MeatEater Season 12 | Alaska Black Bear

[Music] on this hunt I'm bringing my pals Kay Nukem and Randall Williams up to my cabin in Alaska bombs way we'll do some fishing and shrimping of course but mainly we're here for spring black bears let me at him clay wants to try something I've long considered slipping on a wet suit and putting a stalk on a bear from beneath the water surface hopefully getting close enough for a bow shot just a lot of Mer activity right here if he can manage to pull it off I'm going to be Mighty jealous but I'll still take full credit for the idea if I had my wet suon I would literally just swim over to that bear I've followed Trails of all kinds pursuing Wild game through our country's wildest places these are my stories there these are my people I'm I'm Steven Rella and this is me [Music] eater I've got a little boogie board with some holes drilled up in it with some hay string coming out so I'm going to tie the bow down on the Boogie Board custom paint job on the Boogie Board thought about putting some seal eyes on it googly eyes and then the idea is that I'm going to swim and pull the bow there's going to be a lot of coordination that's going to have to happen and it was totally Steve's idea I planted this idea in Clay's head and I'm having buyers remorse a little bit but not bad I've multiple times thought to myself man if I had my wet Sudan I would literally just swim over to that bear because You' be like a seal I'm all about sneaking up on bears are you good in the water you know I'm a good swimmer I'm not like I mean I'm just okay in the water the challenges for me though are going to be that I'm not experienced at all in a wet suit no so actually getting over to it getting my footing enough shooting the bow with that heavy suit on that ain't no problem you've been practicing in your flippers no you had to slip walking around soon as you get to where you can touch you got to slip the pins off yeah yeah like I said I've often times been like man if I have my wet suit I would go and be able to grab that bear with a W [Music] suit of all my friends Klay Nukem loves bears and bear hunting the most it's not even debatable he's obsess essed and has pretty much raised a family of four kids on be meat as well as building a career around the subject bear huntting judge and bears is all about scale when you come into a new place it takes a while to to understand how tall the trees are how big around they are so when he and our colleague Randall Williams we like to call him Dr Randall Drew tags for this area we made a plan to hunt together there he goes there are a couple important things to consider up here regarding bear hunting you can see Bears all day long but evenings are pretty special that's when you tend to see the most bores that effect means you can spend some time screwing around midday which for me means fishing then in the evening it's bear time I'm feeling good about this spot the second thing is that here you cannot shoot a bear or a deer for that matter from a boat you got to be standing on the ground you'll see why that matters in a bit here oh another thing is that that you cannot hunt black bears the same day that you fly in an airplane which means we're going to head out for an evening [Music] angle we're going to Target lingot a tasty and toothy fish that isn't terribly abundant hereabouts in fact you're only allowed one a year or two if you're really lucky you can retain one Ling Cod that measures between 30 and 40 in and another that measures over 55 in in general that 55 iner ain't going to happen but then again it might which is one of the million things that makes fishing interesting before we start jigging though a brief tutorial is in order quick jigging practice who wants to start give it a shot this isn't a good spot we're just going to practice so that I don't scare so that I can get all riled up in a good spot okay Randall drive it as soon as it hits come up a few full cranks there's fish laying down there jig jig jig are you off the bottom yep no here let me show you that man okay yep you want a jig okay like that that's a fish are you serious he grabbed it on the way now is he there okay he's got to go bat to quill B they're they're inescapable like all you do all day is let them go but you can't keep them so take that other Rod so if you just turn it loose on the surface he'd die he can't adjust his swim bladder so he'll just float bottom yep two CR two cranks jig yep good Jigs and then when you hit bottom come up you got him is it big or is it a quill I think it's a quill they're interfering with our Ling Gods catch them out of port release them out of starboard Randall OH y play they're getting smaller and smaller all right you're getting a hang of it now where we're going to be ready to move into the good spots all right let me at him big yep all right we're not finishing this spot no more I can't handle it anymore as long as we're out here burning gas it's not a bad idea to toss out a few shrimp pots so we can let them soak overnight we're baiting them with salmon heads that I bummed off our pilot bombs way okay slow Circle [Music] pots in the water we head to what I hope is a more Bountiful Ling Cod spot that's not a ling cod that's a ling all right oh really that's a that's a KP Ling nice fish big yep let's go Rand let's go baby if that's not a fish I don't know what it is you might have a big old Ling out who knows R might be a big old feels good big old catfish oh no it's it's snagged in the side oh that's why it was acting so funny that's why it's acting weird that's our Target species though hold that a minute and he's a keeper but just barely 30 on the money slot Tickler that's all right there you go well that feels good there's a lot of good yield on that fish oh they're just meat man all right clay you're up go get him clay no no no fast fast fast but I get slack on it no there you go it's kind of a unique style but you're all right that's a good jig yeah yeah bottom crank oh keep gring o I got a fish on there I can't tell that's rock fish what is that that's get him get get that's a very good fish really that's a silver gray rock fish we can keep him oh yeah that's one of that's a great fish that's a good one get another one of [Music] them oh there what was that all about what did I do you what are you you're you're slack lining the fish at the top of the stroke there he is again what are you doing what are you doing I'm trying you're going to let them go I tried to you let him go again farmed him you're like slacklining him you're never going to catch him now he's not going to do that to me more times let's go let's go what should I do just drop down drop it down and stop doing that you got to reel into him oh that could have been a big one man it looks good did it feel like a huge one of course The One That Got Away was a huge he looks huge with a few eaters in the cooler we pack it in clay probably killed the spot anyway I feel like there was more down here we'd know about it go ahead and crank up we'll get you keeper tomorrow how's that okay it's a warmup day the next morning we still have some gearing up to do and I'm not really worried about getting after Bears until the afternoon so we decideed to mess around with a little more fishing we also got to check out our shrimp pots look I've got perfect form right now I'm giving a nice jerk we should be getting a hit no slack going down dude when he hits I'm not even setting the hook I'm reeling straight down to him maybe even going in after him we should be getting a tickle here clay oh there he is I told you did you get on him he's on him I did he's on him that's not big though it's a little bit bigger I mean it's not a big it's not a keeper lingot I can tell you that yeah get him in the boat this a keeper that's yeah that's a smallmouth bass water wall cool nicely done sir come on big dog should be down there [Music] you hear all those sea lions see them oh sounds like a GU concert that's them piled up right there that's crazy that's why I feel like these fish got to live in such constant paranoia that's a fish get him in the boat holy c k green Ling we'll take themo that's a good fish though oh yeah two for [Music] two oh oh is that a fish or the bottom Clay's got a fish told you I was going to set the hook told you fell off the boat too that's a good one too he got off are you got I'm setting the hook dude no no it's not your fault dude I hammered that fish yeah I know and reeled into it look like you're were fighting it weird though I want to I want a replay looks a little B oh clay I lost one too H I guess it wasn't your fault I got a fish on oh you do okay one hook that one you got him yep that's a keeper isn't it what a beast nice fish clay after picking up a Dandy fish and hitting a handful of more spots we get to thinking about those shrimp and after that those Bears can't wait to see what's in that pot oh man talk about [Music] struggling hey that's enough for like a oneman [Music] dinner it's the worst one man that looks like the kid [Music] meal boys but I've seen worse it's a pretty meager haul but that's okay it's not what we came here for so it's just extras we do however need to find a bear as dusk approaches your typical Southeast Alaska weather rolls in we head out to comb the shorelines this is my first time ever hunting with Randall so he gets to be up first clay and his wet suit can wait in the meantime he's going to scout around we're going to hop out and we're going to canoe through there just motor along this Edge and you'll wrap around and you'll be able to see grass Flats at the head of this so just go glass that [Music] flat [Music] in Southeast Alaska this area gets 13 Fe rain a year typically rain would shut down bear movement but here it really doesn't these Bears they eaten the rain or not eat other places this would not be a great evening to hunt there but here it kind of feels ber I'm going to go down here and get in the grass flat and glass for again early spring these Bears feed they're coming out of their winter torper and they're wanting some green [Music] stuff the thing I don't get about black bear is they like coming out at dusk you know but how the hell they know when dusk is you got like 4 hours of darkness and dusk lasts three hours but they somehow know when is the last bit of DUS they're always right up to I'd be like I don't know feels Dusky I'm going to head out it's like the guys that used to go to the bar and you were at the bar but it wasn't quite evening yet it's like feels suspiciously like day by the end of the evening this spot is a bust nothing overall I'm a little surprised by the lack of bears but we're going to stick it out no sense getting discouraged by a single bad night tonight's got me feeling defeated you can play in the fog but I don't think that's it man I don't think it's like cuz it's a little drizzly it didn't come out when it was raining like this they never come out you know that a Barry in the woods it's like a Barry eating the rain yes he does yes he does the next day the rain has cleared out a bit and the waves are calm too so we head to a more distant location yeah boy there there could be a beay back in there man maybe that fog and rain was the problem last night or maybe it's the new spot because today we find a bear right away oh I'd be good wet suit bear great wet suit bear it's not big man I've getting a different feeling about it I mean it's possible that the scale is just different than what I'm used to but looks like the right walk for yeah it look bigger when you look through the barnoculars Randall I need you to go stand over by that bear to give us a scale cuz I know you're like 6t plus we could hunker down the canoe and get closer Steve and Randall they've gone after this bear and as bears do the longer we looked at it the more they thought maybe it was a shooter bear but judging these Bears is really tough because you're watching them walk along these rocky shores and unless you've been here a lot you just don't don't know how big those rocks are that's a shooter bear that actually looks like a pretty Big Bear right now he's going to Spook out oh the Bear's leaving the bear headed up into the old growth but he wasn't booking Randall and I head to shore to see if we can coax him out with a little calling oh that pressure [Music] call he's coming Randle can't see him that Bear's 30 yards from Randall Randall get you got up that they're right on top of that bear why can't they see that bear see him right right Rand right in your face right in your face stand up right there get [Applause] him get him get him get him no man that was even though he was running that was a great shot man he's down that was a big bear how we miss Jud wow holy cow that's right man that call sucked him in there wow I heard you say he's down the beach I'm looking like was saying in your face I turned down the beach I was looking down there then I look over and see where you're looking and I turn around that's why I said in your face right over my shoulder so when he popped up over that rock we were ready to shake hands with him more dude that Bear's bigger than what I thought he was once we got right when we sped him I was like that's when he looked up at us I thought the exact same thing when I saw him walk off I was like dang it that's a great bear dude it's definitely a 6ot bear yeah man golly look at the pads on yeah yeah that's that's a good bear it's amazing to me how successful bears are you wouldn't think that a big giant bear like this would be able to be such a successful omnivore across such a vast here it's easy for me to picture in places it's hard for me to picture how well they stay out of trouble yeah you know places where you got like tons of human habitation agriculture roads deciduous forests you know where they don't have that Leaf cover all the time then I start being like man just seems like you got a lot of problems but here doing see I mean this is like just tailor made here you got like a pretty lengthy hibernation but then you got all that just the Marine Resources man he's got they got a lot of food the icon of North American [Music] wilderness back at the cabin Randall gets to work skinning his bear while clay and I head out to see if this wet suit idea has any realworld [Music] Merit that's wet suit bear if there was but he's already on us yeah this a good KES [Music] spot that looks like a pretty dang good bear remember you cannot shoot a bear from a boat so the wet suit will allow you to get in the water and make an approach and illegal shot work this idea the last thing that PA is going to be thinking isn't that some Bly B barkansas going to be thinking is a see [Music] SE [Music] wi [Music] this yeah even in these wet suits he got to [Music] win what happened within about 40 yards of it and it winded us underwater yeah despite the lack of success I think it was a pretty good proof of concept attempt or at least a chance to refine the strategy we'll try again tomorrow the next day clay heads out a bit earlier to give himself more time to plan his approach yesterday we were right here and and saw multiple Bears right in this little Cove I got here when the Tide's going down when it's low tide these bears come out and feed on muscles just a lot of bear activity right here and there's a bear right down there but I learned when you get in these channels the wind sucks down the channels I have a feeling that bear would wind me if I went over there meanwhile I'm heading out to dive for rock scallops as the day starts to dip into the later hours clay finds himself with another opportunity that's a s now that's a pretty good bear let's go I'm going to slip right across this Channel and get in that water this time he's being extra mindful about staying downwind of the bear it worked golly was 10 yards from that salt water isn't good for a bow but we just killed a [Music] bear that bear didn't run 10 yards yeah that's a good size bear incredible very exciting to to hunt like this and this was Steve's idea so I got to give credit to old Steve Vanella I didn't know that you could get in this water and not die and it was like hey you can get a wet suit and stalk these bears and not have to worry as much about the wind not have to worry about sound you can get in close incredible [Music] man got him it worked what happened man I had to swim across that channel and it was eating muscles right on that point and I just raised up out of the water probably 12 yards and just just 10 ringed it I watched it fall right here oh this is where it fell I mean the the tide has actually gone down but if it had went one more roll it been in the water it's not a huge bear but it's I just was looking for one to just like do it right you know it was exciting man nice job [Music] man we we managed to fill both tags and I gathered my limit of scallops we just have a bit more work to do before we can finally relax and [Music] eat what we want is that the [Music] button I like skinning a bear on the ground better than hanging up and you just kind of take him apart as you go and I don't worry about leaving a lot of meat on the hide just we're in the field just trying to get the hide off I'll let the Tannery worry about fleshing it the back strap off all [Music] right so clay you got you got all the shoulder meat yeah I grabbed the shoulder meat for this I feel like if it's handled right tenderized enough uhhuh it'll be good you're saving the good parts for who saving them for back home man I'm just going to kind of tenderize them with the butt of this knife called that's called Arkansas tenderizer right there so I have found that in the spring season here you have to save all the meat from your Bear right it's optional in the fall it's not required by law that you save your bear meat in the fall because they're eating so much salmon right so we never hunt them in the fall but I have found that even in the spring often times there's a fishiness to the bear meat a maritime accent there's a maritime accent to the bear meat I like to tell a story that I borrowed my friend smoker to smoke a bear ham and after I was eating the beam I went over and accused him of having not cleaned out his smoker after smoking salmon yeah yeah and he said I've never smoked a salmon in that smoker I spend most of my life defending the taste of bare meat to people and they always bring up Coastal bears and I've never eaten a coastal bear so this is going to give me a reference point for really if it tastes fishy and this bear for sure I mean when I killed this bear it was eating blue muscles off of the ocean what's up with the fancy pepper man I like the square can that has a real fine pepper like you'd get restaurant this is for Jokers man all they can Pepper with a little crunch to it yeah I like black pepper that you could use as a windicator out the field there you go there you go look at [Music] that we had a fire going in here so we figured we just cook it right here it's going to take a little bit to cook this so I'm just looking for that nice Brown Char on the outside and it'll probably be a little crispy all right let's see if this tastes like uh the ocean [Music] fish I'm going to close my [Music] eyes overs salted overs salted I don't get a single hint of fish I'm get a little fish did you get a little fish slightly yeah really I think y'all are wanting to no it's so subtle no it is it's subtle it's got a smoked salmon finish I was trying to not hide the taste by cooking it in that fire yeah you put an unbelievable Mount of salt on mhm that might be Sal like the ocean when he says to taste like the ocean he me how much salt he put on it I mean it's not like overpowering M no no m eat that bear all day long I'm happy man Nukem are going to be real happy we're almost out of bear meat what are you cooking Steve scallops I don't know that I've ever had a scallop how are you going to cook them I'm going to sear it on each side and they don't really sear you say that but they don't like rock scallops don't sear huh and then I like to cut them [Music] then you just put the burnt butter on top of them very very good dig into that now that tastes like the ocean in the in the right way that's excellent it's like it's like meat it's like a muscle mhm I expect it to be more like fish uh-uh normally when you get scalps you're getting the the bay scallops the real soft ones mhm these Rock scallops are like much D they're dense I'm going put a little more salt on [Laughter] them man that's that's Hardy is that something it really is it's a delicacy delicious it's a wets suit meal kind of like an old Oceanside black bear no it's a rich environment man it really is oh it's incredible how much life is out there mhm the these latitudes is the richest Marine ecosystem on Earth and then you get like insane biodiversity in the ocean and then relatively light biodiversity on land yeah there is a striking contrast between what you're seeing on the ground here and what you're pulling out of the sea there's a small handful of tree species there's a small handful of land mammals and you look in the ocean yeah there's only so many places on the planet left like this it's a good spot

Channel: MeatEater

Views: 1,453,982

Keywords: steven rinella, meateater, meat eater, Steve rinella

Id: AhoKUKkblTg

Length: 35min 42sec (2142 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 12 2023