Alaskan Brown Bear Archery Adventure
by Paul Korn

A few years ago, when I started to research dangerous bears, I quickly realized how uncommon it was to use archery equipment for such hunts.  Most outfitters feel it is too dangerous and difficult to get close enough on a spot and stalk hunt for these larger than life animals.  I booked a hunt last year for this past fall (2003) with outfitter Joe Miller who owns Alaskan State Wide Guides.  My hunt was conducted on leased native land located between Cold Bay and Sand Point on the Southwest Alaskan Peninsula.

My guide for this trip was SCI NorthCountry Bow Hunters chapter member, Joe Fisher, from Milton, Wisconsin.  I met Joe Fisher several years ago in Minneapolis at a master measures class and was glad that Joe Miller could arrange for him to guide me on this hunt.  For the past several years, Joe has been traveling to Alaska to guide hunters.  Joe is a seasoned bow hunter himself and one of the best all around hunters I have ever been around.  He retired from General Motors in Janesville, Wisconsin, some 15 years ago at age 50 and has been enjoying life to the fullest ever since.  Don’t let Joe’s age of 65 years fool you as he is in very good shape and could out walk most of the people I’ve ever hunted with.  With Joe’s age brought a lot of experience blended with common sense, which made him a very productive guide who always made the best of every possible opportunity in the field.  Many years ago Joe was told you need to plan your work and then work your plan, and that’s the way our hunt was conducted.

We arrived in Sand Point in early October and flew to our camp in a two-seat Husky plane with tundra tires.  The camp we hunted from was on the ocean bay and the tide needed to be out so the pilot could land the plane.  The weather on the peninsula is awful at best and always windy; it rained all 12 days we were in the field.  The poor weather makes it difficult to transport hunters back and forth to the field as flying is done in small planes and visibility is a must to travel the peninsula.  Due to the weather, it took us two days to get into camp and our hunt started the next day; Alaska state law makes it illegal to shoot Brown Bear the same day you fly.

The first several days were really uneventful, as we didn’t see any legal bears and we were busy learning the area.  Hunting was conducted by finding a high vantage point and glassing a large area that could be a couple of square miles. Bear sign was plentiful in this area as the shoreline had new tracks almost every morning from bear the night before.  To reinforce the fact that this area held a lot of bears, the camp we stayed in also had fresh tracks around the cabin almost every night.  We also heard bear during the night and on one occasion, we heard a bear splash in the stream just 25 yards away from camp as we lay in bed just before daylight.  The most interesting encounter came a few days later as a large bear actually rubbed up against the cabin about 1:00 a.m. in the morning as we lay in bed.  After a restless night, the next morning we discovered tracks and hair on the cabin verifying our suspicions that is was a bear making the ruckus the night before. 

Bear trails were everywhere and we couldn’t believe how hard it was to see bear during legal shooting hours.  It was obvious the bear were very nocturnal as we looked at the sign each morning.  We did everything possible to increase our odds for spotting bear, even going as far as blazing a trail with Joe’s Wyoming saw one afternoon up a creek bank, through thick alders so we could quietly get into a certain area to glass.  We were also seeing a lot of other game such as moose, wolverine, timber wolf, red fox, and flocks of ptarmigan by the hundreds.  Joe and I kept a positive, yet realistic, outlook as each day passed and formulated new plans as we figured out were to start looking for bear each day.  By day nine, we had covered the area in every direction from camp and kept looking for the best possible spot to locate a bear.  By this point in the hunt, the only positive thing was we had an old cabin to stay in.  The cabin was an old Native American hunting or trapping cabin that was in rough shape, but much better than a tent.  At least we were able to get comfortable and keep dry because of this cabin as opposed to a tent, which is what we had planned on staying in.

October 17, 2003, day number nine in the field started off poorly as it rained the entire night before and we couldn’t hunt in the morning again.  This was common, as it had rained nearly every night up to this point.  About 11:00 a.m. that morning it finally stopped raining and we went for a quick scout behind camp before lunch to check out an area.  We arrived back to the cabin around 2:00 p.m. with soaking wet clothes.  So the plan was to get dried out, have some lunch, and head out in a different direction for the afternoon hunt.  I started taking off my wet clothes and hanging them around the cabin to dry.  As I was setting my bow down on the empty bunk, Joe peaked out the door of the cabin, which he had done dozens of times during our hunt.  Only this time Joe said, with an excited expression, “there is a bear coming down the shore towards camp—get ready.”  I told him, “that’s not a funny thing to joke about,” and he said, “I don’t joke about things like that”.  I peaked out the crack in the door and the bear was just a few hundred yards away coming right towards camp just as Joe said.  My heart immediately started to pound right up to my throat, as I couldn’t believe everything was finally coming together.  I quickly put on my release and driest camo jacket, gabbed my bow, and headed out the door.  Joe grabbed his .375 H&H for backup and we started for the shoreline.

The bear was still walking towards us so we went behind some tall weeds and quickly moved into position where the bay turned and the stream drained in to it.  Thank goodness Joe had imagined this scenario on day one and had a plan of what to do depending on which way the bear came from.  Now it was time to work that plan eight days later and we were in position at the bank surrounded by the cover of tall weeds.  The bear stopped about 60 yards and scratched its back for several minutes on a chunk of wood that stuck out of the bank.  This gave me time to range a bunch of objects so I would know exactly how far the shot would be.  I memorized several objects and knew if he kept coming, the farthest shot would only be 34 yards, which was to the water.  I was concerned the bear would be downwind about the time it would be broadside and I worried he might wind us and run away or come after us.  I drew my Mathews SQ2 when he was about 40 yards away and on the move.  The bear cleared some heavy weeds and then turned and walked directly at us right to the other side of the bank only 10 yards or so from us.  He didn’t have any idea we were there and started to go down the bank directly across from us.  It looked like he would go into the stream and walk by at only a few yards.  Joe whispered to me repeatedly not to shoot as the bear was facing us!  Luckily, the bear only made one step down the bank and then changed his mind and backed up the bank.  He then turned and started walking quarting away from us.  Joe gave me the “okay” to shoot, but I waited until he stopped at about 18 yards and then I released a perfect shot right through both lungs.  As soon as the arrow impacted, the bear jumped straight up in the air with a growl that could wake the dead and roared at both of his sides.  Joe said I hit him perfectly and to just sit still so the bear didn’t spot us.  The bear trotted off and traveled only 74 yards before we watched him fall over, which took less than 30 seconds.  By this time I was in a dream state or euphoria that made it feel like a dream and I couldn’t believe I just killed an Alaskan Brown Bear with my Bow!  I grabbed Joe and gave him a bear-sized hug, as I was extremely happy. I kept waiting for Joe to wake me up for another day of bad weather and misery, as it all seemed like a dream.

The rest of day nine was spent skinning, fleshing, and capping the bear to get ready to return to Sand Point.  We put out a blue tarp on the shoreline, which was the communication signal that we were ready to be picked up.  Once again, the weather didn’t cooperate and due to rain, fog, and high winds, we spent the next three days waiting for our pilot, Dan Sailors, to pick us up.  During the wait, I was able to kill a couple of ptarmigan and shoot at several foxes before running out of arrows.  I did manage to kill one fox, but that is another sob story in itself.

Finally, on Monday night, day 12, Dan Sailors landed on the tide line near camp just a couple of hours before dark to take us out.  There is nothing quite like seeing your pilot after so many days—it’s amazing how you go from wanting to kill him to wanting to hug him as soon as he lands.  I can assure you my first dangerous bear hunt is one I will never forget and will be one I think about often for the remainder of my life.

If you are looking for information on this type of hunt, feel free to email me at pkorn@prismmolding.com or call 715-246-7535.         Paul & Alaskan Brown Bear
Happy hunting and be safe!