USA: Kodiak Bear, Frazer Lake Fall Hunt DB212

[roklok]

Figured I would share the story on my latest hunt here in Alaska. Last year a friend of mine recommended applying for the Frazer Lake fall season brown bear tag. I have a good interior grizzly on the wall, but never hunted Kodiak or coastal brownies. I put in for DB212 and in contrast to my usual luck on Alaska's draw drew a tag the first time I applied ! He had hunted the area probably 20 years ago and saw quite a few bears. Once I had the tag, I started to line things out for the hunt. A good friend of mine agreed to accompany me on the hunt, I made arrangements with Willie Fulton (pilot in grizzly man documentary) who owns Kodiak Air Service, and was lucky enough to snag the South Frazer Lake forest service cabin for the duration of my hunt. I also shipped an inflatable canoe with 2.5 horse outboard to Kodiak via Span Alaska. There are two cabins on Frazer lake, one at the south end and one at the north end. Frazer lake is 8 miles long and between half a mile to a mile wide. Reserving these cabins can be quite challenging because the area is quite popular with deer hunters as well. Willie dropped us off at the South end of Frazer Lake on November 2nd using his Beaver on floats. After we got our gear packed to the cabin, we did a bit of glassing from the cabin and saw a sow and a cub about a mile and half away on the opposite side of the lake. We did a bit of deer hunting the first evening but did not see anything. On the second day, I shot a nice doe across the lake from the cabin. We also saw some goats on a mountain behind the cabin. The second evening, my hunting partner shot a doe near the cabin. Both deer that we shot the second day came in to a deer call. We were thinking it would be pretty easy to shoot our limit of three deer each. I was a bit disappointed not to see any bears despite shooting and butchering two deer. I had heard lots of stories about "dinner bell bears" on Kodiak who were attracted to rifle shots. On the third day we decided to go after the mountain goats we had seen the previous day. We climbed above them, and were working our way down to where we had last seen them when the wind swirled, and when we got to where they had been we saw them across a canyon climbing another ridge about 900 yards away. The third day ended with no success on goats. deer, or bear. We also glassed across the lake to the kill site of my doe, and saw no evidence of bears on kill site. We hunted fairly hard on fourth day but saw no deer, despite glassing and calling. High winds and waves kept us from crossing the lake. The wind on the long lake would kick up waves bigger than I had ever seen on a lake. On the 5th morning we crossed the lake again, and saw a nice buck trailing a doe. I called a few times, and both deer headed our direction. I told my partner to shoot the buck when he got the opportunity, and I would try to take the doe. We were able to shoot both deer at around 210 yards. The buck was a nice heavy blacktail, a good representative of a mature Kodiak buck. We butchered and quartered the two deer and packed them back to the canoe. There were still no bears seen in the area, despite tracks and sign, and it did not look like bears had found the kill site of the first deer I shot several days prior. I was getting a bit discouraged, we were spending a fair bit of time glassing, and at that point had shot 4 deer without much evidence of bears being in immediate area. There were also still salmon in Dog Salmon River which made it all the more surprising we were not seeing bears. We hunted the next two days without seeing any deer or bear. It was quite surprising to me, I expected to see more of both. We spent a fair bit of time glassing and calling, but just couldn't turn up any deer. We did see that a bear or bears had visited the kill site of the deer from the 5th day in our absence and had cleaned up the bulk of the offal. On the evening of the 8th day, we were near the kill site of the last two deer, and my partner observed a bear about half a mile away on the side of the mountain. We watched it through binoculars for a bit, and was in the process of getting out a spotting scope to determine if it was worth going after, when we saw another bear walk out of the alder brush about 300 yards away and walk in our direction. We quickly forgot about the bear on the hillside and set about determining if this closer bear was a shooter. It looked like a good bear, with smaller ears and a broad head. We watched it walk downhill to the kill site of the day 5 deer. After watching it and determining it had no cubs and was a good sized bear, I shot it at 230 yards with my .375 H&H with 270 grain TSX. It was a good hit, but I followed up with two more quick shots to anchor it and keep it from going in the alders. It was just another example of how quick things can change while hunting, from discouragement to success in a matter of seconds or minutes. The bear ended up being a 8 foot squared sow, not a huge bear by Kodiak standards, but a decent bear. The skull measured 21 and 3/16. The biologists later told me during sealing that it may have been a barren sow, as the mammary glands were not developed and nipples were hard to locate. We spent the next day fleshing out the bear hide. We hunted again on the 10th day, but just couldn't turn up any more deer. It was an awesome and memorable hunt despite not seeing the amount of deer or bear that I had expected. We hunted 9 days and saw 4 bear, 4 goats, and 8 deer total. A few notes to anybody looking to do this hunt DIY, a boat of some sort is a necessity !! It allows you to cover a whole lot more ground than walking in the extremely rough and tangled Kodiak landscape, not to mention crossing the lake. Also take a fishing rod, the rainbow trout fishing is unlike anything I had experienced on Dog Salmon above the falls. 20 plus inchers, all fat and lively. Also, if I was to do it over, I would take my truck on the ferry from Homer, it got expensive fast shipping the boat, then paying excess fees with the airline, as well as taxi service in Kodiak. Hope you enjoyed and if you have any questions I will do my best to answer them.

 

[WyoBull]

Enjoyed your story and congratulations on a very successful hunt! Post pictures when you can.

 

[roklok]

Why cant I post pictures ? I had them attached to first post, they don't show up.

 

[Mekaniks]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing

 

[roklok]

 

[roklok]

 

[roklok]

 

[roklok]

 

[roklok]

 

[roklok]

 

[roklok]

Goats are the 4 white specks on ridgeline to right.

 

[WAB]

That’s a really good Kodiak blacktail buck!!!

 

[gillettehunter]

Nice buck and a very pretty bear. Good job on sticking with it.
Bruce

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats and thanks for sharing!

 

[Red Leg]

Heck of a buck. Congrats on that bear.

 

[MarkB]

Congrats on a successful hunt. Your heavy representable Kodiak buck is what I would call a trophy. If I could find a bush and wild Columbian black tail on Van Isle like that he would be going on wall.

Good Job

MB

 

[Firebird]

Great hunt-thank you for the write up and photos

 

[roklok]

Thanks guys, it really was a nice buck. I would have been super happy with him, but even happier my buddy was able to get him. I wanted him to kill a nice buck since I had the bear tag. I have seen bigger blacktails, but not often.

 

[Foxi]

enjoyed your story also.
Waidmannsheil from Munich,especially to this barren sow.
Can you say anything about the age of the bear?
You were happy with the way you were equipped ?
Shoes, rain and cold protection.
Did you bring your sleeping bag ?
Downfilled or polyester?
Was it warm enough?
Would you do anything better in terms of equipment?
Best regards
Foxi

 

[roklok]

Foxi, I was not given an age yet of the bear. I was told by the biologist at sealing that I should find out at some point, but may be a a year or two till they send that information after examining a tooth that was pulled. I was pretty happy with all my gear, especially the inflatable canoe a buddy lent me. The hunt would not have been a success without a boat. I did bring my own sleeping bag, it is nothing especially high end, just a -25 rated poly fill heavy bag. We had a heated cabin so it was a bit overkill on insulation, but we were prepared to do a remote spike camp if necessary. Through hunting in Alaska, I am done with paying high prices for supposed waterproof breathable high- tech clothing. I have always been disappointed. Other than true rubberized rain gear, none of the other miracle waterproof clothing has lived up to its claims. I have transitioned to buying good quality insulating layers, quick drying outer layers, and a set of Helly Hanson or Grundens true rubberized rain gear.