Last week, I made the trip to Ketchikan Alaska to spend the week with my friend Jeremy Baum. We grew up together, and were two peas in a pod. Jeremy moved to Alaska several years ago and is a state game warden. He has always invited me to come up to hunt, and I finally got up off my duff and took him up on it. We pursued the coastal black bears from a boat. Looking for the bears at low tide and before dark in the tidal bays. The bears come out of the forest and feed on the green grass and anything washed up on the shore. The first day we looked at several good bays, but did not see any bears. The second day we saw a bear, but we were unable to stalk him as the wind was wrong. After spotting several other bears, we found one that was stockable. Although he was not huge, I decided to give it a throw. We paddled across the flats in a cedar canoe that Jeremy's grandpa had made by hand, We reached the other side and located the bear. Now with a rifle, this hunt would just about be over. But with a bow things are a little more intimate. I eventually found myself at 26 yards with the bear broadside eating grass. The most intense part is that just prior to finding a shooting lane, I made some noise and the bear looked up, right through me with his two little black eyes. For the first time I thought, oops I don't want to be a bear hunter right now. Bears don't have good eyes, and after I froze for some time, he went back to eating grass. Long of the short is that I made a very clean kill on a nice bear with my best friend there to share it with. The ingredients for a true trophy and a great memory.

South East Alaska is wild and beautiful, most of the coastal forests were old growth. with salmon streams spilling out of the mountains. The wildlife was awesome, I saw sitka blacktail deer, bears, whales, bald eagles (white headed beach vulchers), and seals. After returning from the bear hunt, we headed south and did some halibut and rock fishing. We caught ling cod, red snapper, halibut, a few small king salmon, and other assorted rock fish. At times the fishing was so good Jeremy and I both had fish on at the same time. We set crab traps out on the way down and when we returned, they were full of crab, over 60 in three traps, almost every one a keeper. Only in Alaska.

Jeremy's home is on the beach with a tree that the eagles like, every morning between 0400 and 0500 they are out side chattering,,,,Alaskan alarm clock. Any way, it was tough to go, I had a great time and I cant thank Jeremy and his wife Kristy enough for putting up with me. It was great to spend time with him, but I was happy to come home to Tanya and the pups.

First black bear spotted during the trip,,, the little black dot in the center of the photo (click on photo to enlarge.)

Photo of the black bear I harvested....1st animal with a bow.

Another look at the bear, the bears are rubbing, as you can see on his forehead.

Headed out on low tide in the tippy canoe.

Jeremy with a small halibut
Me with a nice one on
Red snapper..... it does not get any better than this.
This is the big one, what a workout. This fish is between 60-70 lbs.

A crab trap full of good eating.

A nice 15lb lingcod. Those boys have some teeth.

A waterfall into the ocean.