Alrighty... well we went on a few bear hunting trips. We didn't bring back a bear but we had many once in a lifetime experiences that left us speechless! Unfortunately, Adam wiped out many photos and videos of these experiences. Fortunately, he is a genius and managed to save them with a recovery tool (but a little quality was lost in the recovery, especially with the videos)! Please enjoy....
This picture is for our mamas..... look at the boils on that tree! You could make a whole set of bowls! So... people cut these off, w/o harming the living tree, and fix them up to be the most beautiful bowls, bathroom sinks, business card holders etc- depending on the size. We want to get into the business! :)
Not completely clear due to the melting that day, but this is a rather large griz track! The amazing thing is, this dude was roaming around the same area the black bear and her triplets were--- impressive she could keep them all alive! The mama black bear and triplets video is below. They are second year cubs which means she kept them alive all last summer and made a den large enough for the 4 of them over winter! That's one awesome mommy!
One of the triplets tracks.... we are assuming
So---you're going to say-- which black dot?!?! But in the tree with 2 black dots- the higher one is an itty-bitty black bear cub. It was the size of a cat! Mama is in the woods eating and wanted the cub to stay up in the tree. Well, we watched them for about an hour and a half and that cub was getting into all kinds of mischief! The mama kept scolding it and even slapped the tree it was in to to let it know she was serious! It was quite a hoot to watch! Unfortunately, we only had Adam's camera which doesn't have any zoom compared to mine...... lesson learned. ALWAYS have my camera and ALWAYS carry a gun ;)
The black dot at the base of the tree is the bear cub! He got in trouble for getting out of the tree. Not long after this, the mother followed the bear up the tree and they fell asleep for the night! A black bear's bed time is 11:00!
This is the wolf track from the wolf you will see in a video at the bottom of this post. The size of my hand! Yes- I said wolf.. for those of you who know I am terrified of wolves!
This picture is for mama Harris. What a beautiful day for a snow angel!
We found this old dude back in the woods. He must have been a monster, considering his antlers slant down from his skull! The rack was pretty chewed up and HEAVY, so we left it there.
My best buddy and me after taking the pups for a swim
The first (of many) bear track we saw. Decent sized black bear.
I have a whole series of these pics... Adam would throw the stick- Tundra would retrieve, drop it by Adam, and procede to soak him with a shake! It was hilarious!
Best buds!.... watching crazy Chena swimming! I have never seen such a thing.... Chena will purposely go out into the current and swim as if she were on a treadmill! She is unbelievably athletic and the strongest swimmer I have ever seen! We were dog-sittin Chena, so we put life jackets on both pups and took them up river with us. They stayed in the cabin while we hunted and we took them to swim and played with them in between. I'm not sure who loves our Alaskan adventures more.... us or the pups!
Our transportation for the week!
We saw 10-12 eagle nests along the river!
We also saw some pretty massive trees that had been gnawed down by a beaver. What an insane beaver! I wonder how long it took!
There were a few pretty waterfalls along the way.
This is a picture of my point of view of.... "feet in the sand"
Gorgeous view while boating to our next hunting spot... Denali is hiding in the clouds to the right.
Another view. One happy boat captain! .... until... the boat crapped out on us! We had driven 50 miles up river and tootled around while hunting during the days-- the boat did GREAT, that is, until we were 1/2 mile away from the dock on our return! LONG STORY-short= we had to get towed back but had somebody come out and checked out the boat for us so now it is ready to go for Adam's parent's visit and KING SALMON FISHING!!!
So that was our first trip. We boated about 50 miles up river and stayed at the cabin we had stayed at last year along the train route. We were thankful for our boat because it gave us more hunting opportunities and was a lot of fun. We hiked A LOT and sat A LOT on this trip. We saw the black bear with triplets, the black bear w/ a fresh new baby, the moose skull, a small/ average black bear that we decided not to harvest, and the wolf.
For our next trip, we decided to try something new. Since we had record snowfall last winter, there was still alot of snow and not much green in the area we had been hunting, meaning the black bears weren't really there yet. So we took up the offer of a friend who said we could try out his bait stand. A bait stand has to be registered with Alaska Fish and Game. The bait stand has to be clearly marked for others who might happen across it. Hunters given permission to use it must sign in with their hunting license number for the Fish and Game to check. This bait stand consisted of an old keg hanging from a tree, dog food, and syrup. It can go up on a certain day in May and has to come down on a certain day at the end of June. It is only legal to bait and harvest black bear although grizzlies are the most frequent visitors. It is illegal to try to scare away a grizzly as it is seen as harrassing wildlife. We got to this spot by 4-wheeler, climbed up the tree stand, and sat....and sat... and sat, watching the bait area. Here are some pictures from this experience...
We took the dogs for a "run".... they love going with for 4-wheeler/snowmachine trips. .....short trips
Hmm... okay. This is what we found one morning. This sturdy, stock pot was completely flattened by some big ol bear! We wish we would've been there to see it!
This lil fella visited us every day at the bait stand. He/she was a young bear who was VERY spooky and would take a bite, then quick look up and around, then take a bite and repeat! It was a pretty entertaining bear to watch!
This is the lovely hat that Adam's sister, Jess, made for him for Christmas last year. Weelll... I have claimed it and it suited me well. I was not spotted by a bear!
So perfect example of our dog's personality... Chena very gracefully jumped over the muddy muck and Tundra jumped right in and proceeded to lay down. This dog LOVES mud and being dirty... lucky us!
We got a bit bored up in the stand, so we played some games like "21 questions" and Adam started a squashed mosquitoe collection! We became creative with our mosquitoe squashing tactics!
A look at the "trail"... haha Adam had a hard time!
THIS WAS INTENSE!!!!! We heard some very strange noises coming from the woods and not long after, out popped 2 brown bear cubs, then a VERY protective mama, and then the last cub! They were too darn cute but she was too darn scary! Check out the videos below!
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She watched over them, checked the surrounding area, smelled the air, and made her "beware" noises while
they chowed down. She never once took a bite of food.
This is the video of the black bear mama and her 2nd year triplets. As you will hear- we didn't know there were three until they got up and moving. We did the "hey bear" to get them moving since they were in our path. Once again- taken with Adam's camera so not the best quality.
This... is.... the WOLF! We came down the stairs from the cabin, ready to cross the train tracks to the boat, when Adam looked up the tracks and saw this dude jogging at us! It didn't see us and Adam insisted on staying around to get photos/video while I was trying to yank him back up the stairs and in panick mode. He tried handing me the camera, but I quickly exchanged the camera for the gun in his hand. It was a lone wolf-- in a hurry to get somewhere--- perhaps a scout. It was not the least bit scared of us, just confused! You will see that it contemplated going by us anyway. So much for the theory everyone keeps telling me, "OOHHH, they're more afraid of you than you are of them!" Now I can say BullShitty! So as you will see in the video... the wolf goes to the right and up a hill...... to the cabin. So we ran back up the stairs and watched it continue on it's way. Later that day when we returned and let the dogs out- Tundra immediately smelled the wolf and went to the exact spot it had come over the hill. He was not happy about the visitor! I have mixed feelings about the event... I did NOT have a panick attack or cry and we had a VERY RARE encounter with one of Alaska's wild animals. BUT.... I was def more scared of it that it was of me!
This is mama brown bear (brown, not griz, because she has access to salmon) with her triplets. You can hear her defensive sound, see her smelling the air, and check out the adorable cubs with blonde rings around their necks. There is an itty-bitty and one that kept going back to check on mama. The one with the least amount of blonde on it was the mischevious one! I just wish we could've seen them play!
Well-- I know I have left a lot out.... I could write a book with all of the details of each experience. Again- we didn't bring any meat home but had AN AMAZING trip(s)!!! :)
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