Tag Archives: hunting alaska

When is an Alaska Hunting Combo trip too much?

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Trying to combine brown bear, elk, moose and mule deer all into one hunt is practically impossible.  Brown bear, by definition, live in a very limited area along/adjacent to coastal areas on mainland Alaska along with the various islands including the ABC islands (Admiralty, Baranof, and Queen Charlotte) as well as Kodiak and Unimak Islands.   With some exceptions including the Kenai and Katmai Peninsulas of Alaska, moose are generally not available in occupied brown bear habitat.  Likewise, mule deer are non-existent in Alaska.  Roosevelt elk are available on some of the Alaskan islands but I believe that they are on a limited quota and tags are hard to come by.  So, the brown bear combination is not practical – most folks that hunt brown bear do so stand alone, although Sitka blacktail deer are available in some areas in conjunction with the fall hunting seasons.

Elk and mule deer are available in a combination hunt in many areas of the western US and southern Canada.  Specific areas of British Columbia may also be able to offer grizzly bear in conjunction with antlered game including elk and/or mule deer – but grizzlies in BC are very expensive.  Insofar as Alberta is concerned, I believe that the grizzly bear season is closed for non-resident alien hunters, but would have to double check that to be sure.

All in all, there are a number of factors to consider in planning your hunt.  If you are looking for a six-point bull elk in excess of say 320 B&C and a mule deer buck in excess of say 170 B&C then it is altogether a different ball game as males of this size just don’t grow on trees and it becomes a function of time.  Moreover, the more animals that you try to combine on one North American hunt, the more likely you are to fail on one or more species – the days of unlimited game populations are over, weather often can be a factor during the fall, etc.  The more animals you try to combine on one northern hunt, the more that these factors come into play and the more limited the areas that we have to choose from.   

My recommendation would be to look at either an elk/mule deer hunt or moose hunt.  You will need to decide if you want Canada moose or Alaska-Yukon, which will then dictate where we need to look and what other species might be available.  An Alaska-Yukon moose would also give an opportunity for black/grizzly bear and/or caribou depending on where you go – keep in mind that Alaska-Yukon moose hunts will run well over $10K/hunter depending on the area and the outfitter and trophy fees will be required for grizzly bear/caribou so you could be looking at $20K each by the time it is all said and done. Canada moose hunts are cheaper, but the moose are smaller and the opportunities for other big game species will be limited depending on where you hunt.  Western Canada moose are generally only available in southwestern Canada.

Brown bear hunts in Alaska are currently running anywhere from $10,800 to over 20K per hunter plus air charters.  Grizzly bear hunts in AK are currently running from about 8K to well over 13K depending on the area and outfitter.

Bob Anderson
Worldwide Hunting Consultant
Global Sporting Safaris, Inc.

Global Sporting Safaris’ Bear Hunting Blog is based in Casper, Wyoming.  Global Sporting Safaris, Inc. is a Full-Service Booking Agency established in 1991. We have a staff of Bear Hunting Consultants and Fishing Travel Agents with a combined 175 years of experience. We hold Integrity, Ethics and Honesty in high regard and deal with each client in a one on one basis

Coastal Island Black Bear Hunting – One of North America’s Premier Hunting Destinations

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Alaska is considered to be one of the premier regions in the world for big game hunting, and those who have already tried their hand at hunting elsewhere come up to Alaska to see if they can really make it. One type of big game that is popular and plentiful to hunt is the black bear. The Prince of Wales Island, located in Southeastern Alaska outside of Ketchikan, is one of the best areas to harvest black bear. This Coastal Island black bear hunting yields success rates of almost 100% for hunters, due to the plentiful nature of the bears here as well as their legendary size.

A black bear that is harvested during Coastal Island black bear hunting season can be over eight feet in length and up to 350 pounds or more, making this truly the region to harvest larger bears than anywhere else in North America. Most of the bears in this area will measure over six and a half feet, and their skulls are usually over twenty inches in length as well, making them massive trophies. This species is now recognized by Safari Club International as a separate trophy category. However, bears are not the only draw for nature enthusiasts who wish to see something truly unique. The Alaskan wilderness teems with life, however, and you may also spot whales, bald eagles, black-tailed deer, and wolves during your adventure.

For the most successful Coastal Island black bear hunting adventure, you will need to have access to tents that allow you to plant yourself directly in the thick of the woods here. If you have no experience with hunting big game, it’s highly recommended to use a professional guide for this purpose. Boats are also needed to hunt in between different small islands off the Alaskan coast. While hunting in some regions will consist of baiting the bears, most hunters here will choose to spot and stalk their prey the old-fashioned way.

This makes Coastal Island black bear hunting more adventurous and exciting than other types of hunts. Not for the faint of heart, this pits man against nature in an up close and personal way, and can be an excellent bonding opportunity for fathers and sons or groups of friends who are interested in taking part in something unique from other types of hunting. Alaskan black bear hunts take place during two seasons, either the spring or the fall, when black bears are most on the move.

Global Sporting Safaris, Inc. based in Casper, Wyoming.  Global Sporting Safaris, Inc. is a Full-Service Booking Agency established in 1991. We have a staff of seven Coastal Island Black Bear Hunting Consultants and Fishing Travel Agents with a combined 175 years of experience. We hold Integrity, Ethics and Honesty in high regard and deal with each client in a one on one basis.

If your Alaska Bear hunt is unsuccessful, what happens next?

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Here is a answer to a client’s question, “What happens if my Alaska bear hunt is unsuccessful?

First of all, you need to understand that this is a fair chase, free range bear hunt and there are absolutely no guarantees that you will harvest a bear.  Moreover, making a statement that we will guarantee a bear is not only unethical, it is illegal.  I can no more guarantee that you will kill a bear than I can guarantee that you will win the Power Ball lottery, as this is something that is completely out of my control.  Bears have a mind of their own, their activities are influenced by a number of factors including, but not limited to, weather conditions, temperature, availability of food and response to human presence.  By the same token, I have no idea as to your abilities and desire to hunt for a bear – which may require extensive hiking, long hours sitting and glassing in inclement weather, ability to close the distance on a bear in a short period of time over rugged terrain, or your ability to actually hit the bear with a well-placed shot once the distance has been closed.  These are all variables that are beyond our control.

What we can offer is a fair chase hunt that is conducted in an area known to have a huntable population of grizzly bears and in accordance with Alaska state law in regards thereto.  We can provide you with a licensed and experienced guide who will work hard to get each individual in your party a bear, but we cannot be held responsible for hunters who are not willing to invest the time and energy in the hunt to pursue a bear nor can we be held responsible for individuals who don’t know how to shoot.  In Spain, you get three opportunities to shoot an ibex – three misses and you are done with your hunt.

So, if booking a bear hunt is predicated on a guarantee, then you are 1) talking to the wrong person, and 2) you are hunting for the wrong reasons.  Hunting is all about the chase, the overall experience and honoring the animal sought.

Now, having said that – if you are still interested in an honest Alaska bear hunt at a fair price, then the outfitter is willing to make a concession in the event that an opportunity to harvest a bear does not present itself short of circumstances outside of our control such as weather-related delays, terrorist attacks, war, famine, etc.  For these situations, Global Sporting Safaris offers, and strongly recommends, that you purchase Trip Cancellation Insurance to reimburse you for the cost of your hunt plus travel expenses in the event that something unexpected happens.

Now, in the event that a reasonable opportunity to harvest a bear does not present itself, the outfitter is willing to offer a replacement bear hunt at a reduced rate at another time or a discount on another species in the future.  He is also willing to extend the hunt to ten days from seven to give your group an additional three days to harvest a bear considering that your represent four individual hunters who will be hunting 2X1 at the same time – at this point we have not discussed if there will be an additional cost for these extra three days waiting for your response.

Deposit Details

Considering that the hunt would be in 90 days, we would prefer to have the full hunt cost paid at the time of booking.  If that presents a problem for you, we would then consider 50% at the time of booking and the remainder in 45 days.

Additional Costs not Covered in Hunt Package

Once the hunt is booked, we will provide you with an invoice outlining all costs associated with said hunt and what is covered in the actual hunt costs.  We will also determine your final entry/exit points.

As I understand the current proposal, you will need to travel to Anchorage, Alaska where you will be met by the Outfitter and escorted to your hunt area – depending on your time of arrival.

Those costs not covered in the hunt package would include:

  • Airfare to/from Anchorage, Alaska.
  • Hotel/Meals before and after the hunt in either Anchorage or Wasilla.
  • Hunting licenses and tags required by the State of Alaska.
  • Transportation of your trophies back to your home or taxidermist.

Hunt Area

As previously stated, you would be hunting in Unit 12 in the Wrangell Mountains

Entry/Exit Point

Barring any changes, I would expect that your entry/exit point will be Anchorage, Alaska.  Will be confirmed upon booking and included in the invoice as stated above.

I believe that this answers most, if not all of your questions.  Going back to your comment about having had a bad experience:  Most of us who hunt have had a bad experience at one time or another – particularly in those cases where we attempted to book the hunt ourselves, myself included.  This is one of the reasons that most experienced hunters utilize a hunting booking agent, because we try and do our homework and we try to represent only those outfitters that we believe to be honest, hard-working and, perhaps more importantly, those outfitters that will provide our clients with a memorable and positive hunting experience.  That is not to say that things don’t change because they do – we have just recently had one of our South African outfitters do things that we would not have believed possible a year ago.  So this just goes to show that people and situations do change, but most booking agents try to stay on top of these changes – which is something that is almost impossible for the individual hunter to stay abreast of.

Going back to your need for a guarantee, as I said earlier there are no guarantees in hunting.  Again, most people that have hunted for any period of time have had unsuccessful guided hunts, with the lack of success attributable to any number of issues.  I have hunted for more than forty years and I have my share of unsuccessful hunts.  I went on a guided trophy mule deer hunt in Idaho about five years ago and never saw a shootable buck because it was warm and we did not have a sufficient amount of snow to push the bucks down out of the high country in Wyoming – not my fault but certainly not the outfitters fault either and I neither sought nor expected any recompense from said outfitter.  I had a similar expedience in Arizona about three years ago on a guided elk hunt – this time the weather was initially hot and dry and the elk were not moving.  Then the weather turned and we received about a foot of wet, heavy snow that made travel in the back country impossible so I went home empty handed.  Once again, this was not my fault, just bad luck   I can keep going about Coues’ deer hunts in Arizona, bear hunts in Alaska, elk hunts in New Mexico, etc. which were unsuccessful – that’s just hunting and there “ain’t no guarantees”!

In closing, I want you and your party to have a good hunt but I don’t want you to have unreasonable expectations or get angry because you expected to take a bear and didn’t.  You need to keep the overall experience in mind and remember that there is much more to hunting than merely pulling the trigger.

Now, if you are still interested, I will be happy to book a hunt for you and I will do everything in my power to make your hunt both safe and enjoyable, but I will not guarantee that you will kill a bear or any other animal for that matter.

Thanks,

Bob Anderson
Worldwide Hunting Consultant and Certified Wildlife Biologist
Global Sporting Safaris, Inc.
307-473-1268.