IMO I would take the pistol. For me it is much easier to keep a pistol on me 100% of the time compared to rifle. Get up to take a dump at night or a pee. pistol can literally be in hand. Working on skinning downed game. Pistol is on my side not leaning up against brush or laying on my pack.
Kodiak Spring Bear Hunt Tips
- Thread starter Da_Flyin_Bandaid
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JustSomeGuy35
WKR
I got my Spring brownie because he was laying on top of the only hill with snow still on it. Spotted a sow below the snow line the day before. Next day, she was there again but the big boy was laying on top. Probably trying to keep cool since temps had jumped to almost 50 degrees. We put the stalk on him and by the time I got there (3.5 miles away) he was heading for a creek.
Like others have said, the boars will likely be chasing sows and hugging snow lines and their hides are extremely heavy. My bear squared at 9'9" and his hide was well over 100 lbs. I was in great shape back then but I would not have wanted to carry it 10 miles. It would take you forever to get back to your truck and you'd risk injury as well.
Good luck!
Like others have said, the boars will likely be chasing sows and hugging snow lines and their hides are extremely heavy. My bear squared at 9'9" and his hide was well over 100 lbs. I was in great shape back then but I would not have wanted to carry it 10 miles. It would take you forever to get back to your truck and you'd risk injury as well.
Good luck!
Agree- been in AK long enough to have heard several friends describe their bear encounters where their rifles weren't in arm's- reach but their pistols were. I don't think I'd want to be skinning out an animal on Kodiak unarmed and test my speed against a bear at getting to my rifle ...
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I would be buying a new rifle.
VernAK
WKR
I've hunted B/G bears several times but any advice I could give you would pale in comparison to any advice you get from Joe Want. Joe lurks around this site. Joe's experience on Kodiak spans decades and hundreds of bears. He has a DVD full of advice. I usually seen Joe at gun shows but Covid cancelled much of that. IIRC, Joe began his career packing for Pinell & Talifson.
Check him out!
Check him out!
I hunted Deadman Bay in the spring of 2003, it is a great area. We camped on the north side of the bay near the fish and wildlife service cabin. There are not a lot of really good camping areas in the upper part of Deadman, but the spot we chose has some large cottonwoods for cover and setting up tarps, hanging gear, etc. There is also good fresh water there.
On Kodiak I always fly with Seahawk and have had great service from them. We rented a raft and motor from Kodiak Kamps. I've used Jeff's service a couple of times with good results. If you have reasonable weather you can access over half of the bay with an inflatable. We only really got pounded once and nearly had to spend the night out because the wind picked up. Two hunters and a raft/motor can easily fit in one beaver if you don't go overboard on your gear. Our load was right at 800 pounds and we took a lot of fuel and food, but took backpack tents.
If you don't want to get a raft, I would look at going in to Horse Marine Lake. There is some good country to hunt there and there have been some great bears killed in that country. On a goat hunt this October we saw a very solid boar fishing in the lake about 400 yards from our camp. This was one of those big boars whose belly looks like it is about a foot off the ground.
We saw over 40 bears on our spring hunt. Over half were sow/cub units. We saw three good boars: one was not in our hunt area, another was stalked to 75 yards and was determined to be too rubbed and the third was seen on the last day and was not in a huntable spot given the amount of time we had left. 2003 was a tough year and Tom Kirstein, the guide in the area was struggling too.
All of my Kodiak hunts have been from the last few days in April until about May 8-10. If you go too early, not enough bears will be out and if you are too late they will be rubbed.
On Kodiak I always fly with Seahawk and have had great service from them. We rented a raft and motor from Kodiak Kamps. I've used Jeff's service a couple of times with good results. If you have reasonable weather you can access over half of the bay with an inflatable. We only really got pounded once and nearly had to spend the night out because the wind picked up. Two hunters and a raft/motor can easily fit in one beaver if you don't go overboard on your gear. Our load was right at 800 pounds and we took a lot of fuel and food, but took backpack tents.
If you don't want to get a raft, I would look at going in to Horse Marine Lake. There is some good country to hunt there and there have been some great bears killed in that country. On a goat hunt this October we saw a very solid boar fishing in the lake about 400 yards from our camp. This was one of those big boars whose belly looks like it is about a foot off the ground.
We saw over 40 bears on our spring hunt. Over half were sow/cub units. We saw three good boars: one was not in our hunt area, another was stalked to 75 yards and was determined to be too rubbed and the third was seen on the last day and was not in a huntable spot given the amount of time we had left. 2003 was a tough year and Tom Kirstein, the guide in the area was struggling too.
All of my Kodiak hunts have been from the last few days in April until about May 8-10. If you go too early, not enough bears will be out and if you are too late they will be rubbed.
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