My First Griz

Here in Alaska, we have the option to hunt both black and grizzly bears over bait during the spring season. In the area I hunt the baiting season runs from mid-April through the end of June. Grizzly ends May 31st while black bear extends through the end of the season. This is a great time to get out hunting after a long winter and provides a chance to fill the freezer. Bear meat is very tasty and while less versatile than venison, it can still be prepared in several ways. 

While I have hunted bear over bait in Maine, I never ran baits of my own. I helped set up and haul bait but never chose my spot and saw it through the entire season. My first year as a resident I started bear baiting here in Alaska without much success. I knew I didn’t have a ton of time to devote to it and therefore stuck pretty close to town. Turns out a lot of other people are in the same situation and it results in a lot of baits in a small amount of area. One of my 2 baits produced decent action but the few nights I had to sit did not result in any encounters. I had a hunter set a bait 150yds from mine, along with 3 more on that side road. It was overcrowded. My other bait eventually had black bears visiting it in mid-June, but the food was stale and they did not stick around. I had to devise a better plan to make it worth the effort. 

This past spring I was determined to find some area to myself. I decided on an area about 3 hours from town, enough driving to keep the majority of hunters away. I had seen bears while driving in that area in years past so I felt good about my chances. I chose a few spots to scout and went out with a friend in early May after most of the snow had melted. We put in one bait and headed to scout another. On our way there I spotted a good sized black bear on the edge of the road as we motored past at 50mph. The brake was slammed and I went running back ready to make a quick shot. He was still there but quickly took off when he saw me coming up the ditch. There was a  30yd wide opening between the road and treeline, I should have waited up by the truck and let him come out. He had been wanting to cross the road, we had just come along as he had started out of the trees. I’m sure he would have come out had I been patient, lesson learned there. 

We scouted the spot we had been headed to and it looked awesome. It had been a previous bear baiting site with 3 homemade platforms built into the trees. 2 had rotted and fallen in but one was in good shape. It seemed that it had not been used for a long while. I later got it registered and I went back up with 50 gallons of popcorn, 5 gallons of fryer grease, and about 7 different scents including a bag of rotting fish scraps. 

The popcorn is a very light and cost-effective option for the bulk of the bait. However, on its own it does not provide the scent or calorie count the bears crave. Pouring gallons of used fryer grease through the popcorn increases its scent and appeal. The bears get the grease on their paws and then track the scent through the forest to and from the site. The bag of rotten fish or other meats is used as the “call” lure. Hoisted high into the trees the bears can smell this from miles away and come to check it out. They always seem to figure out a way of getting at it so I use a small amount. I do not want them eating more than just a little of this food as I plan to eat them later. 

Being such a far drive and early in the season, I let it sit for a week and a half before heading back to check. The barrel was empty and it was clear a bear had spent a good amount of time at the site. I filled the 55-gallon barrel full with another round of popcorn and grease. I hung a trail camera but planned on hunting the site any night I could regardless of what size or number of bears were coming in. I do not have much time to devote to the bear hunting in the spring so therefore am not picky and just happy to be out hunting. 

The next weekend I got back up there and the barrel was again empty. Another round of bait and scent was left. This time I had brought enough to fill the barrel and 20 gallons extra went into the 2nd barrel onsite. I checked the trail camera but of course, it was not working properly. I couldn’t get it to work at all. I hadn’t brought a different one so was left without a camera working on site. I sat that night until 3 am without any action. 

That week I had a surprise day off and after work, I headed to the site. Bears typically hit baits between 8 pm and 6 am here in the interior. Therefore, most sits last until at least 2-3 am. This is not conducive to a healthy amount of sleep when also working a full schedule. A day off after the night of the sit is needed if there are also 3 hours of driving after the hunt, more if a bear is killed. This results in Friday and Saturday nights being the only nights to realistically hunt a site making it hard to keep bait in the barrel and catching the bear when he’s there. 

I got out of work at 7 pm and climbed into the stand at 10:30 pm after hauling about 75 lbs of gear and bait down the .5 mi trail leading to the bait. I hung a fresh camera and put out all the bait I had brought. The barrel was about halfway empty and the bears had begun to dig out the dirt around the barrel where stray popcorn and grease had fallen. Roots were showing from the trees the barrel was chained to and wedged in between horizontally about 3 feet off the ground. Big piles of bear shit and the high volume of bait consumption had me wondering what beast had discovered my site. I climbed into the platform and got settled in for the long, chilly sit. 

All this time a male spruce grouse had been using the area as his spring strutting area. He’d strut around before flushing up onto a spruce limb. After sitting there for a minute or so he’d fly back down and repeat, for hours. I would walk 5 feet from him on the way to the barrels and he couldn’t care less. He was good entertainment while I waited through the late-night hours. 

At 1 am I heard loud crashing about 100 or more yards past the bait. I grabbed my 300win mag and got it up to my shoulder. The crashing got closer and closer until I could hear each footfall. Black bears are stealthy and often show up to the bait without making any noise at all. This was clearly a griz coming in for a late night meal. Being the biggest predator in the woods, he had no reason to be stealthy. 

He suddenly appeared, coming around the large root ball directly behind the barrel. He looked big but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions. Bears are notoriously hard to judge. I had decided I’d pass on a smaller griz, and sows with cubs are of course off limits. 

As he got to the bait he acted as if he’d feed from the square hole cut into the side. As he lowered his head toward the opening he quickly snapped his gaze straight at me. He did this twice more. I was ready for this and never moved an inch. Bears are clever and know this whole setup isn’t natural. He also could likely smell my scent around the barrel having just been down there 3 hours prior. He was trying to catch me slipping up there on that platform. I kept my cool and passed the test. However, he laid down and began to eat the small amount of popcorn that had fallen on the ground. A laying bear presents a hard shot as the vital organs shift. A bear’s vitals sit further back than on a deer or similar game. A “middle of the middle” shot placement on a broadside bear is ideal. On a full size griz, it is more than ideal, it is crucial. At this point, I had decided he was a shooter and as soon as he stood to eat from the barrel I would take the shot.

Well, that damn spruce grouse had been strutting around for the last few minutes directly below me. He decided it was time to flush up to a limb and as he did the bear jumped to his feet and turned towards me face-on. A second later he wheeled away and ran off into the brush. I had a massive adrenaline dump I had been containing and instantly thought my chance at him was lost. I heard him go about 100 yds and no more noise was made. 

About a half hour later I heard him start walking around and later ripped up a rotting log. 15 minutes later he came back in towards the bait. This time after being spooked by the grouse, and already being suspicious of my general direction, he came in from the side of the tree I was in until he was about 20 ft away. I could hear every breath he took as he wandered back and forth seemingly just below me. I moved my phone up over the plywood and could see him walking using the camera to look to my right without turning my head or body. He determined he was in the clear and headed for the 2nd barrel that had a few gallons of food in it. On the way he stood up against a 30ft 5” wide spruce and shook it all around. That tree swayed 20 ft back and forth, or at least it seemed to. At this point, I didn’t have a shot and was letting the adrenaline dump so when the time came I’d be able to reel it back in. I sat there shaking as he laid behind the 2nd barrel 30 yards away not presenting a good shot. He ate what little food I had placed there and got back to his feet. I took a deep breath and instantly calmed completely. He would walk to the other barrel and when he stopped he was getting a bullet. He followed script and did exactly that.

When he stopped at the barrel at full broadside I let him have it. The first shot knocked him down and as he rolled and got his feet underneath him I let him have another one. I was shooting that bolt action like a semi-auto. That one knocked him back down and he let out a terrible roar. Loader than I have ever heard and only one a full-size griz can produce. Two more quick shots and he was still and quiet. He was dead 5 feet from the bait. All four were vital hits to the chest. I see no reason to let a bear, let alone a griz escape from view out into the thick brush. 

I gave it a few minutes, sent out a few inreach messages, and dropped down from the tree. It was obvious he was dead but I still approached from behind and gave him a stiff rap with the end of the barrel. He was a good bear, no ground shrinkage. I was able to move one leg at a time and got him into a better position to get a look at him. A big, blocky head sporting impressive intact teeth was the feature that stuck out the most to me. A thick, full coat of long fur and 3 inch long claws made him an impressive animal. 

I got in contact with a friend who had told me to text him with good news and he’d come lend a hand. I gutted the bear and headed back up to the truck in the meantime. He arrived a few hours later and we headed down the trail on my wheeler. He was able to get some better pictures for me than I was able to by myself and gave me a hand skinning and quartering. 

Many hunters do not take the meat from grizzlies as it is mostly not required and has a bad reputation. Bears will eat just about anything and if they have been eating rotten meat their own meat will reflect that. I have a hard time leaving meat and this one smelled like anything else I had ever dealt with. We loaded the wheeler with meat and hide and headed out of the woods. 

Bear baiting is typically the only way to harvest bears in thick terrain. It is an important management tool that helps keep predator numbers in check. In many areas across Alaska predation from bears has a major impact on the recruitment of young moose and caribou. This combined with added hunting opportunities and quality meat are the main reasons why I and others will continue to bear bait each year.

Harvesting this bear has done nothing but increase my respect for them. It was truly an incredible experience having him so close and observing his behavior. They are smart animals that are hard to kill even over bait. I look forward to putting the lessons learned this season into practice in the years ahead. Most importantly I have found a site that produces. The new trail camera I placed the night I killed the griz resulted in thousands of pictures of other bears. As always, I’m excited and am waiting impatiently for next season.