Thanks for the offer. I believe I would like to help you with that problem!

I take one blackie every year, and eat the meat as well. But I just want to get my first brownie. I think it would be quite a thrill.

I’ll let you know in a couple months if I get any good looking ones on camera. I always see a few, but a lot are small, sows or ugly .

Words to the wise: bring a come-along, or rope-along. Makes dealing with big bears much easier.

WH if you get a bait going in Homer you will have no problem taking a brownie!! We took several when I lived down there a couple years ago. Had a much much higher proportion of browns compared to blacks. Just food for thought.

Definitely. Got a 55 inch bull moose with my dad in MN back in the late 1980's. That's a big one for MN. Anyway, shot it out in the BWCAW out of a canoe. Just the two of us broke it down and packed it out 8 miles, but mostly by canoe. We used the "come-along" a lot when butchering that critter. Now he hangs in the house with me here in AK. It's a great place for him, and a great memory of a hunt with my pap. And I imagine its the same way with a big brownie.

Get yourself one of these skedko's. It is the newer version on the Army litter. We use it for bears and bou.

This guy was a toad 9'6" We drug him to the boat, then took the boat out on the trailer, from the boat to back of the pick up As AV said a rope along or a come along helps!

John - where do you get that skedko? Looks like it could be a bit wider! Nice bear!

I brought a 400+ pound black home last summer, whole, by myself. WITHOUT a come-along. The good part was, I literally dropped him right on the beach, on a big rock that I could back my boat up to with the tide coming in. And, I dropped him right where he stood. The bad part was, once dead, nothing but a big blob of jelly! It took all I had just to get him into the splash well of my boat, and tie him in there and call it good.

Shot him right before dark, otherwise I would have butchered him on the spot.

Love bears and bear hunting stories...



Not much of a photo but the night before my camera was dead and it was too dark anyway. The next am bright and early I flopped him out of my boat and drug him to a spot where I could put him on a tarp and skin/butcher. I've been eating burgers the last two nights. He's good! Sure was a fat one...

You can pick them up at the Army surplus store in Anchorage, or go on line and find them. I especially love them when bou hunting in the tundra. It also helps protect the hide if you get one good enough to rug out.

Yeah, I learned my lesson a few years ago. Killed a large brownie, (9-3"), on a flat at low tide, right before dark. Stupidly decided to deal with it in the morning. Tide came up just enough to soak the bear. Next morning, I have a soaking wet bear with total rigor. An absolute nightmare. Had to skin a leg, then chop the leg off the carcass. Repeat for back leg. Then ropes to alders, trying to roll and repeat.
For those that have dealt with a large, soaking wet bear hide, you know what a task it was getting it into the boat.

WH. Did you wait to gutt him till morning?

I didn't gut him. Often don't gut my critters when there is no reason to. I can get all the meat from the outside (quarters, backstraps, neck) and the skin and skull. Tenderloins? I don't want them THAT bad. They are small, and that is the only thing I'm missing, along with a little rib meat. Believe it or not, you can even get the tenderloins without gutting if you know what you're doing, and are super careful. They are separate from the gut cavity.

You don't even have to keep black bear meat in the summer/fall, but I like the meat any time of year, and I get the lions share of it without driving myself nuts for every tidbit.

In at midnight. Up at 5. Not that much time passed.

For spring bears my go to is a heavy plastic tarp., after field dressing.
Ive drug them out to the boat over tide flats and mud quite a ways....saves the hide and meat quality by keeping it clean. A tarp and paracord are just a handy thing to have onboard. Hope ya thin down the brown bears down there.

Ok - I don't think I ever wanna do that - unless I absolutely have to. I would for a 9 foot brownie but there are better ways, I see. When your body is beat, and it's been a long day, and the skeeters are coming out - you can talk yourself outta stuff pretty fast! That is exactly what happened with this particular bear...

Thanks Ross. I will keep that in mind. I have friends coming often. Many/most want to hunt bear, and they always want the hide and skull. Sometimes the meat, and when they don't want the meat, it is mine. We have some sons with big appetites who love it, and it never goes to waste.

If there is daylight and the body is able - I usually just break them down on the spot. Bag them up and bring them to the boat. I usually have help - but not always. Luckily, we have not wounded one and had to chase it and pack it out. The only one I have ever had to pack out was one that I climbed to the alpine for. I did that to myself because it was a very special bear. But now, I'm feeling pretty satisfied in that department

What a spectacular day to be out on the trapline! If you have read my journal, you know I have been getting my hinder kicked this winter by the wind. But yesterday? What a perfect one! Glassy calm water made everything a pleasure. It was a little hard to "say goodbye" to the wolverine trapping season. But this perfect day made it easier. I came to Alaska in Mid-January with the goal of catching a wolverine. I started setting traps in early February, and got my first wolverine in less than two weeks. Though I didn't catch two, I am perfectly content to have caught one! I learned a TON, and have some great ideas on what I want to do differently next season. An earlier start. More sets. And where I will put them - for starters. So all the wolverine sets are now pulled. I'm getting a full body mount of the wolverine I caught, and will be sure to share when I get it back. Thanks to all who helped me get this fabulous start

I went out with the intention of just pulling my wolverine sets, but since the day was so perfect, I decided to make the most of it. So when I made good time and finished pulling the cubbies early, I transitioned to working on my wolf line. A quick check revealed that I had nothing - but a lone wolf has been hanging around more than anything (except the ever present coyotes). This wolf travels alone, and comes by regularly. He appears to be pretty wise. I have seen him somehow avoid my snares. I spent a fair bit of time yesterday tracking him, and learning his habits and haunts. I tidied up some sets that had been knocked down. I hung some more where he had traveled. Half of them, I hung in necked-down areas where he had been two or three times. I have a bait back in the spruce. Judging by the tracks - the eagles have been landing out in the open, and then walking in to the bait some 20-30 yards. The eagles have been decimating my bait, along with the coyotes - so every week, I have to keep replenishing it. I'm going through it fast, but should make it till the end of March - when I plan to pull everything.


Here is where a large coyote approached one of my wolf snares, took a look, and backed off.


My "lone wolf." I don't know if the picture does him justice - but I have had a large pack come through, and this one's feet are as big as any I have seen in the area. I really want to catch him! But he is sly. Something tells me I won't catch him near the bait. Likely if I do, it will be 1, 2, 300 yards away or more.


Most of the spots, I didn't photograph, but this one I paused to take a pic. I hit him here, and the next spot a hundred yards away where he left the alders and went into the spruce.


I don't know what it is about this spot, but the lone wolf likes it. He doesn't pee there - at least not that I can see, but as you can tell, he spends a lot of time walking around in this little area. I posted this picture a week ago - asking and wondering if I should set it. I was thinking more about a foothold. But yesterday, I saw where he had returned again. He came in and out the same way both times, so I hung two snares in there. Lets hope.

Still trying to figure out the wolves! And having a blast trying and learning. I currently have 6-10 snares which I think are too close to the actual bait site. I think this weekend, I am going to pull them out and put them in better spots, further out. I also have four leg holds I want to put into production. It is just a matter of finding the perfect spot. Even if it isn't perfect, I need to get them out there. They are doing NO GOOD riding around with me in my boat. So Saturday or Sunday, I will go back and really fine tune things as best as I can, and will report back then. One of these days, I hope to be reporting my first wolf catch. I've got a month here to get it done.

You are doing it, WH. Great effort tends to bring great rewards.
I tend to do line maintenance in summer, and fall, building and re-building cubbies, replacing boxes destroyed by bears, replacing this and that. Goods times.

I was thinking about that yesterday. There are the areas where I see wolves going all the time, but they are way too wide to trap. But if I "narrowed them down" and gave the wolves time to adjust and get used to it - this would give me a lot of trap opportunities for next season.

As hard as trapping the salt is, I have grown to love the area where I am, and the more I get to know it intimately - the more I see opportunity. I know you like to trap the salt primarily. I do too, but I want to go up the drainages - but the only way I can do that legally is to go on foot. Lots of work! But if I get an earlier start next late fall/early winter - I can spread it out a bit. And like you say, do some prep work in summer.

Those coyote tracks are teaching you something. My guess is that coyote did not like the sticks you added to that snare location. Minimal disturbance including human footprints is helpful. Snare the coyotes and you will learn much faster how to snare as they are a constant and not on a circuit like the wolves. If you can snare coyotes regularly you will also catch wolves.