YukonJim
FNG
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2025
- Messages
- 23
My buddy had previously come to Alaska to hunt with me, but we were absolutely wrecked by poor weather. I promised that next time we’d get it done, and after a couple of years he made his way back up to try for a coastal black bear in Prince William Sound.
We had to again fight the weather and find a sheltered cove to ride out a late spring gale, but on our third night in the field we spotted this big bruin on the beach right across the bay from camp. Talk about luck.
It was 10:30pm at this point and getting dark fast, so the two of us hopped in the canoe and attempted a stalk. We were nearly busted when the bear decided to hurry to the next open patch along the shore, but we managed to divert and take (relative) cover about 240 yards away.
The tide rises at a rate of about 1” per minute, so I did my best to brace the canoe against the incoming water while my buddy lined up his shot. It was dark enough that we had to wait until he stepped in front of a fallen tree in order to clearly distinguish him from the dark timber behind.
The shot was a perfect double lung and the bear didn’t move more than ten feet before expiring just out of view. We didn’t know it at the time and nerve wracking as it was, we didn’t have time to wait any amount of time to go look for him. We paddled in to where we last saw him about five minutes after shooting and were relieved to find him dead.
We immediately got the photos out of the way and set to work gutting him. The tide was rising fast and by the time we were ready to drag him into the canoe, the water was already touching his rear paws. We did our best to get him in the canoe, with me standing about thigh deep in the water trying to hold it level.
My buddy climbed into the bow and I straddled the bear to counter the weight tilting us over, basically just on all fours on the gunnels of the canoe, which was a less than comfortable position to say the least. My buddy did his best to paddle back across the bay while I hung on for dear life as I’d almost certainly drown if I fell in with my chest waders on.
We finally made it, and it took a Herculean effort to haul the bear up above the tide line where we could properly skin and quarter it. I squared the bear raw at 7’3” which is massive for one of our black bears and with a 20” skull, makes the Boone and Crockett record books. Absolutely one of my more memorable pack outs and a great hunt!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
