Kodiak Brown Bear Hunting Dates and Rates:
Spring season is April 1st – May 15th Fall season October 25th-November 30th.
Hunt cost $24,000 cabin based
add a dear hunt for $3450
Application for the draw is November 1 through December 15 each year. Odds of drawing are high. Hunts take place the following year.
A trophy brown bear or grizzly is the greatest trophy on the American continent. Rarely does he come easy. The life he lives is rugged and harsh. Born higher up on a mountain cliff than a goat would dare go in winter. His mother picked this cliff in a desperate effort to hide from her own kind, the big bad boar! Alaska’s elements and terrain become a part of his life making this animal one of the toughest on the planet. Soon his mother teaches him to live in fear of bigger bears. If she is smart the sow also teaches the cub to respect the instinctive fear of man’s smell. By the time the boar brown bear reaches maturity at seven years old, in most cases he has learned the ropes. By this I mean, he has met bigger bears and paid the consequence. He has also worked out any ego issues with humans, mixed with the instinct of their smell meaning danger.
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At maturity new revelations come to the large male bear. The boar has begun to realize that he is bigger than most other bears. As spring time arrives, he impatiently waits, he leaves his winter slumber before other bears, if he has slept at all. Soon after the drive to reproduce comes over him. Grumpy and ruthless the boar begins to search for sows. Positioning himself in the best spot to use his keen sense of smell. The potential for nature's cruelty is as high as it gets. Fate lays in which sow he finds first. Perhaps he finds a lone sow (having reached maturity at 6) the week that follows can be loving and romantic and life’s cycle is restored. Soon though his quest continues. As he travels across a high peak a scent is caught under the snow! A poor sow and her cubs. Few sows rival his size now, most are helpless. With an excited ferocity he digs, meeting a sow ready to die for the life of her cubs. Hopelessly she fights but he has the high ground pushing her a side he grabs a cub violently shaking it, soon the panicked squeals for mother fade. Shocked and hysterical the sow tries to save her other cub by running away. Unfortunately, for her it is hopeless, every step they take leaving a scent that the boar’s nose will not lose. The second cub is easy to catch in the deep snow. Terrified and sorrowful the sow now realizes she is his target. Copulation is on his mind and clearly, he will do anything to get what he wants. With the cubs blood still sweet in his mouth, he uses his superior mountaineering skills and strength to push her to the highest peak. There he can wait for her to come into heat, escape is hopeless. While also keeping their scent as hard to find for other boars as possible. Each time she tries to escape he forcefully grabs her pinning her down in a sexual manner. After days of this she has no choice but to submit or die.
Kodiak Island, Alaska this is where Campbell’s High Caliber Guide Service comes into play. Patiently our party has waited to strike. Man is the largest boars only predator, a fact of which the mountain monarch (Kodiak Brown Bear) is acutely aware. Having been hunted twice a year after leaving his mother. This means a fifteen-year-old has survived 24 hunting seasons. That creates an advisory worthy of hunting, possibly the greatest trophy.
By hunting the boar, cub mortality is reduced. Allowing more cubs to grow to adult hood. Raising the overall number of bears, making for sustainable hunting. In fact, without bear hunting the number of bears would be reduced because more boars would be competing to mate as well as competing for food throughout the year. Having a high ratio of sow’s to boars is crucial in bear management. Also by taking mature males we insure that the animal continually has the opportunity to grow to its genetic potential. This ensures the longevity of trophy quality in the species, a fact that is very important to us on Kodiak.
The Kodiak Brown Bear is the largest of his kind. A sub species isolated from the rest of their species long ago. Named in Latin “Ursus arctos middendorffi” sperate from others named “Ursus arctos Horribilis”. One in two male Kodiak brown bears has the potential to grow a Boone and Crockett Trophy sized skull. That is the highest percentage of trophy bears in the world. Once you head north to the Alaska Peninsula only 33 percent of males have that genetic potential.
Campbell’s Guide Service hunts the big Island of the Kodiak archipelago with that dominant strain of gigantic bears. The outfit hunts spring and fall season across three different draw areas. A hunts difficulty and chance for success will depend significantly on the hunter. Simply put the more bears a hunter can go after the greater the chance of success. Just like any predator, often times the first stalk is not successful. This can happen for many reasons, perhaps, a change in the bears direction or a swirl in the wind. Your ability to get up and continue hunting the next day will drastically increase your odds of success. This sequence can make for a very physical hunt. If the hunter is physically hindered that’s understandable the guide will wait for an opportunity with a high chance of success. Campbell’s also accepts bow hunters, understand though that reduces opportunity’s for success.
Most hunts consist of a big tent base camp (in some cases a cabin is available) , I often refer to it as the hotel. Here we eat real food like sloppy joe’s, pizza, stroganoff, tacos, spaghetti, jimmy dean, eggs and snacks. Often times, especially on spring hunts, there is a need to spike out from base camp. In this case we carry what we need for up to seven days on our backs. For this I proved the necessary equipment and freeze-dried food with snacks. Spring hunts in general require more mountaineering gear to be carried on a daily basis.
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Spring hunts consist of higher bear activity, much of which is in high snow-covered alpine valley’s. The days are long. Hide quality of bears is mixed, some bears are rubbed, there is a potential to find a bear with the best possible hide. If your physically capable this hunt is for you. Fall hides overall are in better condition less bears are rubbed. Days are shorter around 8 am to 6 pm for hunting time. Bear activity is focused on finding food before winter sets in.
Hunting dangerous game is no joke. A founding principle of the Boone and Crocket Club is that all animals be taken in an ethical manner. Campbell’s High Caliber guide service strives to up hold that standard. Brown bears are tough and very hard to kill. We recommend hunter's bring a .338 caliber or larger. Shots are 200 yards and under. The first shot is crucial, automatically hunters should reload and fire again. While request for Boone and Crockett, Safari Club International (SCI) or Pope and Young will be respected. Guides will do anything to prevent wounded animals from escaping. A Bear that escapes is not only suffering for an extended period of time, it also becomes a danger to any other living being it comes across.
Legally hunters can hunt 15 days on their tag. Unless previously discussed Campbell’s goes into each hunt prepared to hunt that full time. In reality that is 17 days with a day of travel on each end. At the very least we recommend hunting a full 10 days.
