Back in the late summer of 1979 my friend and local taxidermist Brent Jones asked me if I wanted to go brown bear hunting that fall with him and another friend of his, Dwight Felmlee. I jumped at the offer. I had hunted sheep with Brent in ’74 and had been hanging around his taxidermy shop in my spare time. Brent was a super hunter with an Assistant Guide License so I felt like it would be a great hunt. We were going to hunt in the Cold Bay area and I had never been that far down the Alaska Peninsula.
Being a taxidermist in Alaska you get to meet a good number of guides and lots of other hunters. Through Brent’s connections he found out that a friend of his who worked for FAA was setting up a duck flight to Cold Bay. He had chartered a Reeves Aleutian Airways Lockheed L-188 Electra that could take about 50 hunters down for four days of duck and goose hunting. Cold Bay was right in the middle of a flyway and the Izembek Wildlife Refuge was set aside because of the number of migratory birds that came through and stopped to feed every fall making it a great place to hunt both ducks and geese. His friend had done this in the past with great success. The time frame was perfect for our hunt and the price was right. We also heard that we could take extra gear and Brent had a 12’ Avon inflatable and motor that we needed to get down there.
Brent had also arranged with Larry Rivers, a hunting guide that hunted brown bear in the Cold Bay area, to fly us in with his “super cub” and land us below the high tide mark at the mouth of the Joshua Green River in the Izembek Wildlife Refuge. That was the only legal way to access the refuge by aircraft. We had heard this was a great place to find giant 10’ plus bears. Brent had taken a 10’+ brown bear on Kodiak Island a few years earlier. This time however we were going to be hunting with our new PSE compound bows. We both had purchased our bows from Jim Baker who was a friend and owner of Alaska Archery. Jim had received a special deal from PSE on the “Laser Magnum Compounds.” Since Brent and I bought the same bow we just took one bow and a .460 Weatherby Magnum with safari open sights that was sighted in for 25 yards for back-up. We used 510 grain soft point bullets. Dwight took his .375 H&H with a peep sight as his weapon. Dwight was a registered guide and had guided brown bear hunters for Ken Oldham and Ray Caposella.
Once we arrived in Cold Bay we got all of our gear together and found Larry Rivers. We loaded our gear into his truck and he took us next door to wait until it was close to low tide. He had worked out a deal to use an old Flying Tiger Airlines pilot break area to work out of. Once inside we started talking to one of Larry’s guides. His client had just killed a giant bear and he said he didn’t know how to skin it. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Brent being a taxidermist explained the skinning process. He still didn’t seem to understand. This guy was a guide! Later that afternoon at low tide Larry took us over in three cub loads to the mouth of the Joshua Green. There we set up our tent in an alder patch for the night.
Looking at the tide flats close to the mouth of the Joshua Green River.
The next morning we loaded the inflatable with all of our gear and Brent maneuvered it slowly up the river while Dwight and I walked on a bear trail along the riverbank. About a mile up the river the channel became too shallow to use the motor so we all dragged the loaded boat, using ropes, up the river. In some places the channel got deeper and we were able to use the motor again. The Joshua Green River was split between two valleys, with one being called left hand valley and the other right hand valley. We decided to go up left hand valley to set up our base camp. We used the inflatable to access both valleys.
About five miles up the river we found a good place in the alder to set up our spike camp. It was a great place to camp and to tie up the inflatable. However, a major bear trail ran along the bank through the alder patch. Dwight felt uncomfortable with the trail so close to the tent. He told us we needed to place brush and drive stakes in the trail on each side of the tent to divert any possible bear traffic. We did that. He also suggested that when we relieve ourselves to do it on the trail. He said, “The more human scent on the trail the better.” The reason that he was so concerned about this was one of the registered guides he worked for, Ray Caposella, had been fatally mauled by a brown bear. I guess that would make anyone paranoid. I respected bears but sometimes maybe a little too unafraid. During my guiding career three of my friends in the business were mauled but fortunately survived. My respect for the bears grew the longer I was around them. They are such massive creatures.
After we got the camp set up it started to rain fairly hard. Around 10 PM nature called so I went out shining my flashlight at the water. The water level had raised about a foot. That surprised me since it rains all the time in that area. We all came out about an hour later and the water had come up another 6 inches. That only left about six inches before it would come over its bank. We decided to pull the inflatable out of the water and place it next to the tent in case the water came over its bank. Around 12 AM it was an inch from coming over its bank. We decided that if it did come over, we would put the boat in the tent and set in it. About a half hour later it stopped raining with only a ½ inch of bank to spare and within another half hour it started down as fast as it came up. It was amazing in a place where it rains constantly that the water level changed so fast and especially since we had to drag the boat most of the way up the river. It would have been nice to have had that extra foot of water on the trip up.
The river the morning after the first rain. I was standing in front of our tent.
The next morning the weather was cool and clear. We had found a good knoll to spot from and as it started to get light, we started spotting bears and lots of them. Within an hour we spotted 35 different brown bears with most of them being sows with cubs who had been fishing most of the night. As it continued to get lighter, they moved off the streams and into the alder. All of them went on the right hillside. Nothing moved during the day but as it started to get dark, one by one, they came out of the alder, off of the hillside and back to fishing. It was amazing to see that many bears but there wasn’t a big bear in the bunch. We headed back to the tent for the night.
After a good night’s rest, we were up early and had a quick oatmeal breakfast. Once on the spotting knoll we started to see numerous bears but this time as they were leaving the fishing stream they all moved into the alder on the left side of the valley. There were at least 30 of them and it seemed like they were the same bears that we had spotted the day before. What a strange deal. It was like one big family. We didn’t see any during the day and again as it started to get dark they started to come out of the alder on the left side of the valley for a night of fishing. We headed back to the tent when it became too dark to see.
Back at the tent all we could talk about was how weird these bears were acting. None of us had ever seen this before, the number and the fact that they all went back to the same hillside at first light and came out as soon as it got dark. They were truly nocturnal.
The next morning the numbers were down to between 20-25 and they went to the opposite side again. That evening about 20 came out and we headed back to the tent. The largest bears that we spotted were 8 to 8 1/2" foot sows, no boars of any size. That night we decided that the next day we would take the raft over to right hand valley. We needed to find some big bears.
Glassing in right hand valley. (L to R) Dwight, myself and Brent.
Two kick out cubs in right hand valley.
The trip over to right hand valley was much easier than the trip in except for the braided area where the river split. We found a good place to camp next to one of the only alder bushes on the river. It was slow glassing with only a few different bears. There sure weren’t as many salmon in the feeder streams but the Dolly Varden were thick. The second day the visibility wasn’t good so in the middle of the day we started fishing for dollies. We had a contest seeing who could catch the most fish in a row. Brent won catching 14 for 14 casts with a single artificial egg and a single hook. My best was 7 for 7. It was a wonderful afternoon of catch and release and of course we had a few dollies for supper.
Brent fishing for dollies.
Two nice size dollies.
That night a major storm blew in with hard rain and really strong winds. It rained and blew all the next day. We thought the tent wasn’t going to make it. There were times it flattened down to where it was only a foot above our faces as we laid in our sleeping bags. I don’t know how it survived but it did. When we got back into Cold Bay, we were told that the storm had gusted over 100 miles per hour. The winds blew down a radio tower, blew in two aircraft hangar doors and blew a fish and game cabin apart and off its foundation. It was amazing that our little Eureka Draw-Tite tent made it. Thank you, Jesus!!
The tent after the winds died down a little.
The following day was beautiful and after not seeing any big bears we decided to head back over to base camp to see how it faired in the storm. Once we arrived and unzipped the tent we could see that the water level had risen at least six inches above its bank because of the waterlines left on our fiberglass coated food boxes that Brent had made at his taxidermy shop. Nothing had been damaged which was a blessing for sure. If the water was that high that meant it covered the whole valley floor which was over a mile wide but evidently right hand valley was higher in elevation and better able to disperse the water. I will have to say that when we set up the tent there wasn’t any indication that the alder patch ever flooded. I was just glad that we were in right hand valley during the storm.
The next morning presented passing showers. About mid-day Brent spotted a lone bear sleeping beside the stream. We looked him over the best we could and decided to make a stalk. Since Brent spotted him, he was the shooter and I backed him up with the .460 Weatherby Magnum. We slipped behind some small brush about 30 yards downwind from the bear. We continued to watch hoping he would get up. Finally, after about a half an hour Brent decided to shoot him where he was laying. He anchored the bow string and put the 30 yard pin behind its shoulder. He let the arrow fly and it went right over his back. The bear came up fast and looked around. We froze. The bear continued to look around as he changed positions by 180 degrees and laid back down. After the bear laid his head down Brent knocked another arrow and this time using his 25 yard pin drew the bow and let the arrow fly. The arrow struck right behind the shoulder but didn’t penetrate as far as we wanted. The bear came up roaring. I felt I had enough time to pass the .460 to Brent so he could finish him off. Brent shot him once using the 510 grain soft point and the bear ended up in the water. One more shot at close range and it was over. The bear turned out to be an 8’6” boar, not actually as big as we wanted but it was a good start. After skinning the wet bear we headed back to the tent.
Brent with his 8’6” brown bear.
The next morning having only two more days of hunting before pickup, we broke camp and headed down river. There had to be some big bears out there. We set up camp in the same spot that we had the first night when we arrived. We hunted on the opposite side about a half mile up the river were there was a good spotting knoll for glassing.
The next day late in the afternoon I spotted the largest bear that we had seen on the hunt moving across an open swamp. It looked like he was going to pass by a good alder patch where we might get close enough for a bow shot. We made our way over to the alder patch with good cover but as we came around the corner, he spotted us and started to run. Brent passed me the .460 Weatherby Magnum and Dwight got set up with his .375 H&H and the bullets started flying.
My first shot at the bear was at least 150 yards out and moving. The .460 had open sights sighted in for 25 yards. I placed the bead somewhere above him and fired. The blood flew but not from the bear. Where the shoulder strap attached to the barrel it pinched my fingers and drew blood. It felt like my middle finger which was behind the trigger guard had been broken and the checkered end of the bolt handle had taken the skin off my hand. After three shots and not even coming close I was ready to give up. Dwight hit him at about 200 yards the first time and then put him down at about 225 yards. During that time as I opened the bolt Brent would cram another 510 grain mortar round into the cannon and I lobbed another round somewhere out there. When it was over the bear was dead and I felt like I needed to go to the hospital. That gun about killed me. I haven’t shot one like that since. Brutal!! It was a big beautiful bear. He squared 9’5”. The largest bear that I had been in on so far.
Dwight with his 9’5” brown bear out in the swampy flats.
Me holding the .460 Weatherby Magnum with Dwight’s bear.
Larry picked us up the next day and took us back to Cold Bay. The following day Larry let us use his truck while he was out flying and checking his camps. We drove around the Cold Bay area checking things out and helped Larry load his plane off and on during the day. He finished flying around dark and told us he had to check on one of his guides who had hiked out of town hunting brown bear on foot. We drove down close to the fish hatchery at Russell Creek. Larry had the truck headlights turned so he could see on the other side of the creek. After about fifteen minutes of waiting we could the see the guide and his client approaching. We got out of the truck and the guide yelled, “how do I get across the creek.” Brent and I looked at each other, like what do you mean how do you get across the creek, find a place and cross. He yelled that he didn’t see any place to cross. Brent had his hip boots on and wadded out in the water just above his knees and said come this way. Brent extended his hand and helped the guide and client across the creek. I stood there just shaking my head in disbelief. He was a hunting guide? We left and Larry dropped us off at our room at the Reeve’s Hotel.
The next day we were off to Anchorage. Another great hunt! What a learning experience both about brown bear hunting and guiding in Alaska. I used most of what I had learned on that trip after Brent and I formed AAA Alaskan Outfitters especially, when it came to hiring guides. I hope no bystander would ever think about AAA’s guides as I had about the guides that I encountered on our trip. I would have never believed that in just a short five years Brent and I as partners of AAA Alaskan Outfitters would have our first brown bear season in the Cold Bay area and score with two B&C Record Book 10’+ brown bears.
Brent took this caribou on the hunt but neither of us remember anything about the kill. So strange that I could remember everything about the hunt except for Brent shooting this caribou.