The Grizzly Bear track on the left was made by a bear that lives in the section of wilderness where I hunt. He is very large but careful to keep himself out of sight. We will see his tracks that were made before we got there, but never while we are there. This track measured 8" across and made a definite depression in the packed dirt. The way I determine how many bears are in this valley and what size they are, is by examining the tracks they leave during Salmon season. They will all be down along the river at this time of year for the easy pickins'.  Many times we have been concerned about having moose meat in camp overnight when a moose is shot, but we have yet to have a problem with bears. We usually take the meat out the next day though, just to be one the safe side.

This is a photo taken by my friend Will Holden, of Anchorage. He was Salmon fishing with friends at a popular place for 'dipnetting' called 'Chitina'. He had the unpleasant experience of having  this  Alaskan Brown Bear decide he wanted Will's fish. This photo was taken when the bear was false charging. Immediately after this, he charged for real. Will was trapped on the edge of a drop off, but fortunately for Will, the bear misjudged and went over the drop off. Nice pic Will, have any spare underwear with you? As you can see in this pic, many times there is not a tree in sight when you need one. This could have been a very tragic ending, but fortunately the Lord was looking out for Will this day. This is the reason that people here do not go anywhere away from the populated areas in Alaska without  a large caliber side-arm. It is just good sense and good insurance.

This photo is not very good, it was taken with a little instamatic. The year was 1976 and shows a record class Caribou. Note the height and girth of the antlers,  he was truly spectacular and also a victim of circumstance and chance. He was shot at over 800 yards with a Remington 6mm w/100gr. bullet..........Was I ever surprised !

My hunting partner for this trip was George Eli, a good friend and very experienced outdoorsman. We were attempting to take a track rig into some very remote country for a sheep hunt. We came to a ridge that was boulder strewn and had to stop the rig to look for a way through the boulders. I waited with the rig while George picked his way up to the top, looking for a safe way to get the track rig up there. He disappeared over the ridge and was not in sight for about ten minutes. I was enjoying the warm Sep. sun on this high ridge, when  I heard three shots ring out. I was alarmed because George had only taken his .357 mag. handgun with him. I just knew he had run into a bear and had to defend himself, I do not consider a .357 mag. adequate protection for bear in Alaska. Grabbing for a rifle, I took the first one that came to hand, a Remington 6mm. This was not a gun I would normally choose for bear, it is much too small, but in my haste, that was what I found myself with as I topped the ridge.

I found George about halfway across the top of the ridge waving at me excitedly. Well, I thought, at least he was not hurt! When I got to where he was he said that he had jumped a caribou out of some thick willows. He saw that it was a really nice bull and decided to try for it with the handgun, he was very close when he saw it. I asked if he thought he had hit it and he said, yes, he had, but he was not sure where. He pointed in the direction the caribou had gone and we walked over to the place where the ridge dipped sharply into a "saddle", then rose up again beyond the saddle. Way off in the distance, down in that saddle, was the caribou. He was moving in the deceptive gait that caribou are notorious for that can put a lot of distance between them and you. Looking at the extreme distance with doubt in my mind, I asked again if he was sure he had hit it. He affirmed that he was sure he had. oohhh me!

Again I gazed out across the vast distance that separated us and the caribou. I did not really think I could make the shot, I had never shot anything at that kind of distance before, and I knew that this was at the extreme limit for this gun. Laying down on the ridge top, I used a low boulder for a rifle rest, I only had a 4x scope on this rifle. I held the crosshairs what looked like four feet over his back, took and breath and exhaled slowly, gently putting pressure on the trigger. One shot rang out and we just watched. Fortunately, the bull had turned sideways and stopped. From the distance there came the sharp sound of bullet hitting antler....I had been a bit too high. The shot must have stunned the bull because he just continued to stand there. Again I took careful aim and touched off another round, this time there was the unmistakable sound of the bullet hitting where it should. It was far enough that I could not see if the bull flinched, but he did lay down after a minute or so.

We paced off the distance to the caribou, the best we could come up with was somewhere in the vicinity of 800 yards, give or take a little because of the rough ground. The bullet had gone into the chest cavity just a bit high and was laying just under the skin on the other side. It had missed any ribs, but did take out the lungs. We knew immediately that this was a very large caribou. Most caribou can be easily handled by one man, this one took the both of us. he was more like a small moose in body size. We had a long pack to get it back to where the track rig was, as it turned out there was no way to get the rig on top of the ridge. We would have been disappointed in our plans for a sheep hunt, but this caribou made a bad situation turn out right.

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