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Due to a late winter our
starting point was changed from Seward, AK to Homer, Alaska at the
last minute, a welcome change for me as Homer is a favorite city of
mine.
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If you look close you can see 2
black bears on the beach.
Amazing scenery |
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Does it get any better?
Jim Sifers, Mike Morgan, Doug
Warren |
The cove where I missed my
first bear and cut open my eye/nose with my scope when I shot. Prone
position and not stable enough with my 375 H&H. I know, more gun than
I need for Black bears. It has become my favorite round and rifle for
my Alaska hunting. It is a customized Remington custom shop. Squared,
lapped, mercury recoil reducer, Timney trigger and coating inside and
out by IonBond. Topped off with a leupold 2 x 7 and to complete it for
weather resistance I am going to have a McMillan composite stock
installed this year.
The main reason for my decision
to go with IonBond for coating my rifle was because of the great
success that Kershaw knives has had with the same coating on many of
their knife models. The main knife I used was the ZT 0100 fixed blade
for most tasks.
ZT 0100
Although not necessarily
designed as a hunting knife it held up fantastic and really held up
the edge through my bear and assisting with a second and with it being
a coated knife of course no rust. What I really liked was carrying the
knife on my side in low slung holster style, it made it very
convenient and comfortable for use.
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Doug Warren (L) and Steve
Michels (R)
My shot was appx 70yds
from the side of a rock while standing in roughly 10 inches of ocean.
The bear dropped like a rock without even a twitch, he was a mature
boar close to 6ft.
I have to give a
tremendous plug to my friends at
Ionbond, just
prior to this hunt they coated my rifle inside and out for corrosion
resistance with their Black Diamond coating because of the saltwater
and just general overall wet conditions hunting near the Alaska coast.
I left the rifle alone on purpose during the hunt and while other
exposed metals rusted the rifle stayed free of any signs of corrosion.
I am confident I am set for all my future Alaska hunts with this rifle
and IonBond will be seeing a few of my other rifles very soon for the
full treatment.
Steve's words
"The day
couldn’t have been any better… After a missed
opportunity at a pretty nice bear, I was feeling a little down
in the dumps. Less than an hour had passed when out of nowhere
another bear materialized on the opposite shore of the inlet
where Doug had taken his boar. A second chance. It was a
beautiful sight. A light snow was falling as a flock of ducks
flew by us totally unfazed by
our presence. It took some maneuvering but I was able to get set
up in a perfect saddle formed in the rocks that had a layer of
moss that provided a natural rest for my
Ruger
M77. I carefully popped my scope covers, estimated the
range, took careful aim and slowly squeezed the trigger… wait
for it…. wait for it… DANG the safety's
still on! (Don’t laugh. We have all done it) I regained my
composure and took the shot. The mark was hit. A good clean
kill. A great trip with great friends. Will I be back next
year? I’m on it like a fat kid on a
Smarty."
Steve's Bear was shot
with Winchester's new 30-06
180 gr.
Supreme Elite XP3,
dropped it dead to the ground.
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The Echo knife by Kershaw was
another knife we used on this trip, another knife that performed
perfectly for every task. The only wish I have for this knife is to
have it coated for saltwater environments.
My buddy Jim Sifers from Waco,
TX with his bear
Jim's words
Alaska, a place that through
it's shear beauty actually defies description.
What more can a person ask for than to have a bounty of black bear
aboard that have been harvested, a line in the water catching fish and
a view in the background of an active volcano and breathtaking scenery
all at the same time while spending time with some of the most
wonderful and experienced people you could ever meet?
This is the closest you could ever come to heaven without actually
going there!
The hunt in my opinion is about the experience of being joined with
great friends, the harvesting of the animals is icing on the cake.
We were truly lucky all the way around and I felt fortunate to be a
part of it all!
The worst part is the urgency to return and once again do the things
that Ken, Doug, Steve, and myself truly enjoy, hunting, fishing and
being in the GREAT Outdoors experiencing the best of the Last
frontier. |
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Our Friend Ken Krieg from
Fairbanks with his nice bear.
Ken's words
The bear was
a mature boar that squared just under 6 feet (70 inches) and was
taken at 180 yards while he was approaching another bear on an open
beach. The skipper managed to put Jim and I on a large rock formation
out in the bay with about a two foot surf where I shot the bear with a
Savage model 99 in 300 Savage caliber using a Remington factory loaded
180 grain Core Lock soft point bullet. It was a two shot kill with
the first bullet breaking his spine and the second taking out his
heart. The drag to the skiff was about 12 feet.
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Mike Morgan of
Hunting Across America
and Steve Michels, sales manager for
Zero Tolerance knives
by
Kershaw
dragging out Mike's bear.
2006 bear hunt pg2 |
