Have any of you hunted coastal black bears with your trad gear?

[thinhorn_AK]

I’m hoping to go down to SE AK next year to look for black bears on the beaches as well as catch some steelheads on the fly. I’ve been reading a lot and practicing quite a bit with my bows but always looking for more info.

Has anybody done a hunt down in SE AK and been successful stalking on the beaches? Did you ditch the waders for the stalk? Did you use a raft or something to move around or camp on the beach?

Any advice or stories are appreciated.

 

[Aklongbow]

I have not , but a friend of mine has taken many spot/stalk Coastal brownies and blackies with #50 longbows in the SE . We always wear hip waders when hunting around any rivers/water . You never know when you will need to cross a creek or the tide starts back in .

 

[Aklongbow]

He always gets dropped of from a boat, then sits up camp and has a small zodiac to hunt from .

 

[Jdoc]

I’m hoping to go down to SE AK next year to look for black bears on the beaches as well as catch some steelheads on the fly. I’ve been reading a lot and practicing quite a bit with my bows but always looking for more info.

Has anybody done a hunt down in SE AK and been successful stalking on the beaches? Did you ditch the waders for the stalk? Did you use a raft or something to move around or camp on the beach?

Any advice or stories are appreciated.

I have not done this but if want someone to go with i am game!

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I have not done this but if want someone to go with i am game!

Thinking this spring, somewhere in SEAK, kuiu island maybe.

 

[Longbow Lunatic]

I haven't yet but am going to hunt out of Homer with Homer Ocean Charters the first week of August. It'll be my first time to Alaska and I'm counting the days (49 by the way). I've got a lot of friends who have been on that same hunt and I've picked their brains over the past year. Seems the popular choices for waders are to either wear standard hip boots, Chota Tundra Hippies with a pair of wading boots, or the Dan's Froglegs full time while hunting. The other option is to carry Wiggy's Waders in your pack and slip them on just when you have to cross a creek or stream. I opted to go with the Chota Tundra Hippies because I already had a good pair of wading boots to wear with them and they were highly recommended by friends who live and hunt up there. I just knew that I wanted something I wore the whole time hunting because from what I'm told, you spend a lot of time crossing and sometimes even standing for a while in the streams. Plus when we get dropped off and picked up by the skiff day we might have to wade in a few feet of water as well. Just seemed like the better option when compared to slipping something on and off all the time. And the nice thing about the Chota Tundra Hippies or the Dan's Froglegs compared to standard hip waders is that they can be folded down and still worn when you're not in the water.

The hunting, I'm told, is a lot of glassing the beaches but also still hunting up salmon streams that black bears are actively feeding on. Go up the stream until you get to a spot where there are a lot of dead fish carcasses along the shoreline, sit and wait for a bear. Definitely a hunt made for stick bows that's for sure.

 

[Jdoc]

That homer hunt sounds like a good time! I will be on the other side heading out of sewert on a friends boat for deer. I wanted to do a black bear hunt but we are chasing deer and friend has a brown bear tag so we will see how it go's.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I haven't yet but am going to hunt out of Homer with Homer Ocean Charters the first week of August. It'll be my first time to Alaska and I'm counting the days (49 by the way). I've got a lot of friends who have been on that same hunt and I've picked their brains over the past year. Seems the popular choices for waders are to either wear standard hip boots, Chota Tundra Hippies with a pair of wading boots, or the Dan's Froglegs full time while hunting. The other option is to carry Wiggy's Waders in your pack and slip them on just when you have to cross a creek or stream. I opted to go with the Chota Tundra Hippies because I already had a good pair of wading boots to wear with them and they were highly recommended by friends who live and hunt up there. I just knew that I wanted something I wore the whole time hunting because from what I'm told, you spend a lot of time crossing and sometimes even standing for a while in the streams. Plus when we get dropped off and picked up by the skiff day we might have to wade in a few feet of water as well. Just seemed like the better option when compared to slipping something on and off all the time. And the nice thing about the Chota Tundra Hippies or the Dan's Froglegs compared to standard hip waders is that they can be folded down and still worn when you're not in the water.

The hunting, I'm told, is a lot of glassing the beaches but also still hunting up salmon streams that black bears are actively feeding on. Go up the stream until you get to a spot where there are a lot of dead fish carcasses along the shoreline, sit and wait for a bear. Definitely a hunt made for stick bows that's for sure.

Sounds like a great hunt, I’ll be out goat hunting that week so looking at a spring black bear bow hunt.

 

[calebflies]

Dropping a comment to follow. Will be black bear hunting in Maine and Oklahoma this year.