yet. We came back to the Terminal and they were still closed and we were the only ones there, thought this was all weird and it wasn't till 3 hours later when the Ferry was supposed to depart that we really realized something was up, Ferry terminal still not open. Buzzed over to the harbor masters office to see what he knew and low and behold the boat wasn't coming.He advised us that the ferry had broken down 3 days earlier and that the schedule was delayed by a day or so. Thats not good news for 3 hunters that were jumping out of there shorts to get on brown bear turf, so we got an overpriced hotel for the night and figured we would find out how screwed we were in the morning. Got into a hell of a fight with several different people who worked for the ferry outfit the next morning at 8am sharp, it was ugly! They never contacted us to let us know our boat wasn't going to be there. Anyway 30 hours later we are on the ferry and on our way to Kodiak. The next day(a day and a half behind schedule) we finally arrive at Kodiak. We run a couple quick errands and we are at Andrew Airways ready to fly in to the Peninsula. They weigh our gear and find out we are over regular Beaver weight and that the Turbine is down for a 100 hour service.No biggie we decided to go in with the bulk of our gear and the boat and some other stuff would be flown in later in the afternoon in a 206 on floats. Off to the Peninsual we go, by the way the Beaver flight out over Kodiak was awesome lots of bears spotted from the air, man our blood was boiling. We break off mainland Kodiak and head straight west over the Pacific and we can see the Peninsula mountains off in the distance. Un freaking believably beautiful place! The sky was blue , the sun was shining and the water was glass. Flew past the Katmai and down the coast as we broke past the edge of the Katmai border we started hunting for a good spot to land. We spotted one small to medium sized bear from the air as we flew over Bear Bay, then the circus showed itself. There were tents, boats, and planes in almost every good place a plane could land. We flew over and circled a half a dozen places and there were camps everywhere. After an hour in the air the pilot advised us we better pick a spot quick as fuel was becoming a concern. So he set us down on a small bay that was in the north edge of a small Peninsula, we had camps in visual sight of us on both sides of us. Man you could only imagine how sick to my stomach I felt. Here we are in this god forsaken place and theres hunters all around us. But it only gets better. We agree that we will be able to access a bay just a north of us with the Zodiac that should allow us some good hunting. We unload the gear , and haul it to the beach. The pilot takes off after telling us that he will be back in the afternoon with the rest of our gear. We set up camp in what looked to be a good protected area from the winds should they pick up and we start glassing. The pilot isn't gone an hour and the winds start to blow and they go from say 15-25 mph which is what they were when we landed to about 35-50 mph by dinner time. I knew they couldn't land in these winds so I called them on the sat phone and told them the winds were whipping pretty good and that they might want to wait till morning. In the next 48 hours the winds blew from about 35-55 mph sustained all the way to gusts pushing 70+ mph. At one point I could literally lean into the wind on a small hill above camp and the winds would hold me up and not let me fall forward. Our 6 man Cabelas guide tent and deluxe vestibule survived these winds although I am not quite sure how it did. The next morning I am supposed to call Andrews and let them know if the winds have died down and they actually have. I get out of the tent with the sat phone and walk up to a little knob to make the call and all I can think is man we need our zodiac bad we really cant hunt from camp unless a bear shows up in our little bay and as I glance across to the bay I wanted to hunt with the zodiac ( the only place we really have to hunt) all of a sudden I hear the sound of a plane coming in over head, I quickly identify what looks like a yellow supercub with tires and as I watch this fella circle over head he coasts in and lands on the beach (it was low tide in the morning) and sets her down right on the beach of the bay we have been waiting 2 days to be able to hunt and they proceed to make camp. That was the straw that broke the camels back, we called Andrews and told the to pick us up as soon as they could, we were all so pissed off, so sick to our stomachs it was unbelievable! Spent 6 months planning and funding this trip for the hunt of a lifetime and it turns into a complete disaster. The only bear we ever saw within a mile of camp was a sow with 2 two year olds (we saw them every day)and on the last night we had to put a round in the sand in front of them at about 80 yards as the 2 year olds would not listen to mom as she would try to lead them away and there curiosity kept them coming towards our camp that would have been the icing on the cake to and already ruined hunt if we would have had to kill them. Can assure you that we will not be doing this hunt again. From now on if I dont draw Kodiak I dont hunt brown bear. I did not mention that because of the late spring and the fact that a lot of guide camps that were normally on inland lakes had to relocate because the lakes were all still frozen so lots of them ended up on the coast.We also saw two different large trollers with hunters that would stroll through our bay twice a day glassing the beaches. It actually reminded me of hunting the Haul road for Caribou, with just a little more money invested. Heres a pic of the only bears we saw at close range.Moma nd her kids
