Wally's Bear

A quick disclaimer for this post - I'm not a huge fan of dead animal pictures, I'd rather take pictures of them alive but Wally and I had the opportunity to take part in a special hunt that the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has started in unit 16 on the west side of Cook Inlet. They have deemed it a predator control hunt for black bears to help curb the decline in the moose population in that management area. The number of black bears in that unit is so substantial that Fish and Game allows the harvest of mothers and cubs and doesn't require the harvest of meat, a rare exception in any game management plan. SO..... Wally and I flew over Friday afternoon to the cabin and began hunting that night. By 8pm we had harvested this middle aged male black bear and we had it skinned and at the cabin by 11pm. While we were packing it back to the boat, Jason Elam flew in in his beaver with Daryl and Levi Sutton. I work with Daryl and Levi runs for UAA. They were in after black bear also and took another one the next day. Here are a few pics of the trip. The size of the swans up close always amazes me.
cheers,
Josh