Brown Bear

[FullCryHounds]

This is the brown bear I got one of our clients last May on the Alaska Penninsula. Ron just finished mounting it. I never got to measure it but it was around 10'.

[Jake Bell]

What kinda gun are ya carrying when your guiding them big lads? and good work, that things HUGE!

[DC DOGGIN]

Nice Dean but can you give us a bigger picture . Thanks.

[livetohunt]

Man looks like a toad where were you hunting at up there? When I worked up there in 95 there were some toads around the kenai river from where I worked all the way into Kenai was loaded with them. Also a few good ones down south of there to dont remember the name of that river But when the reds were running good there were more bears then rocks.

[FullCryHounds]

Sorry about the size of that picture, it was small when I got it and it gets real grainy if I enlarge it. I use a .375 down on the Penninsula when guiding for brown bear. This bear came out of our HooDoo lake camp which is about 300 miles down the Penninsula. We only take two or three bears every other year out of this area so they have all kinds of time to grow up. Most of the bears we shoot down there are between 20-30 years old! I put together a 30 minute video of this hunt but am having a hard time finding a site that can store that large of a file.

[livetohunt]

Sounds like you guys got a great spot up there an do a good job of managing them. Is that out there by Cold Bay area? I heard of a HooDoo Lake out that way.

[DC DOGGIN]

Thats awesome Dean, knowing the that people like your self actually care more about the wildlife and manage it at such great levels, rather than filling up your pockets which you very well could with trophies like that big boy. Very cool and good to see such nice bears and neat photos.

[FullCryHounds]

Close to Port Moller and Nelson Lagoon.

[Brent Sinclair]

That is an amazing animal and an awesome mount as well.
A bear that size is hard to come by today, and when you do take one ,you feel some remorse, but it is sound game management harvesting those old boars.
Some people do not realize how big a true 10' brown bear is...it's hide alone can exceed 100 lbs in weight and more if it is wet from the rain or falling in the water, no easy task to carry back to camp in that country.

[007pennpal]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking about. How far did you carry that hide? Those bears are huge. I think I need to saddle train one to get me up the mountain to the tree.

[FullCryHounds]

This particular bear was about 4 miles from camp. The hide wieghed 186 lbs. with the feet and skull in it. We couldn't get the plane anywhere near it so we had to pack it out. Theres no trails, quads, sleds or any other way to get them out. On these big bears, you have to cut the hide in half so you can get them out. We make a cut in the shape of a shallow W so when you sew it back together, you match up the points to help get it lined up the same way. We did have a packer this year so we each took a half and headed to the lake.
Here is some more pics and the write up of the hunt:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15036&hilit=alaska+brown