Swimming for Brown Bear

In the fall of 1976, I was guiding bear hunters for Ron Hayes and Don Knighton on the Alaska Peninsula near Stepovac Bay. Don flew me in early with my camp supplies and tent. He said he would be back as soon as possible, weather permitting, with my hunter to guide. I set up my camp one quarter mile from the river on a nice vantage point. The first night I woke up to bears fighting too close to my tent. I kept my 375 close. The next morning, I started glassing before daylight and saw a real monster bear leaving the river, climbing up the mountain with a big belly full of fish. He had been catching fish all night and was a smart, nocturnal, old timer monster bear. I saw 14 other bears on the river, mainly sows and cubs and smaller boars. WOW, I thought I was in bear heaven, and I was anxious for my hunter to arrive.

The Alaska Peninsula is where bad weather is made and when flying and hunting, everything depends on the weather. The second morning I got up before daylight. And spotted the same monster bear leaving the river before good daylight. Later that day Don Knighton flew in with a client who I had hunted with on Santa Cruz Island. He was a really good guy and had not hunted much but had sport fished all over the world. I told Don and Matt, the client, about the big monster bear I had seen twice. We decided the next morning to get up early and walk in the dark to a closer vantage point by the river and be ready for the big monster.

The following morning, we did everything right but the weather was nasty, blowing and snowing. Our game plan was perfect. The monster bear left the river later and came right by us, about 60 yards out. He was a real monster, and we told Matt to shoot. Matt shot the bear twice with the 7 mm magnum and the bear took off up the steep hill towards the thick alders. Previously, I had told Matt you need a bigger gun. The 7mm magnum is not enough gun for these big bears. The big monster was almost ready to disappear into the thick cover of the alders and Matt yelled, “Help me out!” Instantly Don and I fired with our 375s as well as Matt and the big bear rolled down the hill.

No guides like following wounded bears in thick alders. We were all happy the monster bear was down for good. The bear measured over 10-foot square and had a beautiful fur for a big bear in the fall. We worked all day taking care of the bear skin and the weather got better. Don flew Matt out along with the big bear skin and said Hank would fly in my next hunter, Ron Fitzgerald, who was from my hometown.

The next day in the afternoon, the weather cooperated, and Hank flew Ron in. I was on a roll after we got the big monster bear for Matt and everyone was excited. For the next two days Ron and I glassed hard looking for a good bear. We did not see much. After you shoot a bear on the river and put out more scent, other bears get smart and spooked even in Alaska. The third day we spotted an 8 1/2-to-9-foot beautiful blonde bear with a prime fur that was on the other side of the river. Ron said, “That’s my bear”. We hiked down to the river and found it a real challenge to cross the river and go after the bear. We finally found a place on the river with lots of tributaries and finally got across the river with some nervousness. Then the rain came in hard and strong and strong winds blowing it sideways.  

Crossing rivers in remote places in Alaska can be a risky endeavor. The water is always freezing cold. If you get wet it is not like you can sit in the sun and dry off, usually the sun isn’t shining and it is more likely to be windy with rain or snow. We were able to find the bear and made a good stalk on him. Once within shooting range, Ron made some fast good shots on the bear in the pouring rain. The bear went down, and we were excited. I don’t think the bear knew what hit him, it was raining so hard, and it just kept coming down. We skinned the bear out nicely in about 2 hours and then looked at the river and could not believe it. The river had more than doubled in size and it was still raining hard.

Ron is a big strong guy and said he could swim the river. I said that when there is snow on the mountain Alaska rivers are like ice water and swift. All the smaller canyons above us were draining down into one river. I spread the bear hide on some alders, hide side up, and left my hip boats, packs and guns. We walked to a part of the river that was wider but less rapid. It was still borderline as to cross or not. I was worried, but thought we needed to go for it, and I quietly asked God to be with us. I didn’t want to roll up in a wet bear hide to spend the  night and I did not think I could get a fire going in pouring rain. There are no trees in this part of the Alaska Peninsula, only alder bushes.

Ron walked to waist deep water and swam like crazy but was washed down the river about 60 yards, but he made it. I was further up the river and did the same. The water was so cold it almost took the breath out of me. I made it across the river too, but couldn’t make it up the cut bank to get out. I was yelling for Ron to hand me a branch to help me out of the freezing water. I finally dug into the mud and Ron got a piece of driftwood for me to get a grip on.  I got out with a lot of struggling. The water was swift, and my socks got washed off my feet. We had about a mile to hike back to camp walking on the mossy tundra. We were so cold. Upon reaching camp we grabbed candy bars and got into our sleeping bags in our tent. Later we heated up some freeze-dried food and warmed up. We were happy to be back but we had no guns, packs, boots or bear skin.

The next day there was more rain and the icy river didn’t go down. The following day the plane came in and the river was still too high but the rain had stopped. I talked the pilot into landing me on a sandbar on the other side of the river and retrieved all our gear, guns, packs, boots and of course the bear skin. The pilot took Ron and the bear skin back to base camp and left me with some food and said they would probably bring me another bear hunter, weather permitting. Ron and I had a great hunt, and surely one we will both remember.

Several months earlier in July I was guiding sports fishermen for Ron Hayes and Don Knighton at their fishing camp on the Iliamna River. One morning a huge black bear broke into our camp and everyone was yelling. I jumped out of my sleeping bag and grabbed my 375. I could have shot the bear but didn’t have a safe shot with the tents in the background. I followed the bear down to the river and came around a big bush and he was 20 yards away standing on two feet, looking at me, and I shot him in the heart. The bear fell into the Iliamana River which is a beautiful river, approximately 100 yards wide. I grabbed the bear’s hind leg and hung on as he was really kicking. I was in my underwear and yelled until I could get some help. Later I skinned the bear and salted the hide. Ron gave the bear hide to a Spaniard client that was not successful on his black bear hunt and told me I could shoot a brown bear later in the fall. The other guides laughed and said it would never happen.

Now I was at brown bear camp by myself, surrounded by bears. Next morning I saw a nice 8 ½ foot dark chocolate bear with long fur close to camp. It was a cold night, and all the little creeks had frozen. I was stalking in on the bear and could hear him breaking the ice. I was just about ready to get a clear shot, and wouldn’t you know it, Ron Hayes came flying over with the super cub with another bear hunter for me to fill out. I shook my head and said to myself, the other guides are right, I never did shoot myself a brown bear that year!

Happy Hunting! 

Jaret Owens - 805-551-6815