My first trip to Kodiak was in the spring of 1968. That was the year that the Kodiak Wildlife Refuge manager implemented a permit system for brown bear on Kodiak Island. I wrote about that trip in the post “My Quest For A Brown Bear.” That story details all of my brown bear hunts before I finally harvested my bear. He squared 9’2” and I decided then that my next bear would be a 10-footer and that I would use my bow to accomplish that feat.
I applied for a Kodiak brown bear permit for five years before I was drawn for the fall season in ’77. We were drawn for the Red Lake area which was our third choice. My partner was Chuck Berry a friend and co-worker. Chuck and I decided to use Kodiak Airways to fly in to Red Lake.
Chuck and I arrived in Kodiak on October 24th, the day before the opening day of the fall brown bear season. We headed for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to sign in for our permit which was required back then. They used a sign-in sheet that had the three names of the resident hunters that had been drawn. The other person had not signed in. We asked the biologist if anyone was using the fish and game cabin at the mouth of the lake. He said, “No and that we could use it if we wanted.” We told him we probably wouldn’t stay around the lake long because we planned on hiking out to get away from the competition. We knew that guides Bill Pinnell and Morris Talifson, both in their 70’s then, would probably be using their cabin which was next to the fish and game cabin. They were the best-known brown bear guides back in the day, hunting the areas around Olga Bay since 1949. I had heard and read many stories about them. I knew they didn’t care for military hunters and thought that they shouldn’t be considered as residents just because they were stationed in Alaska. Being military, that never set well with me.
Our trip in to Red Lake was uneventful. We were dropped off in front of the fish and game cabin at about 3 PM and put our gear inside. It was a nice little cabin with four bunks. We unpacked our fishing gear and started fishing. It was fantastic catching Dolly Varden and a few silver salmon. Needless to say, we had fish for supper. While we were fishing we had a small bear come down to the other side of the river and fish. That was a first for me and, a little unsettling.
Looking back at Red Lake from the first ridge that Chuck and I crossed over.
We were in the cabin having supper when another plane showed up. It pulled in to the Pinnell and Talifson cabin which was a little more than a quarter mile from the fish and game cabin. We already knew there were people over there. Within a half hour, some dude came over to our cabin. I don’t recall his name but he told us he was an Alaska Fish and Game protection officer from Soldotna. He said, “I have been drawn for the Red Lake area also and didn’t know that you guys were coming in to Red Lake.” I said, “You should have as we signed in right above your name on the sign-in sheet.” He said, “Pinnell and Talifson are upset that you are here and they are older guides and don’t want the competition.” I said, “I couldn’t care less what they wanted. We aren’t going to bother them and expected them not to bother us.” I told him we had planned on spiking out the next day. He said, “That’s good and I may have to do some Fish and Game work while I’m here so I will be using the cabin.” I said, “We checked with Fish and Game and they said no one was scheduled to use the cabin so we could use it.” I told him we didn’t mind if he wanted to stay, it was big enough for all of us. He wasn’t happy and headed back over to talk to Bill and Morris. We took the two bottom bunks and got into our sleeping bags. Sometime later that evening he came back over and spent the night.
The next morning we got up early, had oatmeal and hot chocolate for breakfast, packed up and were on our way down river. Our plan was to hunt our way over toward the Sturgeon River drainage which was about six air miles or somewhere between eight and eleven walking miles depending on our route. We chose to head over a small hill and then go over a pass which would be about eight miles. We took our time spotting as we traveled. We found fresh evidence of bears fishing in a very small stream close to the first hillside. We climbed the hillside slowly, stopping often to spot behind us. The wind picked up that afternoon bringing rain with it. The weather made it too bad to spot so we headed over the ridge and found a good place to camp out of the main wind. The rain changed to snow so we called it a day and got into the tent. During the night the snow changed to freezing rain and when we woke up the tent and everything around us was frozen. The temperature had dropped into the teens and it was cold and clear.
Our spike camp with some of my GI issued equipment.
We got out of the tent and were trying to thaw things out and started heating water for breakfast. It was only about three hundred yards to the top of the ridge so I told Chuck I was going to head up to see if I could spot anything on the other side. Once on top I start glassing. It didn’t take long until I spotted a giant brown bear. He had left the small stream and was moving into the alder. I followed him with my binoculars and watched him lay down in the alder. He was about 400 yards below me at the base of the hill. I raised my binoculars and gave a quick glance all around. A little over a half mile away across the Red River I could see at least seven people. I assumed it was Pinnell and Talifson with their gang of assistant guides and packers. I had heard they hunted in a big group (especially now that they were older). They were on a bank above the river. They were all glassing so I assumed they had spotted me since I was skylined on the ridge. I wasn’t sure if they had spotted the bear or not but I figured they had. I ran back down to Chuck at the tent. I wasn’t sure what to do since I was hunting with my bow. I wolfed down my oatmeal, grabbed my bow and told Chuck to get his gun that we were going to kill a big brown bear. I’m sure It didn’t take me over 15 minutes but once we were back to the top of the ridge, I looked across the river and saw only four people. As I was glassing down where the bear had laid down, I spotted two individuals about 100 yards from the bear. I’m sure it was the guide that looked up at me and grinned and then waved us off. I was pissed to say the least, but there was nothing I could do. I’m sure they knew the bear was in the area and spotted it moving into the alder. They probably saw me on the ridge and knew they had to hot foot it over to the bear before I came back. Chuck asked if I wanted to stay and watch. I said,” No way!” Then we left, broke camp and headed toward our destination.
Chuck on one of those cold mornings right before the sun shown over the mountains. Chuck is wearing a build yourself Frost Line down jacket that his wife Dea made from a kit.
Chuck with his wet 8’6” brown bear that he harvested while it was fishing in a small stream.
We hunted for two or three days close to the Sturgeon drainage spotting only a few small bears. On day four Chuck made a good shot and harvested a nice 8’6” bear fishing in a small stream. The next day we packed up for a long trip out. Two days later as we were walking on the super bear trails of the Ayakulik River (some were 3-foot-deep) we came around the base of the mountain where the guides had killed the big bear. We found the kill site and that was when I saw, for the first time, a carcass of a 10’+ brown bear. It was a giant carcass for sure. I knew then what I needed to be looking for. Later in my guide days I saw numerous carcasses in this class.
The following day we were picked up and on our way home. A great hunt and a great learning experience. A side note, when they were unloading the Cessna 206 my 35MM Canon Camera was in the top of my pack and it fell out into about ten foot of salt water. The guy that dropped it wasn’t that concerned but I was able to use our fishing rod to recover it but it was ruined. Kodiak Airways ended up paying me $200 to help me buy a new one. I got a Cannon F-1 out of the deal.
My next hunt was the fall of ’79 out of the Cold Bay area with Brent Jones, my soon to be partner, and his close friend Dwight Felmlee. Brent harvested an 8’6” with his bow and Dwight took a nice 9’5” with a rifle. I backed them up with .460 Weatherby Magnum. That gun is a killer on both ends. More on that story another day.
My next draw for Kodiak was the spring of ’80. Lyle Thompson, my commanding officer and I were drawn for the Sturgeon River area. I had been told about a small no name lake at the head of the Sturgeon River drainage that flying services could use to drop us off. Kodiak Airways was no longer in business so we chose Flyright Flying Service. I called them a couple days before we were to leave for Kodiak to see if the ice had left that small lake. They said they thought it had so we were on. We showed up on May 1st, two days later and they loaded us up in the Cessna 185. On our way down we heard our pilot talking to someone on the radio about the ice status of the lake but no one seemed to know. As we flew over the ice-covered lake the pilot said that he would have to drop us off at the Karluk River crossings. That meant we would have to hike in five miles or so mainly uphill through brush covered terrain. That wasn’t what we wanted but we knew it was an option and that seemed to be our only choice.
Looking back toward the Sturgeon River drainage from the Karluk River crossings. This photo was taken at the end of one of two hunts that we did in the Sturgeon River drainage.
He dropped us off above the cabins where two fishermen were fishing for trophy Steelhead. I asked the pilot where we could cross the river and he said as far as he knew anyplace was fine. We told him we would see him in nine days and he was off. The fishermen kept fishing and we put on our packs and started up river to find a place to cross. In the next hour or so we tried unsuccessfully to cross in at least five or six different spots. The river was about a hundred feet wide and the last ten to fifteen foot section on the other side was deeper than my hip boots. On our last attempt the water went over my hip boots and we had to turn back. Getting wet the first day of the hunt was not how I wanted to start the hunt. Once back to shore I dumped the water out my boots. As we sat there wondering what we were going to do next, we heard a plane coming back our way. We threw on our packs and headed back down stream to see if the pilot would taxi us over to the other side. When we arrived it was our pilot with a couple of fishermen from Larson Bay. I tried to make a joke by telling him my boots had two holes in them right at the top and that I got wet and needed a lift to the other side. He said you can cross about anyplace below where the fishermen are fishing. He didn’t tell us to go below where he dropped us off before and the fishermen didn’t say a word as they watched us try to cross above them. With that we went just below the fishermen and crossed with no problem. What a dumb start and a wet one at that.
The trip in was rough with each of us carrying around 80 pounds breaking trail as we went. We had taken some heavier food since we thought we were going to land in the lake and camp close. We also were carrying our hip boots. I wasn’t looking forward to the hike out with our camp and two brown bears. It took us all day but once we arrived we found a good spot to camp and set up the two man tent and the tarp for storage.
The small ice covered lake where we were supposed to land.
Lyle with his well furred 8’2” brown bear.
Bear den
Standing at the entrance of the bear den.
It snowed the next couple of days with poor visibility making spotting almost impossible. On day four I spotted a bear den at the top of the brush line in a small ravine across from camp. It wasn’t long until Lyle spotted a bear that had come out of the ravine right below the den. The bear laid down and we decided to make a stalk. About an hour and half later with the slow squeeze of the trigger on Lyle’s .338 Winchester Magnum we now had our first bear. The bear was well furred and squared about 8’2”. After skinning the bear, we climbed up to the den and took a few photos. We made it back to our camp late that evening. The next day was spent taking out the skull and fleshing the hide. We spotted during breaks. I told Lyle I wanted to go down river and climb over a pass that would put us in a valley up from the native village of Karluk. The next day we packed the tarp and some food and headed down river about five miles and climbed through the snow and over the pass. We post holed through some of the soft snow in the pass. It wasn’t that bad but with the extra weight of a bear hide it wasn’t going to be fun coming back. Once in the valley we set up the tarp and it started snowing again, finally stopping the next day. We spotted two small bears but nothing big so with limited time we broke camp and headed back over the pass to our original camp. That trip ended up being a total waste of time.
Our tarp spike camp.
Lyle crossing a stream on our way back from our trip over the pass. We didn’t take our hip boots.
The next day was beautiful. We spotted a nice looking bear digging for roots in the alder at the top of the brush line. We had watched for an hour or so when I decided that even if he wasn’t as big as I had wanted, I would go ahead and make a stalk on him with my bow. I thought he was somewhere between 8 ½ to 9 foot. The stalk went well until we were about 60 yards from the bear. He had been digging and eating roots intently for over two hours. I’m not sure if he got our wind or if he just happened to look our way. He stood up, looked at us and gave a big huff. He dropped to all fours looking at us huffing and popping his teeth as he started walking sideways above us. He was in the open now keeping his eyes on us at all times making all kinds of noises. He seemed pretty mad that we had interrupted his meal. Lyle had his rifle ready and I told him not to shoot. Then for some reason I guess I thought the bear looked larger than I had previously thought, so I told Lyle to give me his gun and I shot the bear. He was only 50 yards away and the 250 grain bullet from the .338 put him down and he rolled down the hill right by me at five or so yards. I could see then he wasn’t as big as I thought. However, it was a beautiful bear with four inch long hair but only squared 8’ 6”. It was also an old sow with a 23”+ skull. I still don’t really know why I shot that bear but I did. After pictures and skinning the bear we packed up and headed back to camp.
My last brown bear. It’s a beautiful bear with a great skin.
Ready to head back to camp.
We had two days to get out before our morning pickup at the Karluk crossings and we still needed to skin the head out and flesh my bear hide. That meant we had to do it in one trip. We were going to have a heavy load but at least it was mainly downhill.
Heading back to Karluk crossings with a heavy load.
We started early the last day each carrying between 130 and 140 pounds. With many breaks we made it back about 6 PM. Tired but happy it was over. We had brought in pancake flour and syrup so we had pancakes for supper, a nice treat. Lyle is always fun to hunt with. A super hunt and another learning experience!
Getting picked up at Karluk crossings.
I had been on seven brown bear hunts and in on eleven brown bear kills before I started my guiding career. My next bear hunts were when I was a guide and the following spring my hunter Tim Orton, took a 10’2” B&C Record book bear. I still don’t know what I did different. I guided on four more 10’+ brown bears before my next personal brown bear hunt.
After about ten years of guiding my partner Dan and I were drawn for the Sturgeon River area again. Dan had never killed a brown bear but had guided on quite a few including the 11’3” that Randy Cain had taken in ’92. We went very early so we could get back for AAA’s spring bear season on the Alaska Peninsula that opened on May 10th.
For us to have a good hunt it needed to be an early spring and we knew only the big boars would be out. We went on April 15th hoping to land at the same small lake at the head of the Sturgeon River. No such luck. It was still iced over so we would have to hike in. We decided to leave some extra food and stuff back at the Karluk crossings. Once we were in, we set up camp and it started to snow and snowed for two days so on the second snow day we hiked back out and picked up the extra food for something to do. The next seven days it snowed some each day. It got colder, the ice didn’t leave and we only saw one single bear. He stayed rolled up in a ball on the hillside across the lake from us. He looked to be 8’ ½” to 9’ so neither of us wanted him. So much for an early spring. Weather wise It was my worst hunt ever. If I had been a client on that hunt I would have demanded my money back and if I was the guide I would have been embarrassed to say the least. Can’t control the weather however!
That was my last personal brown bear hunt but at the end of my guiding career I had guided on ten 10’+ brown bears including, my son-in-law Sagen’s and my grandson Gregg’s 10’+ brown bears. I guess it just wasn’t in the cards for me to personally take a 10-footer.