My Hunting Stories
Every now and then I will post a story written by one of my clients or grand kids. This story was written by Tom Wells and it was published in the Alaska Professional Hunter Magazine in 2002. I guided Tom on two more hunts where he harvested a 40" ram and a 60" moose. We had a wonderful time and I am proud to call him my friend.
This was the first story I wrote after Brent & I formed AAA Alaskan Outfitters in December 1983.
It was our first season and a great one.
"lt Pays To Wait"
As Brent Jones and I stood in the air terminal at Cold Bay
waiting for the Reeve Bird to touch down, I thought back to the
last three months of planning, equipment shipping, and camp
setup. Our first brown bear season as partners of AAA Alaskan
Outfitters was about to begin.
We had worked hard getting everything we needed, but I kept
wondering if we had forgotten or overlooked something. It was
too late now, though, for the plane had landed and our very first
clients, George Caswell, of Enid, Oklahoma, and Tim Orton, of
Walker, Minnesota, were standing in front of us. The excitement
of taking a big brown bear was evident on their faces. After quick
introductions, we grabbed the luggage and were on our way.
In the spring of 2006, my son-in-law, Sagen Juliussen and I went brown bear hunting on the Alaska Peninsula. We were in search of a big bear. As we sat on the spotting hill with the cold wind hitting our faces and chilling us within, I thought to myself, why am I here? I’m sure, at one time of another, that thought has crossed the minds of many Alaskan professional hunters while brown bear hunting during those long, cold, wet and many times boring days. And, I’m sure our clients as they sat shivering, were more than likely thinking, and we paid money for this! I have hunted brown bear in Alaska for 38 years. I have had some great experiences and some miserable experiences but as we say in the business, “that’s brown bear hunting.” My main thought however is, what is really the most important prerequisite for taking a 10’+ brown bear. Is it skill, patience or luck? I have personally guided on eight 10 footers with another 27 being taken by AAA Alaskan Outfitters Inc., in which I was a partner for twenty- one years.
