Alaskan Brown Bear - Close Quarters Encounter - Lessons Learned

[khesser]

My takeaway on this ! And at the risk of not being judgmental, I only have a question
" They flew by float plane to the general area where they then took Zodiak boats across the bay to where the tent camp was set up."
Why not just have the float plane drop them off at the campsite ?
And by the way I remember quite well my first Dangerous Game/ brown bear hunt in North America, Alaska , my pH and I did everything perfectly. LOL!

Depending on the tides they might have had to land in a different location and take a Zodiak to get to their camp. There is a place on Kodiak I hunt where you can’t land unless the tide is up and even then you better time it right or you’re landing further out and taking the Zodiak in.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

My takeaway on this ! And at the risk of not being judgmental, I only have a question
" They flew by float plane to the general area where they then took Zodiak boats across the bay to where the tent camp was set up."
Why not just have the float plane drop them off at the campsite ?
And by the way I remember quite well my first Dangerous Game/ brown bear hunt in North America, Alaska , my pH and I did everything perfectly. LOL!

A buddy of mine and occasional poster on AH just did a brown bear hunt on the Alaska Peninsula. They landed in a float plane on a freshwater lake, slightly inland from the coast. They transferred their gear down to the beach and then took each of the 3 hunters to 3 different camps via Zodiac. The bay was fairly large and the waves were rough.

 

[Wyfox]

@JG26Irish_2 I'm assuming this is the hunt you were referring to.

 

[HankBuck]

@JG26Irish_2 I'm assuming this is the hunt you were referring to.

@Wyfox: good video and good hunt, they saw a lot. I can’t 2nd guess any of their decisions because just “one well placed shot” would’ve made all the difference.…I was surprised that at 200 yards away that Bear even SAW the girl walking, their eyesight sucks and the girl was in an over grown brushy back ground (Not against a white snow background??). Poor shot decisions (when to shoot?) and poor bullet placement = many lost trophy’s. The late day time, the up hill position of the bear, I don’t believe were the main problem - poor bullet placement is the reason they lost a trophy…it happens and to their credit they kept looking for that Bear the rest of the Hunt.

 

[sureshot375]

@JG26Irish_2 I'm assuming this is the hunt you were referring to.

Seem like nice folks, just not really up for that kind of hunting.

Guide should have never initiated the stalk at such a late hour. Never should have given the green light for the blonde bear bait. He should have also got a solid hit in on the bear. He seems a bit green.

Hunter never should have taken that first shot. His head wasn’t even on the rifle. He just got scared and shot in the bushes.

Not having ammo on your person during a DG hunt obviously not ideal.

Bear hunting doesn’t seem like the ideal content for these YouTube hunting couples.

 

[JG26Irish_2]

My takeaway on this ! And at the risk of not being judgmental, I only have a question
" They flew by float plane to the general area where they then took Zodiak boats across the bay to where the tent camp was set up."
Why not just have the float plane drop them off at the campsite ?
And by the way I remember quite well my first Dangerous Game/ brown bear hunt in North America, Alaska , my pH and I did everything perfectly. LOL!

David, Yours is a valid question and I wondered about that as well. I was surprised to see the PH and helpers piling all of the teams gear and the two clients into Zodiaks for transport over what looked to be about a mile of open bay to the other side. I can only speculate that the terrain may have created wind conditions that were a problem for the float plane pilot or that the PH wanted to make a more stealthy approach. I honestly do not know.

 

[pilar]

Some of you guys are pretty quick to judge based on that video. They made some mistakes in the backcountry and shit hit the fan, they owned it. They both are very accomplished and experienced hunters.

The posted video is Tana Grenda guiding her brother, she's an Alaskan resident.
Here's a podcast with Adam Grenda(Tana's husband), he goes into some detail on what happened on that hunt and why.

I would say without hesitation that the Grenda's are pretty amazing humans. My circle is pretty tight and they would be welcome in it.

From what I’ve seen with the Grenda’s I have to disagree with your statement about them being amazing, their social media points to them being manipulative at best
but I don’t have any face to face experience with them, they seem Successful in working on sociAl media illusion

 

[Scott CWO]

First time I’ve seen this video. As a brown bear guide, my takeaways are:

1. A 240 yard setup for a possible first shot is too far for a brown bear or any dangerous game animal. This isn’t a deer or plains game animal.

2. A bipod on a rifle on the Alaska Peninsula is not a good idea. The devils club brush is too high for a bipod and a bipod can get caught by brush on follow-up shots in the heat of the moment when you need to be able to move unencumbered. Use a pack instead and setting up on the backside of the knob was a mistake that might have been avoided by carefully setting up on the front side of the knob with a backpack rest so you could see the bear the entire time.

3. The wife or a guide getting the attention of the bear at 240 yards would not have been a problem at that distance with a better setup if you could see the bear approaching the whole time but setting up on the backside of the knob was not good, as I mentioned earlier. Big boars in the spring will investigate anything resembling another bear to see if it is a sow in estrus. This has happened to me several times. The problem in this instance is that the setup was not good from the beginning and the bear went out of sight before reappearing very close. Shooting should have commenced earlier in this instance.

4. Due to the devils club brush (as seen in this video) and alders on the AK Peninsula grabbing at everything you are wearing, it is impossible to wear an open uncovered ammo belt on your waist or rifle stock without losing ammo so hunters need extra ammo in pockets and in a covered soft ammo pouch on the waist. This is also why I carry a CRF CZ550 bolt rifle that holds five rounds down in the magazine. I’m betting this guy’s rifle was push feed and held just two or three rounds in the magazine. Unfortunately, most guides and outfitters are not engaged enough with their clients as to exact clothing and gear to bring. The famous Kodiak guide, Joe Want, sent his clients a very detailed list of what to bring and he would be pissed if the hunters didn’t follow it exactly. I don’t get that carried away but I do send my clients a list and a few things on it are non-negotiable. This hunter should have had more ammo on his BODY.

5. With a better setup, the time of the day and late hour would not have prevented me from hunting this bear. It depends on the terrain and cover. Cameras also make it look darker than it really is in actuality. On a $35k hunt, I will hunt to just before dark if the setup is good and fairly open.

6. The eyesight of a brown bear doesn’t compare to a sheep or antelope but it is not as poor as some people think. It’s about like human eyesight I believe. I have been spotted by bears out to 400 yards but I don’t think they could tell exactly what they were seeing and the dominant boars will often approach to figure it out in the spring. Big boars usually move slowly and don’t look around as much as smaller bears because they have little to fear. I think this leads people to believe they can’t see very well. Younger bears are nervous, move faster and are always looking around. Younger bears are worried about a big boar eating them. I’ve seen it happen.

7. As for food in a tent, I never allow it in the client tent but on the AK Peninsula, the bears are incredibly well-fed (salmon) and not nearly as hungry or aggressive as in the interior. On the AK Peninsula, I cook and sleep in one tent and the hunters sleep in a separate tent. I would not cook in my sleeping tent in the interior or Canada. I’ve never had a problem on the AK Peninsula. I do sleep with my rifle loaded and on “safe” but have never had a bear in camp in 18 years on the AK Peninsula.

 

[JG26Irish_2]

Scott CWO - Thank you for your insightful commentary. Very useful to those seeking to learn from others. As with any challenging or dangerous endeavor, the details do matter and my take was that the hunting party that included the guide and the couple made a number of small errors that all combined to place them out of position and not quite prepared enough at the critical moments leading to the loss of the bear. A good 1st shot would have likely led to a much more successful outcome. Having enough ammo to make that later 2nd followup shot could have as well. Earlier, I said that at least they walked away unharmed other than maybe a bruised ego. So, in the end it can be counted as a semi-successful hunt. One that they can learn from and improve upon. Hey, none of us are perfect and I have had my share of foul ups over the years.

The only one that led to the loss of the animal was many years ago while attempting to harvest a doe during a whitetail deer muzzle loader season, I took a standing offhand shot at a deer with a 50cal iron sighted flintlock. I was a fairly accomplished marksman and the shot was only about 50-60y but I pulled the shot hitting the deer too high and a little too far back. It left a good blood trail and we tracked it about 200y up a mtn and then down the other side. However, the trail led into a tract of land where we did not have permission to hunt and were not able to contact the land owner to attempt to gain permission to search for the wounded deer. At that point we had to give up the trail. It happens, and it sucks but only taught me to be more careful to insure that the critical 1st shot is placed well.

 

[1dirthawker]

6. The eyesight of a brown bear doesn’t compare to a sheep or antelope but it is not as poor as some people think. It’s about like human eyesight I believe. I have been spotted by bears out to 400 yards but I don’t think they could tell exactly what they were seeing and the dominant boars will often approach to figure it out in the spring.

+1

 

[andrew_ellis]

@JG26Irish_2 I'm assuming this is the hunt you were referring to.

good video and good hunt, they saw a lot. I can’t 2nd guess any of their decisions because just “one well placed shot” would’ve made all the difference.…I was surprised that at 200 yards away that Bear even SAW the girl walking, their eyesight sucks and the girl was in an over grown brushy back ground (Not against a white snow background??). Poor shot decisions (when to shoot?) and poor bullet placement = many lost trophy’s.
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The late day time, the up hill position of the bear, I don’t believe were the main problem - poor bullet placement is the reason they lost a trophy…it happens and to their credit they kept looking for that Bear the rest of the Hunt.

Oh Lord, it’s such a shame they lost that trophy! The conditions were far from perfect, but I’m impressed they kept searching for that bear till the very end. I probably would’ve thrown in the towel way earlier.