Bear Camp
May 29 2006Originally featured in Eastmans’ Bowhunting Journal issue 19
“Four hunters, four record book bears taken with four arrows.”
Our last trip up to Prince of Wales Island, Alaska had us basking in a very warm glow of bowhunting success. On that trip, Guy Eastman filmed Roy Roth and I arrowing a couple of trophy black bear. Our bears were easy Pope & Young qualifiers and being that this was another public land Do-It-Yourself bow and arrow hunt, we were more than satisfied with our bruins and the accompanying footage of the hunt. This hunt was featured on Eastmans’ Bowhunting Volume 1. Roy and I, like many of you, have been doing the D-I-Y thing for years. We’ve been doing all the research, scheduling and putting our plan into action long before Do-It-Yourself had its own acronym. Where we bear hunt can be a tough place to get into and out of at times. There are no roads for miles, no phones, and for us, no other human contact whatsoever. But, bear in mind; it is precisely because of these factors that the hunting is so good. And while the bear bait game is still the same regardless of where it is played, the players are definitely not. Down in Oregon, where we began baiting some 15 years ago, we were pumped if we had a bear hitting with a four-and-a-half-inch track and it usually took three weeks to get that first strike. Here we expect a six-inch track and if we set a bait that doesn’t get hit in one day, we are bummed. Undeniably, this is bear baiting heaven.
Bear Crack the Recipe
May 22 2006
Bear Crack Recipe
Ingredients: Marshmallows, powdered Jell-O mix, syrup and granular sugar
1) Fill up a decent-sized pan, one that your wife or girlfriend is not going to need back I might add, about halfway with marshmallows. Dump in a half a package of powdered Jell-O mix; add a quart of syrup and a pound or so of sugar.
2) Set pan on a single burner propane stove and bring to a slow boil. Stir occasionally while letting the Bear Crack boil. The sweet smelling smoke emitted from this concoction then wafts through the timber and pulls all those big bear in like they were on a string. This is some good stuff and once the bears are hooked, look out. Sometimes there is very little you can do to keep them from coming to the bait whether you’re ready for ‘em or not.
3) Just for those special occasions, we also have a separate pan to fry up some bacon while at the bait and then dip it in the Bear Crack. We called this candied bacon and oh boy, we only do this if there is somebody available to serve sentry. Those big ol’ ornery boars can only stand so much before they just up and decide to crash the baiting party.
4) After the Bear Crack has boiled for about five minutes or so, we dump the liquefied mixture onto dog food, nearby stumps or anything else in the area that we don’t mind whether it gets torn up or not.
Just like Mom used to make!
Alaska Spring Bear Memoirs Part 3
May 15 2006
The Conclusion
What a hunt! Three of us, on a do-it-yourself, public land bowhunt had harvested 5 good black bear, with four of those being P & Y class. That’s a success rate of 167%. It simply goes to show, there are high quality public land hunts out there for guys willing to do a little homework. Our formula of success in the finding of these black bear infested lands of Alaska was simple—remote local in prime bear country. Southeast Alaska is home to a huge population of trophy class bear and there are miles of remote bays and shorelines like we hunted that these magnum bruins call home. All you have to do is find them!
Alaska Spring Bear Memoirs Part 2
May 15 2006
Not only were the next few day were spent hunting (fruitless endeavors), but also we went crabbing and shrimping by day and laughing and general merriment by night. It was a great experience to share this tiny island with such great people. Far and away the most exciting times were our middle of the day baiting excursions. The four of us would check the baits we would not be hunting that evening and/or set new potentially “slammin’” baits. We had about six of them going now and the full effect of creating “bear crack” junkies was starting to become apparent. On more than one occasion, as we were burning our bear dope, replenishing the bait and talking, bear would come in. These bear were coming in while we were talking in normal voice tones, not even trying to be quiet. This proved to be quite unnerving as each time it was the dominant boar that was trying to crash our party. It was easily apparent that these big bruisers had no fear of us and simply thought they could run us off like so many subordinate bear. They were right!
Guy went out with me again to a bait we named, “Mom & the kids bait” as we could always count on seeing a sow and her two grown cubs. We had basically befriended this trio. Eventually, they left us there, seemingly sitting in solitary confinement until just before dark when a good-sized boar came in.
Hot Gear for 2006
May 03 2006
When setting up a do-it-yourself out-of-state archery hunt, as my good friend, Roy Roth and a fellow contractor friend of Roy’s, Jim Bowker, and I were in the midst of doing, even the greatest optimist wouldn’t lay odds on a success rate much above 67%. If two out of the three of us killed bears, we would have to consider the trip a rousing success. We made plans to travel out southeast Alaska way to do a little spring black bear hunting come May, and with a touch of cliché-ish foreshadowing: “Little did we know what was in store for us!”
Alaska Spring Bear Memoirs Part 1
May 02 2006
Other than hunting season, this is one of my favorite times of the year
because now is when all the hot new gear and products are released.
Sportsmen’s Edge Multi-Vitamin Supplement formulated exclusively for
Robinson Labs, Inc. is one of these items. I had the chance to get my hands
a few sample bottles of the tablets to try out this past season and I can
say firsthand, they do make a difference.
Isn’t that what it is all about in hunting? Finding something that will make a difference, regardless of how slight the difference is. It is commonly the little things that determine success or failure and for me, on tough hunts in the rugged mountains, I many times push my body to the breaking point. This is where Sportsmen’s Edge comes in. While I did start taking the tablets regularly, twice a day, months before season, I think that where they really paid for themselves was at the tail end of my long backcountry bivy hunts.