Bear Hunt

Yukon River hunt Aug 2003

August 24th 2003- Three co-workers (Brent Kaiser, Sheldon Longnecker and Jim “Willie” Williams) and I set out on a Yukon River hunting trip.

We rented a 18′ flat bottom boat with an 105 jet from the outdoor recreation center on Ft Wainwright and planned our trip for 4 days of Tier II moose hunting somewhere between Stevens’ Village and Beaver Village on the Yukon River. With 80 gallons of fuel, and what we were sure was too much gear for our little boat we left Fairbanks for the 3 and half hour drive to the Dalton Highway and the bridge that crosses the Yukon there. Four muddy hours later we arrived at the boat ramp on the Yukon River. We loaded, well maybe overloaded, our boat. After a quick test run, I was able to get our boat up on step. Everyone crammed on board and we were ready to go.

Not one of the four of us had ever set foot on the Yukon River, our only aids were a GPS and some maps I purchased at REI. The first half an hour was realativly uneventful other than our fuel consumption; we used 1/4 of our 40 gallon on-board tank. Shortly after that our first mishap. I was driving the boat at 25 miles an hour up river, the river was a mile wide at this point, suddenly we hit a sand bar. The boat was stuck everyone had to unload to float the boat free. Fortunately almost everyone had waders. Everyone except 6’4″ 240lbs Brent. Sheldon carried Brent on his back to the dry part of the sandbar, by the way Sheldon is 5′ 5″. Soon enough we were back on the water, except now Brent was driving, somehow that made everyone feel more comfortable.

As time and miles went by our speed was increasing with the demise of our fuel. By the time we reached Steven’s Village we had used a little over 20 gallons and knew we would not reach our goal of half-way between Steven’s Village and Beaver Village. Brent took the boat up the Steven’s Village slough, we thought we might see a gas station (ha, ha). 40 miles or so up river from the Dalton Highway bridge, we were dangerously low on fuel and need to find a place to camp and hunt. Using the maps and GPS I found a likely place off the main river. Kings Island Slough looked good on the map so Brent beached the boat and we looked around. Within 5 minutes Willie and I had spotted tracks, first some grizzly prints, then some wolf print and finally some black bear prints. There were no moose prints, which was the target species for Willie and Sheldon who drew Teir II moose permits this year, Brent and I were along for muscle and who knows one of us might get lucky and get a bear or something. Little did I konw. We drove up the slough a ways and camped at a spot with lots of driftwood. See map.

It was getting late after we had camp set up. The brush was thick on the Island, there would be no hunting inland on the island, especially with all the bear sign. We decided to get up early and walk the beaches of our Island the next morning. I had some trouble falling asleep, something about snoring coming from the other tents sounded too much like bears for me to rest easy. Morning came soon enough, Willie and Sheldon set off for a hike west, while Brent slept and I got the fire going, (my favorite part of any camping trip Willie and Sheldon soon returned and Brent still slept. Sheldon and I took off to the east, and said we would be right back. We hiked for an hour then deciede to turn around. Lots of bear sign very little moose sign.

After a breakfast of Peanut Butter sandwiches, we decide to load the rest of our fuel on board and see if we had any fuel to play around with. We filled the 40 gallons tank and had 2 gallons or so to spare. We decide to head for a bigger island with some big lakes just up river from our camp, to see if the moose would be and more plentiful there. 20 minutes later we were on the big island, map and GPS in hand. Navigating and crawling through dimond willow, with bear scat every ten feet is not my idea of a relaxing hunt. I was the navigator and I wanted no part of the front or rear of our line. It was raining pretty good. The GPS said we should be in the middle of a small lake, instead we were in chest high grass, still lots of bear scat, just wetter. We spent most of the day walking through the lakes of wet grass. No moose, no bear, just 4 wet hunters and 8 wet feet. We were anxious to get back to camp for lunch and a warm fire. Unfortunatley the engine would not cooperate with us. We had decied to float the boat part way back to camp to conserve fuel. When we cleared the main Island the boat would not start, two of us took turns paddling while the other two changed the spark plugs. We wern’t making much progess toward the north bank, but plently of progress down stream. New Sparks installed the engine still would not start. we were drifting a 3 miles an hour according to the GPS. We did not want to float back to the bridge at 3 miles an hour. Finally we figured out that the engine had lost its prime, a couple of squeezes on the fuel bulb and we were on our way back to camp.

Dry warm clothes and a hot lunch, put us all in the mood for a nap. Boots were drying by the fire, but the rain was falling steadily. I heard Willie up and stirring, Willie and I decided to setup a tarp over the fire to keep us and drying stuff dry. We set-up two tripod driftwood teepees with a long pole inbetween and a big blue tarp over the top. We used the rainwater off the tarp to collect drinking water to filter. The Yukon River water was too silty and we did not want to clog our filters. We had another hot meal. Dehydrated Lasagna for me, suprisinlgy yummy. At about 8:30 pm the guys wanted to walk the beaches of our Island again.

My boots were still wet, I did not want to get blisters and ruin the rest of the hunt. Brent and Sheldon head west and Wille headed out east. I sat on the chair with my slippers on and gun on my lap. I had a clear view in two directions up and down the slough, I watched Willie, then Brent and Sheldon disappear around the corners. I sat in relative silence under the tarp with the constant patter of rain and dripping of the collecting bucket. I only moved to add drift wood to the fire. About 45 minutes after they left I heard sloshing in the river. I looked over one shoulder, then the other and saw nothing. I still heard more sloshing, I got up to see the biggest black bear I had ever seen outside of the Zoo, coming across the slough right behind the tent about 100 yards away. I scurried over to a large log, laid down to shoot. Unfortunately my adrenalin got the better of me and I did not set the shot up properly. The next sequence of events seem to take place over a minute or so, but the guys heard the shots and said it was only about 20-30 seconds. My rifle is a Remmington .300 Ultra Mag Sendero, a beautiful gun that pack quite a punch on both ends of the gun. It holds 4 rounds and I keep an extra 4 on the shoulder strap. My first shot went, high and spashed in the water behind the big bear, he seem to turn and look at the splash and say what the heck was that. In my head I said,” Settle down Jon this could go real bad real quick”. I cycled the second round into the chamber as I noticed blood dripping onto my rifle from my forehead. The second shot hit home and the bear came running out of the water. I shot again and hit the bear in the leg, he danced around, and then began to charge right for me. I only had one round left in my rifle, I aimed and hit the bear on the run, but he was still coming. I had to put another round into my rifle, I was still suprised to see myself bleeding, I hadn’t realized I had my head so close to the scope on the first shot .

The fifth and final shot, dropped the bear about 10 yards from my postion. I took a picture of the bear and my shooting postion. I didn’t go near the bear till Willie, the first to arrive, got back. He walked up and kicked the bear, and said “Nice size bear, Burp.” I replied, ” Good, he is dead.” After a few pictures in the waning light we began the work of skinning the bear. The first time for all of us.

We finished shortly before midnight by the light of our flashlights, when Willie heard a growl. The hair stood up on all out necks, the rifles were in camp ten yards away. We turned the lights off and listened hard. Brent went to camp and returned with two rifles. No one heard anything, Willie leaned on the mostly skinned bear to finish and IT growled again. Willie had unknowingly pushed air through the dead bears vocal cords when he leaned on it. My dead bear had managed to scare me for the second time in one night.

The next day passed with no sighting of any animals. Willie really wanted a bear and stayed up after we all went to bed to get his bear in camp. Shortly after I drifted off to sleep I awoke to the sound of Willie’s 375 H&H and grabbed my gun and ran out of the tent in my underwear, Brent followed shortly after. Willie’s bear was across the slough about 370 yds away, I saw it run into the brush. We put waders on the crossed the slough which was only knee deep. I was worried about getting the boat out in the morning to head home. Across the slough we saw no sign of the bear other than the two well placed bullet holes in the bank. It was a long unsupported shot.

In the morning we packed up camp loaded the boat and headed back to the bridge. Out biggest concern was the fuel. We averaged 38 miles per hour vs ths 28 coming up river. We made it to the bridge with fuel to spare, well vapors to spare at least. We had what seemed like the best breakfast ever at the diner at the bridge and began the muddy drive home.

Before we hit paved road on the return trip, we had a flat tire on the boat. The one can of fix-a-flat I had was not sealing the tire. After we hit pavement we realized not only did we not have a lug wrench, we did not have a jack either. Using some blocks of wood and some logs from the side of the road, we were able to create a big enough fulcrum to get the tire off the ground and with a small wrench and hammer, we changed the tire.

I called a taxidermist before we hit Fairbanks. Dennis’s taxidermy in Fairbanks. He seemed impressed with my bear. He seemed to think it would score on skull size. I will have to wait about sixty days to find out for sure. I am getting a rug made, and a skull mount. Which will take about 9 months check back for pictures and updates.