Grizzly, cubs maul deer hunter in Alaska

[HTRN]

Coward.


HTRN

[Termite]

NPR,

How would a Remington 7600 pump in 35 Whelen rank for anti-bear duty? No scope, just open sights. Load would be handloaded 250gr Woodleigh RNSPs, at about 2400-2500fps. Or Doubletap's 310gr Woodleigh RNSP loads.

Please don't do that. I have enough things to spend money on as it is....

LOL.

No, not you. I'm thinking of my nephew(by marriage) who is stationed at Elmendorf.
He had a brush with a black bear last spring, which ended OK for him(killed the bear with a .45 ACP), but the scoreboard could have easily read: "bear 1, greenhorn 0". I posted the story over in the old Gunthing forum.
I emailed him and told him to get a decent rifle, AND CARRY THE THING WHILE MUCKING ABOUT IN THE WOODS. I suggested either a Remington 7600 in 35 Whelen, or a Marlin 1895 like yours.

[Frankingun]

The problem is that in many areas, and particularly on Kodiak, the bears have learned to associate the sound of a gunshot with a fresh kill, so firing a weapon actually attracts bears. The first thing you do after making a kill up here is chamber another round, and top off the magazine. Bears are always around, and they increasingly are losing their fear of humans.

marlite2.jpg

The boss of a friend of mine is really in to guns and hunting. He had said that when he hunted deer on Kodiak that they ran to the downed deer, hacked off the back legs and I think the head, leaving the rest for the bears, and then ran back to the boat.

Can you do that in Alaska, or was my chain being pulled?

[Aglifter]

You can zip out backstraps and, if you just want the skull, a head quite fast -- otherwise, you'd be better off, I suspect, just taking the whole animal. You'd get hair, etc all over the meat, if you try to just take the legs, and you're going to be leaving a really strong scent trail of fresh blood, etc.

[Combat Controller]

I did the same mods to my .450 Marlin that NPR did (thanks for the links!) and it is pretty sweet. A little brutal but, eh.

[Netpackrat]

The boss of a friend of mine is really in to guns and hunting. He had said that when he hunted deer on Kodiak that they ran to the downed deer, hacked off the back legs and I think the head, leaving the rest for the bears, and then ran back to the boat.

Can you do that in Alaska, or was my chain being pulled?

That is wanton waste and is a heinous game violation here in Alaska. I don't suppose you would be able to provide names, approximate dates, etc?

Besides, the blacktail deer on Kodiak (and the rest of the south coast) are tiny, and I can't imagine that the head/rack would be worth the trouble, and possible conviction. The only reason anybody hunts them is for meat; the limit in my former stomping grounds is normally 4-6 per year, so with a hunting party of a few guys on a boat (the deer live mostly on islands), you can get enough to make the trip worthwhile.

[Netpackrat]

I did the same mods to my .450 Marlin that NPR did (thanks for the links!) and it is pretty sweet. A little brutal but, eh.

Did you replace the recoil pad? The Marlin factory pad is horrible, with very little shock absorbing capability. I have a gunsmith fitted Pachmayr Decelerator on mine.

[Combat Controller]

Yeah I did after the first tube... I had to know, for some ungodly reason...

[Frankingun]

The boss of a friend of mine is really in to guns and hunting. He had said that when he hunted deer on Kodiak that they ran to the downed deer, hacked off the back legs and I think the head, leaving the rest for the bears, and then ran back to the boat.

Can you do that in Alaska, or was my chain being pulled?

That is wanton waste and is a heinous game violation here in Alaska. I don't suppose you would be able to provide names, approximate dates, etc?

Besides, the blacktail deer on Kodiak (and the rest of the south coast) are tiny, and I can't imagine that the head/rack would be worth the trouble, and possible conviction. The only reason anybody hunts them is for meat; the limit in my former stomping grounds is normally 4-6 per year, so with a hunting party of a few guys on a boat (the deer live mostly on islands), you can get enough to make the trip worthwhile.

He hasn't had that job for over a year, so no, I don't know names or anything else, and it would have been at least three years past that his old boss was on that hunt, if not more. I don't hunt, but I do know that sometimes some states allow animals to be broken down in the field and then removed, so that's why I didn't see the story as too unusual. I had also read story in Outdoor life or Field and Stream years ago about deer hunting on Kodiak, where the hunters over gun in case of an uninvited guest showing up to the party.

[Netpackrat]

5 AAC 92.220. Salvage of game meat, furs, and hides