I think luck definitely
has a lot to do with hunting. In May, 1984 I shot a 9 ½ ft.
Grizzly Bear in British Columbia. I wrote an article about
that hunt in our news letter “Front Sight”. This
Spring I booked a Brown Bear hunt with Sam Fejes’ Tsiu River
Lodge in Cordova, Alaska and was lucky enough to shoot a 10
ft. 8 inch Brown Bear with a skull score of 27-15/16 inches.
The day I landed at the
main camp in a rain storm, Des, the pilot, said to me, “Oh,
they must have one of the three-wheel Honda ATV’s out on the
strip.” Wrong! It was a big Brown Bear sow and her cub.
Before I had even gotten out to my spike camp, I’d seen two
bears.
After getting something
to eat and meeting everyone in camp, Tom Rigden took me over
to the rifle range to sight in my rifle. My rifle for this
hunt was a Ruger M-77 338 Winchester Magnum, 250 Grain
Nosler Partition Bullets.
The following morning I
met my guide, Brad Waitman, and we were flown out to the
Copper River Valley Basin Area. The next five days we spent
living in a tent glassing and spotting. During this time we
really saw some great sights. We saw lots of eagles, moose
and a Brown Bear sow and her cub get stalked by two wolves.
After circling the bears for about a half hour, the sow
drove them off. We also experience a small earthquake while
we were glassing the area.
Well, let me get to the
real thrill of my hunt. Brad climbed a big tree to do some
spotting in the swamp area we were hunting. In about twenty
minutes Brad came down and said that he saw a ten foot plus
Brown Bear about three hundred yards out in the swamp. He
told me to listen very carefully as he explained how we were
going to stalk the bear. He also mentioned that it looked
like the bear was on a dead moose kill. We needed to be down
wind of the bear and we were going to have to get very close
because it was so thick with brush.
Well, this is the time
you find our if your nerves are okay. I also thought it was
time for a chew of tabacco because I haven’t smoked for
nearly three years. I’m not sure how long it took us to get
just down wind of where the bear was, but I suppose it took
about an hour. The wind was blowing hard and it was also
raining, so that was in our favor. Anyway, as we slowly
moved through the water, I saw a movement out of the corner
of my left eye. The bear had evidently been lying on the
dead moose but sensed something was wrong. When he stood up
the only shot I had was at his head because that is all I
could see of him and we couldn’t get any closer. We were
within thirty yards of the bear and I knew if I thought
about the shot much longer I wouldn’t be able to hit the
broadside of a barn, so I took the head shot and luck was
with me again. My first shot took him squarely in the left
eye, me second shot hit the brush as he pitched forward, but
I think he was already dead before he hit the ground. He
really neve took a step after I hit him. In fact, he died
right on top of the dead moose.
Sam says he has a big
bear like this one, except he is 11 ft. plus and he calls
him Box Car Willie. Brad and I named my bear One-Eyed Box
Car Willie!
I would like to thank
Roger Card for getting me booked with Sam Fejes on such
short notice. Special thanks, also, to Dr. Kowaleski and
Roger Froling for recommending Tsiu River Camp.
Signed,
Dale Dean
