Kodiak Red Lake Bear Hunt Advice Thread

[backyardsniper]

I have been presented with a very unique opportunity, one of my longtime best friends has drawn the ever elusive Red Lake bear tag in Kodiak. He is a resident, therefore he will not require a guide, so I have the chance to go as his assistant. He has lived on Kodiak for several years and has done some float trips in other parts of Alaska. I had the good fortune to get to go visit him once before when he had a Road system tag. We did a little hunting on that trip and even had one in the cross hairs but he decided to pass on it. We are both moderately experienced hunters, him having hunted in Alaska and various other places, I have hunted Wyoming with the LRH group hunt twice as well as several other trips to different places and a lovely 27 months in Iraq. However, you can always learn something new no matter how much hunting you have done, not to mention this hunt will certainly be on a different level than either of of have probably hunted on before.
So, I would be interested to hear your input, in particular any of you all who have actually done some of these style trips. That being, getting flown in and dropped for 15 days in bear country. Topics of interest would be, any unique pieces of gear that we may have over looked that are particular to this hunt, a proper protection gun for me, on the last hunt we did I carried a marlin 45/70 for defense but on this trip I'm leaning towards a shotgun with Brennke slugs, a benelli M4 most likely and some bear spray. Also tent reccommendations, my buddy has a Trango 4 man but we need to purchase a smaller lighter tent to carry in our pack for spike camp/emergency use. Any clothing that you recommend that works especially good in this area, rain gear and such.
Gear that we already have includes, Packs, spotting scopes, Binos, boots, stoves, shooting sticks.
Feel free to contribute any and all useful information that you have or that you are interested in sharing on this area and any gear that we may need to help us make this a successful.

Thanks guys

 

[69firebird]

Don't even hesitate about going, pass on it and you will most likely regret it. Unless you get offers like this all the time.

As for a gun. A rifle would be my choice over shotgun. Take your 45/70 again. There's an old USFS report the published for Gov agency's in AK about rifles and if I remember they recommended a .30-06 simple for recoil and next best a .458 win

 

[backyardsniper]

Unfortunately I don't get many offer like this. Ha ha .I may even take out a little loan against my 401k to cover some of the incidental costs just so I can make sure that I go 1st class on this and can fully enjoy it.
On the firearm note .I do have a 458 Lott and I may taken it instead if going the shotgun route .This will most likely be a once in a lifetime kind of trip so I want to make sure I do it right and enjoy it.

 

[Capt RB]

7600 carbine in 35 whelen. Handles fantastic short and if you can run a pump shotgun you can run this well. The 250's in this gun carry the mail with alot of cross section. A peep sight or the meprolight self powered day/night reflex sight. This is similar toa red dot without a battery or switch to worry about.
Trijicon 1x42 reflex is another with a larger aperture.
Both will go on a pic rail

 

[Ckgworks]

When I went to Ak moose hunting with archery, I packed a DE .50AE. My father in law asked why I wasn't carrying my .17 HMR which is much lighter.....He figured I could shoot myself with that just as well once a bear was chewing on me! (I was engaged, and almost didn't marry my wife after that one!) In all seriousness, if I ever go back into bear country with a bow, I will probably pack a 12 gauge with Dixie Tri-balls. I have played with these a fair bit and load them myself, and I can't imagine a more potent Bear load. If you don't know what they are, Google it, but its a 3" shell with 3 .60 cal balls stacked up. Out of my shotgun, all three balls stay in the size of my palm at 40 yrds.

 

[LRSickle]

I have been presented with a very unique opportunity, one of my longtime best friends has drawn the ever elusive Red Lake bear tag in Kodiak. He is a resident, therefore he will not require a guide, so I have the chance to go as his assistant. He has lived on Kodiak for several years and has done some float trips in other parts of Alaska. I had the good fortune to get to go visit him once before when he had a Road system tag. We did a little hunting on that trip and even had one in the cross hairs but he decided to pass on it. We are both moderately experienced hunters, him having hunted in Alaska and various other places, I have hunted Wyoming with the LRH group hunt twice as well as several other trips to different places and a lovely 27 months in Iraq. However, you can always learn something new no matter how much hunting you have done, not to mention this hunt will certainly be on a different level than either of of have probably hunted on before. It really will be on a different level than any hunt you've ever been on. Both on shear adventure and a new level of planning and logistics. Don't pass it up or you will regret it!
So, I would be interested to hear your input, in particular any of you all who have actually done some of these style trips. That being, getting flown in and dropped for 15 days in bear country. If you're flying in, contact Andrew Airways (Dean, Peter, Willy, Henny, Scooter,...) or Island Air (Bob, Eric, Taj, Titus, Chris...) or SeaHawk (Roland). I've flown with all these guys many times and every one was awesome. If you fly with any other service/pilot, PM me and let me know who it is. Topics of interest would be, any unique pieces of gear that we may have over looked that are particular to this hunt, A bear fence...honest. a proper protection gun for me, on the last hunt we did I carried a marlin 45/70 for defense but on this trip I'm leaning towards a shotgun with Brennke slugs, a benelli M4 most likely and some bear spray. I guess you can bring bear spray if it'll make you feel safe. For a backup I'd pick the same gun you'd hunt bear with if you had a tag in your pocket. That would probably be a rifle, right? A big one, but not too big that you can't shoot it. I'm not going to get into calibers. You'll get plenty of that advice from both hunters that have actually killed big bears and those that want you to think they've actually hunted them. I had a lady drop a Kodiak with a 300WSM and another guy miss a bear twice with a 375 H&H. Both at about 50 yards. Also tent reccommendations, my buddy has a Trango 4 man but we need to purchase a smaller lighter tent to carry in our pack for spike camp/emergency use. My son and I use a small four-man tent. If your buddy doesn't have a bigger tent that you can stand up in, I'd contact Kodiak Kamps in Kodiak and rent what you don't have or can't bring with you. They will deliver your rented gear to the bush plane company of your choice and come pick it up when you get back. Any clothing that you recommend that works especially good in this area, rain gear and such. It rains where I live 63% of the days a year (Afognak Island, 30 air-miles from Kodiak) . There's an excellent chance you'll get rained on. Get GOOD QUALITY rain gear and boots. I've hunted down in the Karluk, Frazer, Red Lake areas and there's a ton of brush and alders. It rains a lot sometimes. Even if it isn't raining the wet brush and grass will soak you.
Gear that we already have includes, Packs, spotting scopes, Binos, boots, stoves, shooting sticks.
Feel free to contribute any and all useful information that you have or that you are interested in sharing on this area and any gear that we may need to help us make this a successful. Bring a couple road flares to light wet wood. Buy some deer tags. Bring para cord and cloth meat bags to tie up your meat and food. There's cottonwood and birch trees around Red Lake you can tie up your meat in. If you find some that are in a strategic place that won't pollute your hunt, I'd consider camping there. Bring a water filter/pump. Buy a JetBoil.
There's a few thing. It's late....zzzzzzzz.

 

[LRSickle]

Just a pic from last fall to get you excited. The lady with me passed this one up. She wanted a boar.

 

[backyardsniper]

Thanks for the post. That is all some very useful info. In particular the part about the alders and the Bush around there being wet all the time even if it isn't actually raining. That makes perfect sense but I just hadn't really thought about it. I'm looking at the Kuiu Yukon rain pants and Jacket. It says they have a soft shell and are 100% waterproof but can be work everyday just like a regular outer layer. Is there any particular rain gear you recommend? As far as weapons go I think you're right. I'll probably ditch the whole bear spray thing all together and I may go with a rifle instead of a shotgun. I have a few choices to pick from. It would be for emergencies only so I would think stopping power would be paramount. I have a 458 Lott. Feel free to pm me if you want to.

 

[Pdvdh]

If your bear protection firearm is solely for charging bear protection, then the demand is different than for hunting bears.

For solely bear defense, the Brenneke slugs in a reliable repeating shotgun would be my choice. At 25 yds and closing, the ability to point and shoot lethal rounds multiple times is a priority. I trust a Rem 870 to function more reliably than any semi-auto, when my life is on the line. Any gun can fail to function, even an 870. But for reliability and simplicity of function and operation, 870s are used by law enforcement more than any other short range self defense long gun. It's the gun AK F&G issues to field staff for bear protection - for these reasons.

If you add hunting as a secondary use, where you may take shots at longer distances, then your 458 Lott would be perfect with iron sites or a low power scope. But there's no hunting seasons open on Kodiak during the spring bear season other than bear.

LRsickle has provided good advice.

 

[Pdvdh]

I'm not particularly good at judging bear sizes at longer distances.

The first time I was within 100yds of a 10'+ boar, I had no problem recognizing the size of the boar. Huge! Closer makes it easier for me to judge size.

If there's spring snow on the ground and you can get over to the prospective bear's tracks prior to shooting, that's a good trick to help identify the size of the bear. 8" width on the front paw is getting up there. 8 1/2" or wider - they don't come too much bigger. Free fire zone!

 

[Hatrick]

If your buddy has a backup rifle you could carry what you are comfortable with. If not take a rifle.

 

[hydehunter]

your Lott would be my go to gun all the power you might need and with hornady dgs bullets you can stop anything , I wish I still had mine

 

[backyardsniper]

I'm starting to lean towards that choice myself

 

[backyardsniper]

Thought I would bump this thread back up and update it a little bit. I'm looking at the Big Agnes copper spur hv3 expedition for our spike tent. I have a versamax tactical and an 870 tactical. Kind of practicing with both my buddy seems to lean towards me bringing the auto but the 870 is much lighter. I have purchased a jet boil mini mo. Looking at ordering the Sitka rain gear. I was going to go with kuiu but I believe there stuff is sized pretty small .I'm a big guy 2x/3x kind of big. Does anyone have experience with the terrain in the red lake area? Is it mostly steep and mountainous or is it more rolling and hilly? I have a set of Mendel perfect hunters that I wear for elk hunting. Are those sufficient for this area or should we bring rubber boots as well?