 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
ALASKA'S PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND: BEAR HUNTING AT ITS FINEST
with SPORTSMAN'S PROPERTIES @ WHALE PASS
Hunt Addicts Featured Hunt June 2009
By Brad Carter |
What a neat place. I can vividly remember the first time my feet touched the soil of Prince of Wales Island (POW). It was the summer of 2005, the sun was just setting. The ferry was packed because of a Potlatch that was happening that weekend on the island. People from miles around were gathering to Prince of Wales Island for the occasion. On the ferry ride from Ketchikan I came to know what a Potlatch was. The Tlingit and Haida cultures were raising totem poles and having a get together. From my understanding (don’t quote me on this); Potlatch originates from the word “gift” or “to give.” Today the culture celebrates these occasions with ceremonies and festivities. I wish I would have had time to attend, but I had other things on my mind.
Prince of Wales Island is one of the most beautiful and unique places on earth. The forests are expansive and magnificent. We traveled north via suburban to the end of the pavement, plus another two hours on gravel road to a small seaside cabin in the village of Whale Pass Alaska, owned and operated by Sportsman’s Properties. This little cabin had been there for a few years but recently undergone renovation and made for a wonderful place to stay. The ocean was half a rocks throw away, and the protected inlet water of Whale Pass was the glassiest ocean I’d ever seen. That summer I fished for silver salmon, crabs, and halibut. We visited some friends who own “Land’s End Lodge” in Point Baker on the northern tip of the Island. The halibut and bottom fishing there was exceptional and we saw the resident Humpback whales, sea otters, and sea lions. The meals were terrific as was everything else.
As we drove to our various rivers, streams, and other destinations, sitka blacktail deer were abundant and we saw over a dozen bears while fishing and along the roads. I believed everything I had heard about Prince of Wales having world class bear and deer hunting and vowed to return one fall on a hunt.
 |
I returned in late September, 2007 with my father and long time friend Andrew Jewkes (who for all intents and purposes will be referred to as simply Jewkes). We thought the timing would be perfect, but it turned out to be a little bit late that year. A lot of the big bears had already left the salmon filled streams and headed for the high country, leaving mostly 5 foot and smaller bears scavenging for what was leftover after the big bears had left. I decided not to purchase a tag that year; I tagged along with video camera in tow, as my two companions chased the elusive black bear through the enormous forests of the island.
The hardest part about hunting Prince of Wales Island (POW) is the lack of open country. The trees cover everything, except the roads, a few muskegs, and the clear-cuts created by recent loggers. So the majority of our days were spent traveling from clear-cut to muskeg to clear-cut glassing for bears and deer.
The wonderful thing about Alaska is the ability to “hunt down” on your tags. This means you can harvest an animal whose tag is of lesser value than the tag you hold, if the season is open and regulations permit. This regulation comes in very handy on POW. You can purchase a bear tag, and if you see a nice blacktail buck, use it on that, if you see a nice big bear, of course you can fill your tag as well.
We drove up an old logging road which had been cut into a steep mountain side. The road ended, so we walked about a half mile further through the young trees and overgrown grass. Bear scat was everywhere, along with deer tracks and fresh Alaska blueberries, which we ate as we walked along, stopping every few steps to look over the clear-cut below us. It was a cloudy day, as many are on POW, but it had stopped raining for a few hours as we walked along the old road. I looked down below us and spotted an out of place white spot. I looked through my binoculars and realized it was the throat patch of a big buck that already had us busted! I motioned to the others to hunker down and come over to me. I showed them the deer, Jewkes had his heart set on a bear, but my Dad looked the buck over and decided he wanted to take him. I got the camera all ready, and we set up for the shot. His antlers were red and dark from the morning rain. He stood facing us at about 200 yards downhill. We discussed the shot placement as he wasn’t moving much and decided it was now or never. If he turned he could easily disappear in the small pine trees of the clear-cut. Dad settled in on a rest of an old felled tree, waited until he was comfortable and let one go. The buck turned to our left, made two big bounds, went over a little ridge and disappeared. “Didn’t I hit him?” Dad asked.
 |
We reviewed the video to see what we thought. It was hard to tell, so I stayed where we shot from as Dad and Jewkes went down to see what they could find. Nothing, they returned and on the way back to the cabin we stopped at an old gravel pit to make sure the gun was on. It was shooting low and to the left. The gun had been sighted in only a few months previous, but had lost it’s zero. A hard lesson learned on a big Sitka buck.
That night was spent back at the cabin, a splendid dinner was served and we spent the evening watching a movie and listening to the pitter-patter of the rain on the roof of the warm cabin.
The next morning we headed out again, this time further north to see if we could find another big buck or some bears. As we were driving a boar jumped across the road in front of us, I slammed on the brakes, parked the suburban and the guys jumped out and took of in the direction of the bear. I caught up to see Jewkes; rifle raised and heard the 30-06 echo through the big trees. The hit was evident and the bear turned to bite at its right shoulder, then with the shaking of a few trees disappeared into the greenery. We waited a few minutes, exchanged handshakes and high fives and then made our way down to find the bear. Even thought he bear had traveled less than 20 feet after the shot, the thick vegetation made it difficult to see him lying underneath a big pine. We followed the blood until we couldn’t find anymore, and stopped wondering where the bruin had gone. I looked under the old pine, the overcast day and the dense forest canopy made everything a little dark, but I made out a black shadow and looked closer, the beast was dead. Once again handshakes and high fives were exchanged and then we dragged the bear out to take a few photos. It was Jewkes’ first bear and he couldn’t have been more pleased. He had a grin on his face for three weeks straight after killing that bear.
 |
After the photos we skinned the bear and headed out to find another one. After traversing several high mountain roads and walking to a few clear-cuts and muskegs, we drove up a steep, old and narrow road that ended high on one of the peaks, approaching tree line. There were old clear cuts that seemed to drop straight off the side of the road a thousand feet to the canyons below. It blew my mind how it was possible to log an area that steep. The road ended, it was lightly raining. I parked the rig and looked ahead. There was a bear, feeding in the clear cut directly ahead of us. It stopped feeding and turned towards us. The trees in the clear-cut were about four to six feet tall and I could clearly see from chest up as it stood on it’s haunches to get a look at us. Its ears looked small compared to its round face, “Big Bear!” I said, and told my Dad to take the shot. He centered a round into its chest and the bear fell out of sight. We watched for a few minutes, everything was quiet, so we decided to make our way to it.
Making our way through that clear-cut was difficult at best. It was really thick, every branch seemed to reach out and grab your chest and pant legs and hold on for dear life. We finally made it to the bear. The size of the bear had been misleading, the trees were all 4 -6 feet tall everywhere except for where that bear stood, and they were more like 2-3 feet tall. Add that to small ears on a medium size bear and we had flat out misjudged it. But, it was a beautiful bear with the thickest coat I have ever seen. What a great way to fill two tags in one day. Now we still had a week, with both tags filled.
 |
We weren’t disappointed because of everything Prince of Wales has to offer. The fish were still in the streams, although most were quite colored up already, we did get into a few beautiful silvers, which only added to the sweetness of an already memorable hunt.
Sportsman’s Properties at Whale Pass Alaska made our hunt what it was. We wanted a “Do it yourself” experience and were able to do just that by renting the cabin from Sportsman’s Properties. Along with the cabin comes a skiff to travel around the bay looking for bears, fishing, and setting out and gathering crab pots, an old workhorse of a suburban and a few tips on what to do once your there as far as hunting and fishing is concerned. The rates were very reasonable and we were asked to simply clean up when we were done so the next guys could enjoy their trip as much as we enjoyed ours. We put the hides and the fish in the freezer, after taking them up the road about a mile to get sealed by a state hide sealer, grabbed a few crabs from the pots and made a great dinner to end our trip.
 |
Because I didn’t take a bear that trip, I already have plans of going back to that little cabin, maybe a few weeks earlier in the year, and doing it again, next time I’ll be carrying a rifle.
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR SPORTSMAN'S PROPERTIES: Ken Brough |
A few more pictures:
A view of Whale Pass from the cabin beach, fillet table and skiff compliment the scenery
A Blacktail Doe looks back as her fawn darts into the trees
Jewkes Catching a Silver Salmon
Jewkes looks over a clear-cut as the clouds break after a morning rain
|
