Hunting by boat, the author makes a hairy landing and an unexpectedly tough stalk to tag a big Alaska black bear.
“GET OUT.” That’s the only thing Brandon Hart says as the nose of the rubber Zodiac slams against the face of a boulder the size of a pole barn. Before I can protest, he cuts me off. “Get the #$%& out!”
I sling the rifle over my shoulder, wait for an incoming wave to lift the bouncing boat higher, and jump. Somehow my fingernails find purchase on the sea-battered stone and with some scrambling, I manage to save myself from a swim in the Gulf of Alaska.
To be fair, Hart put the boat right where I’d asked him to, just around the point from a big black bear that is right now snuffling through the detritus of a high-tide line on the rock-strewn beach. But here, straddling the boulder with the crashing surf on one side and a Brobdingnagian blowdown on the other, I am stuck.
BEARS BY BOAT
I’d spotted the bear from the deck of the Sundy, anchored less than 1,000 yards away off the southwest coast of the Kenai Peninsula. The 50-foot Delta Marine is the base of operations for the week, serving as both mobile hunting cabin and glassing platform. My friends and I have spent hours scanning the shore, as well as the mountains that rise almost vertically from the waterline. The plan is simple: Whoever spots a bear gets to go stalk it—while an audience of his hunting buddies watches from the boat.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
LIVING THE DREAM
After the author arrives in Maine’s fabled North Woods with a moose tag in his pocket, an adventure he’s been wanting to take his entire hunting life, reality sets in, and he learns a valuable lesson: Be careful what you wish for
Get the Drift
How to make an accurate windage call under pressure
First Sit
An icebreaker outing in a pristine spot produces the rut hunt of a lifetime
A Local Haunt
The author finds a sense of place in an overlooked creek, close to home
A Hop and a Pump
Jump-shooting rabbits with classic upland guns is about as good a time as you can have in the outdoors
Welcome TO camp
Is there any place better than a good hunting camp? It has everything: great food, games and pranks, and of course, hunting. Shoot, we don’t even mind going to camp for grueling work days in the summer. Here, our contributors share their favorite stories, traditions, and lessons learned from camps they’ve shared. So come on in and join us. The door’s open.
THE DEERSLAYERS
Before you even claim a bunk, you need to eyeball the hardware your buddies have brought. In the process, you’ll see that the guns at deer camp are changing. What was walnut and blued steel may now be Kevlar and carbon fiber. The 10 rifles featured here aren’t your father’s deer guns. They’re today’s new camp classics
THE JOURNEY TO PIKE'S PEAK
Last summer, the author and three friends ventured off the grid to a remote fish camp in Canada. They hoped for great fishing, but what they experienced was truly something else
Stage Directions
When early-season whitetails vanish from open feeding areas, follow this woods-edge ambush plan
Rookie Season
A pup’s first year, from preseason training to fall’s big show
