2008 Alaska Grizzly, Moose and Caribou
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 3:19 pm
The beach scene in bear country
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Grizzly country on the Omar River
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Had an outstanding season this year. Weather was incredible, no rain, clear skies most of the time, cool nights, just overall great. I left Denver on Aug. 30th and flew directly to Kotzebue, AK and Ron picked me up around 8pm. We stopped at main camp real quick then right out to spike camp for Grizzlies. Main camp is located on the Squirrel River. Ron established this camp back in 1989. The arctic grayling were thick right in front of camp this year.
I was back on the Omar River in the same camp we set up last year. My client flew in the next day. We saw 13 different bears the first day and he shot a nice 7 ½ foot boar on the evening of the first day. Unfortunately, it was walking down on the river bank and ended up in the river so the pictures of his wet bear didn’t turn out real good. Then Ron flew in his wife, Chrissy, because she wanted a bear and a couple of days later, she shot a beautiful blonde bear in the evening of the third day. I then headed back to main camp since we were done early and took out some caribou hunters. One morning, we heard a bull moose grunting across the river from camp so I grabbed Chrissy and off we went in search of moose. She shot him about two miles from camp after some calling and racking finally got him to stop long enough for us to catch up to him. One day, we flew up to the Wulik River for Arctic Char. The Wulik has world record Char and this year some big fish were there. Just about every cast you hook up, my largest two fish were 13# and 14#.
Back to another Grizzly spike camp with another client and his dad from back east. Great guys to hunt with, we had a ton of fun. He shot a real pretty blond bear the first evening but it fell in the river so again, the pictures don’t do it justice. Wet bears just don’t take good photos. Back to main camp again for another hot shower! A real luxury in the middle of nowhere. Spike camp showers consist of a quick bath in the 40 degree river water.
Ron and Chrissy’s daughter-in-law flew up and wanted a moose or caribou. I had been running up river about 6 miles from main camp and in three days, I spotted 6 different bull moose. They were responding to calls real well so I took her up river one day and we found a bull crossing the river one morning and ran a ½ mile to cut him off before he got back into the trees and she was able to make a perfect shot at 200 yards. The bull was 57 inches wide, not a huge bull, but not bad for her first big game animal ever. The next morning a sow and two cubs were already on the carcass.
A couple of more caribou hunters and I was about spent after 3 ½ weeks. Overall a great season. The Caribou were everywhere the first two weeks and more Moose then I’ve seen there in 12 years. I ended up with 3 Grizzlies, 2 Moose and 4 Caribou. Next trip, spring black bears out of Seward in May.
You can view all of my pictures at: http://community.webshots.com/user/FullCryHounds
Just go to the album: Kotzebue, AK, 2008
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Grizzly country on the Omar River
[/URL]
Had an outstanding season this year. Weather was incredible, no rain, clear skies most of the time, cool nights, just overall great. I left Denver on Aug. 30th and flew directly to Kotzebue, AK and Ron picked me up around 8pm. We stopped at main camp real quick then right out to spike camp for Grizzlies. Main camp is located on the Squirrel River. Ron established this camp back in 1989. The arctic grayling were thick right in front of camp this year.
I was back on the Omar River in the same camp we set up last year. My client flew in the next day. We saw 13 different bears the first day and he shot a nice 7 ½ foot boar on the evening of the first day. Unfortunately, it was walking down on the river bank and ended up in the river so the pictures of his wet bear didn’t turn out real good. Then Ron flew in his wife, Chrissy, because she wanted a bear and a couple of days later, she shot a beautiful blonde bear in the evening of the third day. I then headed back to main camp since we were done early and took out some caribou hunters. One morning, we heard a bull moose grunting across the river from camp so I grabbed Chrissy and off we went in search of moose. She shot him about two miles from camp after some calling and racking finally got him to stop long enough for us to catch up to him. One day, we flew up to the Wulik River for Arctic Char. The Wulik has world record Char and this year some big fish were there. Just about every cast you hook up, my largest two fish were 13# and 14#.
Back to another Grizzly spike camp with another client and his dad from back east. Great guys to hunt with, we had a ton of fun. He shot a real pretty blond bear the first evening but it fell in the river so again, the pictures don’t do it justice. Wet bears just don’t take good photos. Back to main camp again for another hot shower! A real luxury in the middle of nowhere. Spike camp showers consist of a quick bath in the 40 degree river water.
Ron and Chrissy’s daughter-in-law flew up and wanted a moose or caribou. I had been running up river about 6 miles from main camp and in three days, I spotted 6 different bull moose. They were responding to calls real well so I took her up river one day and we found a bull crossing the river one morning and ran a ½ mile to cut him off before he got back into the trees and she was able to make a perfect shot at 200 yards. The bull was 57 inches wide, not a huge bull, but not bad for her first big game animal ever. The next morning a sow and two cubs were already on the carcass.
A couple of more caribou hunters and I was about spent after 3 ½ weeks. Overall a great season. The Caribou were everywhere the first two weeks and more Moose then I’ve seen there in 12 years. I ended up with 3 Grizzlies, 2 Moose and 4 Caribou. Next trip, spring black bears out of Seward in May.
You can view all of my pictures at: http://community.webshots.com/user/FullCryHounds
Just go to the album: Kotzebue, AK, 2008