THE LEGEND OF KODIAK | Alaska Spring Brown Bear Hunting Documentary with guide Billy Molls

some call it the emerald isle others call it the rock spend any time here and you'll find these contrasting nicknames to be fitting the island is beautiful and abounding with life yet it's rugged and uninviting kodiak just hearing the word rouses the primeval instincts of every hunter ever since the legendary bear guides bill pannell and morris tollefson posted that iconic advertisement in the back of outdoor life of three mammoth bear hides stretched across the walls of the olga bay cannery kodiak island has been branded as the greatest bear hunting destination in all the world [Music] growing up i dreamed of hunting the bears of kodiak but based on the hand-to-mouth existence i knew on my family's small wisconsin dairy farm i couldn't see any way that i'd ever be able to afford to do it years later my longing for alaska still consumed me until finally one day i made a promise to myself somehow i would create a life even just in existence in the alaskan wilderness [Music] my first ever alaskan hunt was on kodiak i was 19. as we flew over those snow-covered mountains i was awestruck and intimidated i was sick with fear looking back on it now i was a lump of clay on kodiak's wheel [Music] i was hired as a packer my 10th day on the island the hunter whose food and tent i was schlepping killed the gigantic old boar that squared an honest 10 foot 7 inches over 20 years old and scoring well into the record books its front paws were nearly as wide as my chest its longest claw measured five inches in length but that bear of legendary proportions was just a fragment of the story as i expected kodiak tested my body but most significant that month-long season caused me to question almost everything i thought i knew and who i thought i was life there was primitive the days and hikes were long the mountains were massive steep and brushy my backpack was always heavy i'd never been so wet feet had never been colder i'd never questioned failure so regular at times i wondered if i'd even survive i'd never quit anything in my life but i came damn close to quitting kodiak i was so happy to get off that island i vowed to never return [Music] months later not a day passed where i didn't think of kodiak i rarely thought of the bears we took but rather the land the lifestyle and the inexplicable fact i'd never felt so vulnerable yet so fully alive in all my life i couldn't help but believe there was more to experience and discover i just had to return kodiak island is a land of extreme glorious contrast i realize now it's that contrast that makes it so alluring and addicting it's the contrast of tranquility and terror get out of here the primordial and the divine that makes kodiak brown bear one of the greatest hunting adventures man has ever known [Music] tim lemon a game keeper and young family man from the uk felt the call to kodiak after his first brown bear hunt in southeast alaska years prior ended with less than a handful of bear sightings and no shot opportunity he decided that if he were to hunt bears again he would venture to the most famous bear hunting grounds on the planet [Music] in our first exchange tim told me flatly billy i want to hunt kodiak [Music] hey we have arrived at our stand of cottonwoods fraser lake kodiak island [Music] so [Music] day one with tim lemon got a real small bear up in the snow we saw a little bigger bear that i was figuring with about an eight eight and a half foot bore go down in the brush and then this one came running out this one's seven seven and a half foot a little small three miles away maybe a little more got a little rain fairly cool today just hiked up this little draw behind camp this guy seems like it's brightening up to the east but rain's been pretty steady small bear i saw this beer day one tim's hunt seen three bears so far a couple real little ones and then one another figure probably eight and a half foot board [Applause] here's probably a low eighth maybe eight and a half foot board following trail of a smaller bear that we saw earlier today kind of suspect probably a style young cell [Applause] about eight and a half maybe nine foot lower at the most eight thirty day one every all four bears we've seen at some point we've gone to that little slope right there [Music] tim lemon traveled all the way from scotland to kodiak island and i don't think tim believes that there's a bear per square mile on this island what do you think tim they're here somewhere they're playing the game at the moment no i think a fair number of them are still buried in the snow it's day number two we've seen five bears i guess so that's that's not terrible yesterday we hiked up into a little small bowl had one little pocket we saw four bears and every bear at some point in time went to that one little maybe 20 acre little patch and so the wind switched today so we just took the raft out hunting around the lake and yeah just seen one bear seen a fair number of tracks but uh pretty slow pretty decent day today just a couple sprinkles here first thing this morning cross fox cruising along the snow at 10 30 day number three pretty cold last night started snowing and they quit last night sun's trying to peek through burn it off blasting for bears yesterday and i thought i saw a bunch of goat tracks we didn't see any goats but there's three up here and there's over 30. up on that mountain got a neat seen him up there just two bears today is all we've seen [Music] it was tough hunting spring was a week or two later than normal we saw a few young boars and a couple sows with cubs but no sows with newborns which are always the last to pop out of their holes there was little to eat and the sows weren't yet coming into season and of course the mature boars knew this undoubtedly they were lounging in isolated snowy basins or hunkered deep in the brush where no one would bother them [Music] like any species if an old male knows anything it's when it's time to eat and when it's time to breed [Music] [Music] first bear of the day it's about three in the afternoon right there on that low bench looks like a young boar maybe eight foot beautiful evening pretty cold [Music] probably just barely above freezing we need to see some more bears tim we did pretty sparse on the furry front one bear today that's it day five tim's hunt here we go here's that eight and a half foot boar rubbed his front legs in hind legs maybe eight and a half foot probably right about there not a big bear but he's pretty long long lengthy on top of the mountain what do we got tim um we got a bear we're outta there 10 38. sitting here glassing nice evening real calm actually right above camp spotted a bear in that bench it's out of sight now it went into the brush right there real low i think it's a high eight maybe nine ish low nines board be my guess but didn't get quite the look i was hoping to get with it being so dark fairly poor light and on day five i definitely don't want to rush into shooting one until we got the best idea possible as to what it is but five bears today right boys yep so hopefully he'll be somewhere on this hillside tomorrow maybe be able to give him a run we re-spotted that bear from last night it's just feeding amongst those older oh yeah it's maybe nine football we're thinking checking his hide for rubs putting a big move on this bear last saw him kind of been slowly steadily moving to the left we last saw i'm buying that go behind that stand of cottonwoods so we're gonna get over here somewhere and try to ease in on them it's going to be tough seeing them in that brush going on a stock for kodiak brown bear tim yeah looking forward to it ready or not here we come huh yeah here we go first spotted him last night right on those benches from across across the lake over there the first thing this morning we spotted this sow that we've been watching the past four days take off running to the left we figured that board was in there and sure enough jim spotted him this morning right there so he's been slowly feeding his way to the left stripping the jackets off we're going to beach right here climb up on the top of that knob where we can see and then those cottonwoods are right over the top you ready ready we go [Music] now we're up on this little knoll that's where we spotted him from parked the raft right over that little knob cruised up here followed this creek there's the cottonwoods that the bear was behind so we last saw him right in that brush so he's been maintaining a pretty steady elevation above the lake so we're hopeful he'll come through here he's maybe better down we're thinking we've been up here now for about a half hour about a half hour a little more i haven't seen hiding our hair of them we're all ready got the scope ready i'm gonna check and hide one last time try to get one last look at him if we see him coming i don't think he's gonna go up above us if he does we're probably screwed but i don't think he'll go down i'm thinking he's gonna come probably right through here somewhere right through here it's a little bench it's nice and wet here lots of green gets a little southern exposure a little after four o'clock bear just popped out right over here about 200 yards just down in this little draw right here he's still feeding and digging yeah okay he might just walk right up into that now he's moving over to those cottonwoods he's gonna watch see what he does we're moving in he's dropped down on us there he is right in there do you hear something okay if you really like it make it perfect wait wait sweat you get a good shoulder shot make it perfect wait it's gonna come okay you know something's up we have to get up climb up climb up get up [Applause] probably gonna have to be standing he knows something's up well that stock went south what do you think south kind of a good way to describe that stock haywire yeah how you uh gotten this brush we had him at 200 yards it was coming right towards us and for whatever reason he just did about basically a 180 so we moved in tried to intercept him we got set up a bunch of this load dead thorns and stuff grass because for the longest time there was one little pocket right below us we're hoping he was in after about 15 minutes we were kind of looking everywhere all around us all of a sudden he popped out right below us about 70 yards i think he just heard something and he kind of veered around he was real nervous real jittery and then he circled around tried getting set up there so the brush was just so thick and we couldn't hear anything that last time you saw us you definitely didn't see her hear us see us he just got nervous and i'm sure i know he didn't wind us i just he was nervous so maybe that's a good sign maybe there's a bigger bear in here but yeah he just kind of scooted off and then he was behind us kind of heading downwind then we had to move tried a predator squeal and he hung around a little bit and we saw him but he was just we couldn't get any kind of resting shot it had to be standing off hand and it was about 80 90 yards in the brush this is no good [Music] by no means was it the biggest bear on the island or even the biggest bear in our area but we were disappointed the stock didn't come together [Music] we never spoke about it but both of us knew kodiak wasn't about to hand us the 10-footer so [Music] we continued motoring a raft to various locations along the lake to look over as much country as possible during our 14-hour days of glassing we experienced kodiak's bliss and majesty [Music] but much of our time was spent defending ourselves from her fury if you like being warm and dry this is not the place for you perhaps nothing on earth will tighten your muscles stiffen your joints and leave you fantasizing of a sauna like the unrelenting above freezing wet windy days of kodiak [Music] but tim never wavered mornings he was out fishing as i cook breakfast he said he'd have plenty of time to rest on the flight home [Music] day eight still at her still looking for a big old brownie [Music] [Applause] [Music] coast guard [Music] midway through our fortnight expedition one couldn't help but feel the balance of kodiak shifting winter was over spring was upon us life was in the air life was coming out of the ground bears were starting to move [Music] tim and i were reinvigorated we were glassing harder and hunting longer after all this was kodiak a 1200 pound brute could appear at any moment but with half our days behind us a sense of urgency was intensified [Music] [Laughter] we're after a bear jim spotted it right from camp first thing this morning spotted him back there we didn't relocate him until tim just relocated him right over here so we're on his trail there's the bear that we're gonna go after please get a better look i sure think it's right around nine foot board maybe a hair better ready for this ready make it go the wind is good i think we're gonna scoot up get on the left-hand side of the drainage i don't think that bear the chance that he might dip down he came we saw him earlier come down over there went out of sight must have came down and now he's on that face i'm pretty sure it's a boar um he's sniffing in the snow he's real dark not a super long neck pretty long limbed uh not an exceptionally long nose but it just seems pretty square it looks pretty bore like and he's sniffing all the tracks in the snow so i gotta figure that's more he's doing what we hope he wouldn't do went down in this little bottom she was working that hillside now it looks like he might go down in this bottom come up over this ridge it's going to be tough to get him there because there's so many alders that's a major buzz kill this is pretty much spotted this bear way the hell over there and we came over here relocated them some in the snow slide we started stalking them and this is exactly where we last saw him heading down and that's where his bed was so we figured he was down below we couldn't see him bad so we just climbed all the way up here and we must have been i bet we were 50 yards underneath him because we were just underneath these alders i didn't want to come up too high because then we'd get on this bench we wouldn't be able to see down and then potentially blow anything out and he was right up here on this bench so we were figuring he was going to be in here somewhere so we went up and then we came just a little bit higher bumped into them it would have been running shots at 100 yards plus at best 150 plus ran right around that bank [Music] another busted stock another day lost tim and my conversations grew shorter i wasn't upset with him i don't think he was upset with me but we were definitely both disappointed in hunting and in life when opportunities are lost doubt and second guessing always flicker in your mind those who succeed are able to stomp it out before that spark flashes into a flame billows into worry and ultimately desperation and fear tim is as tough as they come but i could sense concern swelling inside him that he might leave alaska once again without taking a bear it's my ego my standard of professionalism or the shame i feel when i send a client home having not taken an animal my confidence was eroding i knew all we could do was press forward with three days left in the hunt we spied a lone bear weaving in and out of the brush at the head of a distant canyon we've been seeing a count saw in a cub up in there and we just spotted that other bear the bear was following the same trail lasao and cub took earlier that afternoon which led us to believe it was likely a bore we motored across the lake and hiked a mile closer atop a hill in attempt to relocate and assess the bear after an hour of glassing the sow and cub that were bedded on a high promontory across the valley sprang to full attention a few hundred yards below them we spotted a shadowy figure slipping through the alders i tried to get a good look at him but the bear eventually disappeared into a draw with the sun sinking and a chill in the air tim and i decided it was now or never whatever this bear was this was a chance we needed to take it took us about 10 minutes getting relocated we saw the sound in a cub we were expecting him to bump into them but he's actually upwind to this one cub feeding in a little cut and so if he feeds along cuts her trail he's getting bolt out of there but he's just feeding in one spot right now 740 winds good interface there he is about 400. wind's swirling a little bit kind of coming from down the canyon but swirling so well you got to come from below whenever you get a good clear shot take him rolling down the hill get ready hit him again hit him again just wait get yourself rumber it had a pretty decent hide and it was a good stock it's a sow yeah i think it is we saw it down here way down here it was what do we got day lots of days make sure we're on safety yeah as soon as it poked its head over i knew it was a sow thank you very much it's high it is pretty decent i don't care it's it's a brownie it's it's a mature bear oh that's fantastic oh welch off congrats buddy thank you we hunted long and hard so you hunted 21 days for that bear yep so brown bear in alaska yep dreams come true yeah should we go take a look at her yeah can't wait all right we'll grab our packs get down there without busted myself lost your water bottle i see jim lemon you got yourself your bear got myself my bad billy wasn't the big one we were looking for or we were hoping for i guess but uh yeah when we we saw him coming through yeah i definitely knew it was a sow but we're we're pretty well down to crunch time and it's a fully mature bear and what did you think of kodiak island yeah the rock is some place i'll be back i think yeah we had a couple pretty good runs at uh at big boars and we saw this bear and up hide we were making the stock and we just kind of decided you know what it's the hide's pretty good we were seeing a lot of rubbed bears that's been a big problem we just decided out he's got a decent hide if we can put her together let's get her done probably five uh five six year old bear um so yep no no cubs dry sows so uh yeah great job anything to add some pretty close shooting that was certainly exciting no i just like to thank you very much billy it's been it's been 11 hard days of glassing but uh i came here just for a brown bear no particular size and i'm over the moon so thank you very much it's 10 41. pretty quick work out of the bear let the skull on it so it's a fairly heavy pack to save a little time so we can get back a little earlier it's like a nice maze through the elders huh so we're probably going to be racing down tonight and uh it'll be after dark by the time we get back to camp and tomorrow we'll probably be racing out of here because we're the last ones to be done we're gonna make her back to camp before dark no no i had to hide all but done i was literally cutting off the tail pinned myself i'll have to take care of that back at camp with some neosporin on it you can get some nasty stuff if you get a infection with bare blood so i'll get that taken care of i put some hand sanitizer on it all right well they're worth the trip worth the trip mate every minute every mile of it you definitely earned this bear i don't like to do things easy yeah yeah well you didn't do that yeah she's a beautiful scene we shot the bear up there the creek crossing was a little interesting we're both soaking wet but we managed to not go under i should have got a little video that it was pretty raging all right did you enjoy your kodiaq experience uh fantastic brilliant pleasure hunting with you timothy pleasure hunting with you and it ain't over yet you might have to teach the boss man how to fish maybe tim has been catching a few fish right out from camp so yeah we'll get a couple pictures of you here with the boat there's a hide loaded in the pack after beautiful evening eh lovely yeah those mountains are tough ain't they kodiak's a tough place to bear hound let me tell you there's the canyon we just came out of it's all over back of an adventure really brilliant like a goodbye kiss bittersweet the hunt was over should i have waited longer on that hill to study the bear should i have told tim not to shoot at the last second when i realized it was a sow maybe should tim have risked leaving kodiak without a bear would he have gotten a chance at a massive old bore we'll never know tim's bear squared eight foot three inches but tim's bear is in many ways the perfect representation of the species the land the hunt and his journey to kodiak tim's bear embodies his daring to take a chance and venture twice to alaska his bear symbolizes the sacrifices he and his family made to do so worth the trip mate every minute every mile of it [Music] kodiak is no longer a far off dreamland for tim lemon he now has a piece of it in his living room for the rest of his days family friends and one day his grandchildren will come to his house and not only hear about kodiak but also see it and touch it when hunting the bears of kodiak everything is possible but nothing is guaranteed that disparity is what makes this island so distinctive and draws hunters like tim and i to it get out of here by design kodiak weans out the weak and refines the strong to live in kodiak's authority and undergo its process firsthand is immeasurable often life-changing and perhaps a hunter's ultimate trophy [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] the following spring i had the pleasure of sharing a camp with john ryden a top-notch guide he and i cut our teeth in the industry around the same time together we would lead a father and son from alabama on what was an adventure every one of us will cherish for the rest of our days [Applause] here's our stuff [Music] so now what do we do johnny right in so tense up sit and wait for the packers to come and set all this stuff up back like in the good old days when we were packers i'm gonna take a nap if you want to go ahead and get started on the tents yeah they go over there and i'll dig the hole it's kind of my specialty it took john and i the entire day to set up camp our clients kent and elias higdon landed just before sunset with them was our packer a bright hard-working young man named sandy gilliland [Music] as the drone of the beaver slowly faded so did our normal everyday lives ahead of us was kodiak [Music] may april 22nd first day ever hunt what's your last name kent higdon from alabama alabama came here to fraser lake looking for brown bear we've seen one so far today first morning climbed up the hill behind camp saw a young bear look like probably like an eight-foot boar type over on this slope over here a pretty decent day cool breeze we're gonna just keep an eye on the particularly on this canyon anyway pretty much the whole surrounding area but this slope south facing slope all this through here usually greens up about the first bears always kind of gravitate to it looking for the first it's a fiddlehead fern scar skunk cabbage and any kind of greens i can find good to be back a great day to be alive kent spotted our second bear for the day sun's poking out this bear most likely was just bedded up in the alders and conditions just got right for him young bear again eight foot seven and a half eight foot well that was interesting just same bear about an eight foot bore we saw him earlier today up on the opposite side of the valley right up there he must have came across he got up right over in here and then he disappeared in the alders so kent and i just kind of got ready just in case you popped out on us but we've been looking for a pretty good while now i haven't seen them so there's plenty of places he could have got right past us and we're kind of assuming that's what he did but with these alders being 20 yards from us we want to be ready for him rather than not but it appears like he moved on but overall pretty decent day a few little rain squalls like that one you see here just on and off sunshine and little sprinkles so we've seen two bears today both of them small six o'clock in the evening so we're gonna hunker down and ride her out till dark got some goats wrapped around the mountain they don't seem real massive to me but i'm guessing they're billies there's no kids with them and they're all adults sun's going down on day number one got a bunch of nannies and kids up in the top of the mountain now i'm just looping around feeding there's john and packer sandy with elias kent's son so you're here with your boy i am kodiak island to hunt some brown bear and you guys have been looking forward to this one for a while huh absolutely and we're having a great time a little slow on the bear activity we'll see what those guys have seen today but we just spotted the one bear first thing this morning up there and then another one back in there and then we later saw him close by so got another 14 days to go we'll get her done man osprey it's called the wild man exactly that's what you're coming to alaska for to see see nature she must have a nest nearby she ain't digging us i love that kind of stuff just to be around surrounded by nothing and wilderness and wildlife that's why i do it [Music] day three in the rain but we're doing better no bears and lots of rain no bears lots of rain [Music] quarter after ten day four pretty cold had some fresh snow lots of wind today we've actually only hunted half the day today it was pretty nasty earlier this morning we gotta buck the high seas and head for home spotted a big boar last night up looked like over nine foot up in that high bowl there right at dark last night so we were looking for him today so he could definitely still be out there i think actually kent spotted that good board the night before we just caught a glimpse of him so we looked all day for him and caught him we didn't see a bear all day yesterday until right it last light up their high so we're on the trail one we got some moving but it's been pretty slow well i haven't seen this one before i know they do it but just watch it and all of a sudden i saw something in the water that's a bear i don't know i don't think it's a very big one but how long it took us to ride over there and filming going in it's going to take him a while to get across that lake especially with the wind blowing against him they run out of gas we'll have to save them well this bearer changed his mind and he turned around yeah we had that small bear pop out in the lake look like a small sow we watched thinking maybe there'd be a boar on our trail but didn't see anything but a pretty decent day it's fairly cool a little bit windy on and off about three o'clock we've seen two bears it's been pretty slow [Music] one of the things i enjoy most about my time in the wilderness is progressively narrowing the gap between the reality of nature and what i understand about it both john and i had enough spring bear seasons under our belts to know the timing wasn't yet right the mature boar's razor sharp instincts were telling them to stay in the high country where they're safest a bear that's to survive two or even three decades quickly learns the most dangerous places are those most frequently inhabited by [Music] humans but spring was at the cusp south slopes were warming the bears preferred spring greens were sprouting the rut was imminent the all-consuming urge to reproduce would soon compel even the most reclusive bears on the island to throw caution into the wind mating season is perhaps a hunter's only hope of getting within shooting distance of the biggest oldest boars the bears which the legend of kodiak was founded upon [Music] well kent and i are just joking five days of hunting we've seen five bears so i told them yeah but just think there's people in italy how much would they pay for one of those gondola or whatever those rides are down those canals in italy and they don't even have uh scenery just just like this came to figure out he's paying about twenty thousand dollars for the bear hunt so it's about thirteen hundred bucks a boat ride each day yeah don't you two of them we shot one for you elias yeah all right damn i wonder how many different color groupings looms have sandy the packer extraordinaire he hasn't spotted a bear yet but he spotted a couple loons he's on the board sitting here doing lunch loons are swimming by day six april 27th 2 o'clock got a real big bear up high up in the snow up there about six miles away nine and a half foot bear maybe a little bigger he could somewhere between nine and a half and ten be my guess but he's a long ways away right on the border of her hunting area i ain't gonna be rushing after him just just yet he's he's over six miles away yeah we'll be keeping an eye out for that bear if he gets a move on he could certainly be down by evening if he decides to come out this bowl that's kind of why we like to hunt here this particular spot this was one of our campsite this was one of pineland talos and the two most famous brown bear hunters of all time this is one of their favorite camping spots that they used to use this is a pretty good canyon you just see a lot of traffic the bears den up in those mountains that you see and beyond and they come crossing over this low saddle and working these ridges it's a nice day we finally got some decent weather been raining on and off a little bit has been every day it's been raining on and off some days just rain but yeah fairly warm warmest day we've had thus far that's what we need we can string two three warm days and warm nights together i think we'll really kick the bear movement into overdrive and start seeing some bears like we normally do thus far it's been pretty slow this is seen five bears in five days now we've seen two on the sixth day it's not even two o'clock yet we relocated up the lake a little way so we can get a little bit of better angle been watching this bear bedding right on that saddle right on the precipice our hunting areas on this side of that ridge everything on this side so we bedded for a couple hours and always milling around 3 30 we'll keep an eye out for them but kind of a long shot but we're just watching to see if he bails over on our side and usually they'll stay pretty high but he's big enough bear just to keep an eye on well he's still moving down slow and steady this is where we first spotted that bear today [Applause] worked along the ridge took a nap in that saddle and he continued on and see his trails in the snow and then when he got right here he caught the tracks of another bear probably a sow now he's been following it down he's right in that little tundra bench [Applause] we climbed up a ways after this bear kent and i are up here just see the river in the mouth right at camp camp's right in those cottonwoods we spotted the bear this morning from that point right there the bear was just right around sight down in the bottom it's just a little too late for us to hike up over this ridge and try to get on him it had been about four miles so it was five o'clock when he went down in the bottom it would probably take us about three hours through all this brush and stuff it's tough going so we'll sit here till dark but it doesn't look like it's gonna work out i wish it would have been a little earlier in the day and we'd went in there and tried to get on him but i didn't want to risk it i think because he came down pretty good chance if we don't run into him tonight which definitely looks like pretty slim odds but i'm hopeful that well either kent and i or john the other guide and ken son elias might get a crack at him looks like a pretty good bear just don't want a bugger [Music] scenes like this still in kent that's what seems like this that is bear mountain will remind them of these kind of experiences yeah there's the cell that i was watching earlier up above kept looking down looking down looks like a young boar coming up from underneath i actually think he's maybe smaller than she is we have decided that she is a tease whole way up the mountain she's gonna try to pull him over she'll stop and then as soon as he gets close she gets up and then he'll stop to feed well then she'll lay down and look at him so the ways of uh humans and bears really ain't much different i can't she then took off to the left so yeah she's coming into season as they say so a couple of cubs we saw this owl the first day of hunting so a week ago we didn't know she had cubs up on that slope we spotted a bear to look like a pretty good one right up there sandy's gonna stay here and just signal if he boogies and we're gonna go on a walkabout looked like a pretty big bear when i could tell literally saw him for 10 seconds but it looked like a pretty good bore so we're going to try to get a closer look he bet it and give her a go ready ready all right bear is or was right up there the plan is we're going to side hill the right-hand side of this creek grade up this face get up by those pockets of snow side hill in get right up in there somewhere hopefully find them while i hold some ownership in my triumphs i'm most certainly the sole shareholder of all my failures years and many mistakes before this hunt i would have jumped in the raft raced across the lake and charged up the mountain but over the years experience has chiseled my pride and enthusiasm i took a few extra moments to study the landscape surrounding this bear i made note of a rocky pinnacle that would likely be an easy landmark to locate and identify on the stalk [Music] it also looked to serve as a perfect ambush to reassess the bear and possibly shoot from [Music] now we're making our way ken's doing pretty good bear should be about four or five hundred yards that way wind was really swirling there for a while but right now it's blowing right up the mountain right in our face so it should be good we pretty well got out of the brushes so which one i was hoping for because you're so loud going through this brush on this steep hill we're going to ease right through there making it is this cool i think we're set up 200 yards sleeping it's really nowhere to get any closer no way just see his back i haven't confirmed what we're looking at ken says we're shooting this bear yeah so i think we're gonna call get him to stand up go from there is this a pretty sight bears this time of year particularly older bores often remain in their beds until after dark i determined our best chance of killing this bear was to call it to us no matter what pitch or volume my predator squealed the bear did little more than flick his ears and lazily lift his head but upon my giving a few sowing heat grunts he sprang to full attention his hormonal fuse was lit he had to investigate ambushes hopefully he'll move to the left yeah it's a pretty good now we're all right the wind's perfect just let them keep coming all right get ready to the right don't don't shoot through that brush yeah that's all right he's in the wide open so you will be able to get him all right yeah just be patient don't move too much be ready for him to the right and that snow slide he'll probably move to the right so kind of swing to the right and get ready for him to the right and kind of shoot his right yeah just keep getting ready for him to come to the right you chewed his right shoulder tell me when you're clear you've got a clear shot there take him in front reload hit him again reload yeah i think he's dead hit him if you and you could show them i think he's dead that wasn't very good on the on the rifle i got him yes i think it's pretty good bear all right we on safety no it's a good bear we are in this bear is that thing going it's going i got your first shot on film you hit him pretty good thank you you smoked him good on the first shot oh you're probably checking maybe you got them all out i got one yep but i mean you're uh i mean you're not you didn't have a live round in that's why it won't come off fire was it worth the climb yes i'm so excited i can't tell my wife i can't believe that i climbed 8 000 feet i think it was no it wasn't eight thousand it was like ten thousand ten thousand feet come across the whole damn mountain and you called him up and i was so damn excited but i was not going to miss him in that shot you did good you're not going to miss him that was nice he came in to us a little closer he is and i'm proud yeah i think he's so happy i don't care how big he is i think he's a pretty good bear of a gun oh what a beautiful day strength and honor congratulations man let's uh should we go take a look at him now i'm getting the shakes a little bit i didn't bring my camera i got yours or i got mine rather so we're good to go on the camera yeah and he if he would have rolled any farther he wouldn't have stopped i'm gonna be honest for the first time i ain't been this tired from the you know walking as i am right in a second yeah from the excitement of it yeah yeah that's the problem is you know you always wait for those perfect scenarios you're like man look at that mountain it's steep i mean look at that i'm holding this camera level look at how steep this stuff is it is not easy and it's frozen but yeah you like ideally you get to spend a lot more time looking at this bear i just had a pretty good hunch it was a good one but i don't know we'll worry about that later but we just saw him for 10 seconds and thought well let's give her a go so you got it here we go you got a big bear i do you got a big bear oh he is yeah you got yourself a fine pile of fur there it's good for me that is a good bear you think he'll make it oh yeah think he'll make nine yep good shot perfect get that head stretched out on them you got a nice bear thank you thank you that is a good no thank you and look at his ears that was pretty cool when he came walking in yeah and his fur is good yeah he doesn't have any what you call it does he yeah it's a beautiful beautiful bear no robs yeah he's just a little bit knocked off i kind of could see that on the back a little bit on his hind end but no that's a good bear that's an over nine foot bear he's thick too yeah he's a massive sucker he's stout that's what kind of threw me off he didn't seem very long he liked the way yeah yeah i mean he looked fat yep necessarily real long but he looked fat yep yep no doubt kentigdan alabama nice brown bear day what is day seven right april the 28th my son's birthday christopher great hunt left early never thought i could hike up this mountain this darn high but we we did it and i listened to everything that billy said and we got up high way up high above him billy had to call him out he was down and called him with a predator call three times he got up and started coming at us put the first shot in his shoulder and there it went billy did a wonderful job picking it out a little over nine foot he thinks and uh and that's great big head thick body great hair um couldn't have been any better hunt for me at my age i don't know how i got up here and i don't know how i did it but billy sure did it for me and i appreciate it all the world my family i'm here with my boy lice and i always go hunting with my children and we go everywhere and this is one of the most fantastic hunts as alaskan hunts they always say are and billy is a super guide and that's why we came early to hunt with him because we had an opportunity to hunt with the best all that wind in the rain all that wind and the rain and the long hours that's that's what makes it special isn't it you got that right and i'm tired well you did an excellent job yeah you made a perfect first shot he was cording towards you a little bit yeah we we didn't get to judge this bear for very long right down here is where we spotted him from from this knob we got sandy our packer down there just with a tarp to uh he was just going to move the tarp if the bear moved and he never moved so we knew he was most likely in here the wind i wasn't too sure but it seemed to be okay i was a little nervous but it worked out and kent made a great shot him and elias here having a awesome kodiak experience and in my opinion this is uh kodiak brown bear brown bear in general is the classic north american big game hunt especially when you get to come up here for 15 days and be in the wilderness with my son with your son it don't get any sweeter than that does it no sorry thank you again uh as he was coming in and and man nothing about the bear made me think he was anything but a good bear except he wasn't super long he's really really stocky here you can just i'll just step away from you get an idea how how much you weigh can't 200 yeah two 200 yeah so just to get an idea of the bear size he's an old bear he's got one of his canines completely broken off worn teeth the ivory claw is a pretty good indicator that he's probably uh 12 years old and those teeth i'd say yeah he's uh he's at least 10. so 10 to 12 years old be my guest and uh beautiful color light colored bear big old nose on them awesome man got them all strung out make sure you don't roll you think you'll keep yeah okay we're gonna bust off this mountain nine o'clock come back up get to skiing really wishing i had my hunting boots right about now rather than these rubber boots yeah hunting these bears ain't easy this tough stuff is pretty tough loud and it's slippery we having fun yet you thought the the climb up was hard this is brutal this is well here this is how steep this is i'm holding the camera as near as i can tell level all sorts of fun later well it took 45 minutes to get down it's 45 minutes my knees will never get back we made her in good shape we made it so heading back to camp do some supper drink some vodka and some limes he brought limes all the way from kodiak get a good night's rest come up here get them out pack them off the mountain made her back to the raft has left kent there the branches were hanging over the edge so he just took a break pick him up head for cam celebrate with john the other guy elias pick up sandy on the way home good deal good bear nine foot anyway good deal he's freezing he's ready to get out of here strength and honor that's right [Music] the next morning kent decided it would be more enjoyable to spend his day hunting with elias and john rather than hike back up the same mountain with sandy and i to skin and retrieve his bear [Music] skull wide bugger pushing 11 inches on the width carcass in the hide bad fat starting cloud up a little bit yep it's been a nice day today though bears slowly side hill into the left here comes john and elias the following day we decided to divide and conquer by forming two groups glassing from either side of the lake while keeping in constant arms wave contact early that afternoon the same big boar we'd been seeing the past few days had come down to within striking distance of the lake we assembled together john hastily organized the signal system with sandy and the stock was on all right we last saw the bear moving right to left winds pretty well blowing up the mountain into the left so everything looks good wind wise bear wise been watching this hill all day and it's five o'clock so we should probably keep moving most likely wind's coming from the right to left still a little bit interface we're working on this side of a drainage bear last time i'm going to those alders can't build their spot bear's been bedded for a half hour now looks like he just got up and moved he's got some tarps that he's moving around so by the signals he's heading this way so he's holding up he isn't coming our way the looks of it so we're going down gonna cross over get up in here somewhere he's on this hillside close to the that mountain there crossed down over into this drainage had a hundred kill a 10-3 bear here several years ago just a couple hundred yards away we're going to go down crossover get on the same mountain with them get back up to where we can see the signals and try to grade into them and find them out of nowhere emerged what was likely the biggest bear john and i have ever seen and i'm dang sure it was the biggest bear elias had ever seen this was the bear hunters and even the most experienced bear guides dream of he saw us window [Applause] [Applause] oh oh undoubtedly nerves and excitement got the best of elias in his taking the shot thankfully the bear was untouched john and i knew it would have to wait till next season if we were to have any chance of seeing him again our focus quickly went back on the original bear oh i'll say wait wait wait take it sleep 300 yards we're poke over it should be 200 or less if the wind's been swirling just a little bit in there oh he saw him moving yeah he saw something the standoff lasted several minutes the battery in my video camera grew weak just as i went to change it you guessed it don't shoot the deer it looked like he was hit pretty hard elias was pretty quick with the draw didn't have my camera on actually my battery was running low he was laying down i wasn't expecting to shoot the bear laying down he got set up on this beard elias moved in front of us and the bear kind of had this pin down and uh he's still laying up laying down he kind of got up on his front legs a little bit and then lia shot neither one of us was ready john or i and it looked like he made a pretty good hit it looks looks like pretty good bear but the one that the one that he missed earlier we didn't had no idea was there we actually thought it was this bear we thought he had moved it was huge no doubt 10-footer no doubt monster monster monster there shot at like 280 yards and never touched him but we knew it wasn't and then afterwards we realized that it wasn't the beer we were going after because this bear that we were going after had a limp gave me the thumbs up so i don't know if that's confirmation or they think it's good they must he didn't come out of there they must have him down i got the packs loaded on me yeah i go through all that work and i mean it's just hunting and it happens with what i do you know missed that kill shot it's not easy to get that all the time when i do it's pretty sweet but yeah i got to be guiding first genesis john john was guiding the hunt but yeah just with the battery situation my battery was low i had it on the bear for a long time but i can't hold it the whole time i was waiting for him to stand up hoping 100 would wait till he stood right here yep yes come with me i am hold on see i got one in the pipe that's gonna take you there all right here was his bed that's a wide load that is oh his ears are real outside sizable bear okay come over here his ears look this is on the side of his head is the other one we came up on no phone they came up on this is a big bear yeah he's bigger how big he think he was big 10 he's noticeably bigger than this bear and this bear is going to be close to 10. yeah you're making me over nine and a half there's a nine and a half plus yeah he's definitely bigger than your dad's and the coat is perfect it's a nice nice bear yeah this is a slob man three hour hike hey i'd have done two more oh yeah what a bear this is a nice one look at that slice i mean he's not what he was living that's why he was limping oh boy yep that's his right front man yeah he got the long claws yeah he's a good bear april 30th guide john rydeen and elias higdon from alabama came with his dad to hunt brown bear on kodiak island did you get an adventure elias i definitely got an adventure a lot of highs and lows and finally got through my kodiak brown bear and how many bears you figure you guys saw we saw five bears in the first week and then we've seen five bears a day since in the last two days so it's starting to heat up around here on the stock after this one we actually came across a pretty nice bear that that we weren't able to to get but this guy stayed put we had a glass we had a flagger down below that helped us out a little bit and uh elias did real well he shot well this thing didn't go too far from where he initially shot him so he's a tank we've basically we've been pursuing this bear between a lot me and canton elias and john we've been pursuing this bear for four days some come out of the high country in the snow john and elias made a play on him was it yesterday or day before yesterday in the brush and he slipped out and then we came across him again today and man it was it worked out pretty slick excellent job guys congratulations appreciate it an excellent hunt and excellent guide so it could have been better yeah it's going to be a late night tonight we'll see i'll let you know 9 30. take us three hours to skin this we'll be getting back to the boat about 2 30 in the morning back to camp 2 30. somewhere close to midnight maybe it is midnight ready but we're getting there i don't know having fun yet elias having a blast putting him to work he's our main hide puller he's doing an excellent job i can see the moon a few stars are out should be a fun pack off the mountain tonight shine that on my watch 12 11. nice i just want to walk it they've waited here let's have the boat come pick us up if it were a sandy beach that'd be one thing but if there's brush hanging over and rocks and stuff you're gonna do the honors fire a rifle in the air that way just one that should be all we'll need okay three two three give her one more for good good that's over the mountain one more yep one two three fish here comes our chariot yeah we're definitely gonna have to have a vodka drink tonight hey i saw the whole thing you did yep the whole thing sweet i know y'all are tired john walked back to get that sucker actually john's pretty probably worn out he had the heavy load so well i was trying to get him in the boat and he wouldn't do it that's right that's what it's supposed to do it's not supposed to stay in the drinks on the house yeah a little celebration going on in the cook tent [Music] in the wilds of kodiak island the bears are still very much in charge they live in one of the harshest environments in north america conversely they are the benefactors of one of the greatest salmon fisheries in the world this blend of dire necessity and ample opportunity coupled with the bear's unrelenting instincts to survive has created a legend [Music] you know 2 30 in the morning sitting down for supper eating some brats and veggies and drinking vodka i suspect herein lies the motive for all of us who utilize our resources and dare to blaze our own individual trail into a place as demanding as kodiak island something inside each of us craves the danger and hardship [Music] we recognize perhaps intuitively the trials will humble and strengthen us [Music] we discover the freedom of self-reliance we recognize and accept divine power and assistance slowly our worldly layers of conformity and inhibition peel away and our soul is able to breathe and our spirit comes fully alive [Music] oh we gotta do a toast good hunt good bears good company and kodiak island this is the environment in which our own legend blossoms [Music] to endure a legend must be unprecedented forthright and indomitable [Applause] though they are rare true legends survive the test of time offering hope and inspiration for generations to come cheers cheers may god bless y'all thank you for a wonderful hunt [Applause] [Music] may the legend of kodiak never died yeah you know you're not spotting many bears when you know exactly how long ducks can hold their breath what was it 37 seconds it's a typical woman it doesn't matter what species they're all the same i can't see how much money he's got tim's glad he brought his mankini today he's thinking of taking a swim pretty nice day today that sucked climbed up all the way up here for nothing just to skin another bear [Music] big male kodiak brown bear photography we're here with guy john rydeen and uh packer billy moles [Laughter] for more information on other dvds books and modern day mountain man apparel log on to billymolesadventures.com here you'll also find information on alaskan hunting opportunities with billy for doll sheep caribou moose brown bear grizzly bear as well as white-tailed deer hunting in wisconsin much of billy's off season is devoted to public speaking he travels across the country sharing his knowledge and passion for the wilderness at corporate events schools conservation organizations wild game dinners christian outreach events and much more billy is a master storyteller attendees are sure to be entertained educated and inspired log on or call for more [Music] information

Channel: Modern Day Mountain Man

Views: 1,000,725

Keywords: Alaska hunting video, Alaska hunting 2021, Best hunting video, bear charge, grizzly bear charge

Id: MCijIvRsxL4

Length: 103min 1sec (6181 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 17 2021