A few of us die hard Alaskan bear hunters had our proverbial bear baiting futures hanging in the balance for a time late last year. Thankfully, Alaskans went to the ballot box and soundly defeated a measure that would have banned the use of bait to hunt bear. This round went to the hunters but in general ballot box wildlife management is a bad deal. In my opinion you are dancing with the devil anytime decision-making authority is taken away from the professionals (Fish & Game) and put in the hands of the largely unqualified (voters).

Me and my good buddy, AK resident Roy Roth, let out a big sigh of relief when learning of the AK voter’s results. We began baiting bears nearly twenty years ago and considered hauling bait, hanging tree stands and arrowing bears a rite of spring. Heck, we’ve already had bear baiting taken away from us once, back in 1994. That was the year Oregon essentially shut down bowhunting for black bear in the dog hair thick country we called home after voter’s passed a measure outlawed the use of bait to harvest bear. After a couple springs of no bear hunting, we took our game to Alaska and have never looked back.

Roy and I have had more than our share of great Do-It-Yourself bowhunts for monster black bear in southeast Alaska over the years, but for Roy, this spring AK bear hunting got much more interesting. In April, Alaska Department of Fish & Game, in an effort to ease pressure on the decline moose herd made it legal to hunt grizzlies with bait in a very remote part of Alaska where officials say the moose population is at the greatest risk.

As you may have guessed, once this program was announced, Roy left skids marks down his driveway racing to the Fish & Game office. He couldn’t get there fast enough to get signed up for his grizzly baiting permit. This was such a rare opportunity he even backed out of our annual POW hunt, which I thought was about as likely as pigs flying.

The hunt wouldn’t be easy. As mentioned, the grizzly area was tough to access. In order for Roy to get geared up for one of his many baiting excursions for the big bears he had to load his flat bed with bait and four-wheelers, plus tow his skiff as one bait required a river crossing and just in case he had problems with the skiff he also threw in an inflatable raft. Roy also tells me grizzlies are a lot more work than black bear in terms of shear bait quantity. A little pan full of Bear Crack and dog food isn’t going to get it done on these big carnivores. After getting loaded up, Roy would then head northeast on a seven-hour drive from his home in Wasilla to where he would be hunting.

After weeks of working the bait, Roy finally had a couple hitting. He says grizzlies are much different to bait than black bears especially in the spring as they’re rutting and the moose calves are dropping. Both these factors meant the big boars would be on the move and not likely to hang out at a bait site for too long.

As we all know hard work pays off and it did in spades for Roy the last week of May. Sitting on an active bait one afternoon Roy caught a flash of blonde in the brush just forty yards out. In the blink of an eye, the big grizzly was on the bait but as Roy relates, was acting like a Tasmanian Devil, in that it was flying all around the bait site tearing stuff up. Typically, a dominant black bear, knowing he owns the bait will be more relaxed. On POW the big boars seemingly have no fear and act like it. While the no fear attitude is likely the same, the behavior is apparently much different, at least in terms of Roy’s bear.

The grizzly then turned and padded off through the muskeg and didn’t return for three anxious hours. When it did, Roy knew he’d have to be ready to act quickly. As the bear moved toward the bait, Roy came to full draw, anchored in and took a deep breath. In a flash of carbon, as the hulking mass of muscle, tooth and fang turned broadside, Roy buried an arrow tight behind the boar’s shoulder. After some tense blood-trailing, which fittingly went through the site of a recent calf moose kill, Roy recovered his first ever inland grizzly and what a monster it was.

Roy’s bear green scores over the Boone & Crockett Awards threshold of 23” and will probably rank in Pope & Young’s top twenty. This was the first grizzly taken under the newly initiated grizzly baiting program and the first ever killed by a hunter over bait legally in the state of Alaska.

For Roy, spring bear hunting in Alaska this year took on a new and heart pounding twist. Congratulations Roy but don’t make a habit of it, POW wasn’t the same without you.

Bonus Q & A

Cameron,
What Under Armour did you use on your Wyoming elk hunt and how did it perform? Have you tried the Cold Gear by Under Armour? Robbie Crocker

Robbie,
I relied on UA’s Heat Gear almost exclusively on my September elk hunt in the high country of Wyoming. The Heat Gear was great. When running around the mountains you work up a sweat no matter how hard you try not too. By wearing Heat Gear as a first layer, the sweat was wicked off my skin and would dry quickly. Without it and given all the hiking and stopping to glass in the biting wind, I most likely would have alternated between being hot and then chilled. The Heat Gear allowed my body temp to stay more consistent, which means overall, I was operating more efficiently. This fact cannot be understated when on a nine-day, extreme backcountry bowhunt at mountain peaks passing the 10,000-foot mark.

Last fall I spent a considerable amount of time in tree stands trying to wait out a big buck. During those times I wore UA’s Cold Gear. It worked perfectly and seemed to help keep me warm and more comfortable, which equates to more time on the stand and thusly increases the odds of tagging a bruiser. Thanks for the great questions. Cameron

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