japantiger 4,031 Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 Just returned from 2nd trip to Alaska in the last 8 months. Tough country. Amazing hunting. -15 degrees when I got to Aleknagik; warmed up to +3 the next day; then to more Spring time temps there (between 20 and 40). 10 days of 10-12 hours a day; averaging about 70 miles a day. Record snowfall this year so the bears came out late. The 1st 6 days no sign of bear. Saw tracks on day 7; they were a day old after 3 hours on snowshoes to climb up to them. Saw a den on day 8; snowshoed up only to discover a sow and cubs. Day 9 late in the day saw a den on the back side of the same mountain from about 7 miles away while on Lake Nunavaugaluk. Couldn't get to it that day; no natural pass to go around the West side of that mountain given the melting snow conditions; the "bridges" over the creeks were melting and snow/slush in the valley's just not passable. Buried the guides machine about 2/3 of the way up a mountain knob...took an hour to dig it out and get it off the mountain and by then too late for further pursuit. Next morning, went South-East around the mountain; took 5 hours to work thru the woodlands to a lower ridgeline to be able to move around to glass the den. The den was up at about the 1100 foot level on the mountain; so it wasn't going to be any fun to climb. At about 800 yards out, you could see the bear out of the den near the bottom of the mountain. Boy was I happy...that meant no snowshoes. Wind coming off the mountain in our face at ~25mph worked in our favor from both a noise and scent standpoint. Got to ~150 yds and stopped to make the shot before the slope got too steep. This state has unbelievably tough hunting conditions. Worth every bit of the effort. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey 16,466 Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 Congratulations! I've never been to Alaska, though I have family in Anchorage. Maybe some day.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKEEL75 2,566 Posted April 28, 2021 Share Posted April 28, 2021 Wow. Congrats. That is amazing story and beautiful country! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japantiger 4,031 Posted April 28, 2021 Author Share Posted April 28, 2021 8 hours ago, Mikey said: Congratulations! I've never been to Alaska, though I have family in Anchorage. Maybe some day.... Well, that is also a tough place to live. When I landed there it was -6 with 30 mph winds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AURex 1,962 Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 Brother-in-law loved it up there. But mosquitoes the size of tarantulas and just as vicious. hahaha 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LKEEL75 2,566 Posted April 30, 2021 Share Posted April 30, 2021 (edited) 12 hours ago, AURex said: Brother-in-law loved it up there. But mosquitoes the size of tarantulas and just as vicious. hahaha My mom said same thing. hahahaha Edited April 30, 2021 by LKEEL75 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUBwins 10,001 Posted May 1, 2021 Share Posted May 1, 2021 Awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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