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Frank Noska- Brown Bear hunt with his PSE
Click for larger version
I made it out to the peninsula of Alaska this fall to bowhunt Brown bear. This hunt turned out to be one of the most adventuresome, action packed bowhunts I have ever done. First, I ended up hunting alone. I was planning on having someone back me up with a gun, but their schedule did not work out. I would have definitely preferred to have a “backup”, but I was not going to cancel this hunt just because someone was not available to go out with me.
So I found myself alone, on the peninsula, bowhunting Brown bear. I did take two guns with me on this hunt, a 12 gauge shotgun and a 44 magnum pistol, and my satellite phone. Everything on the peninsula is extreme; all the weather (thankfully I had the Bombshelter tent!), the wind, rain, storms, ocean tide, low visibility, mountains, salmon in the rivers, the bear, etc. There were lots of bear! Before I even had my tent set up a Brown bear was into my food! I have to chuckle when I think of what that bear thought when he saw me running at him yelling and waving my arms like a crazy man. Luckily he was more afraid of me than I was of him and retreated and I was able to reclaim my food stash. I don’t think it ever stopped raining! I wore my SITKA waterproof gear continuously on this hunt and was thankful to have it! The wind was blowing so hard I could not put the tent up. Eventually the wind decreased just enough to allow me to get the tent up.
The first day I could hunt, I climbed high up on the side of the mountain so I could observe the action below. I wanted to look at where the bear were bedding, trails they were using, and favorite fishing spots they were using in the river. This evening “observation hunt” provided a lot of information. I saw several bear and learned about their normal movements. For the next couple of days I hunted and had some close encounters, but the right situation never presented itself. The majority of bear I was seeing was during the first couple of hours after sunrise, and the last hour before dark. This left a very short window of effective hunting time. Late one evening, I spotted a nice boar traveling down the mountain toward the mouth of the river to feed on salmon. I had to move quickly and was able to get in a good ambush spot along the shoreline. The wind was in my face and I had a patch of tall grass to hide. As the bear passed by at 18 yards, I came to full draw and rose up above the grass to shoot. My ol’ 70 lb. PSE X-Force sent the Carbon Force Pro arrow into both lungs of the 9 ft. Brown bear. In a few short seconds it was all over. This is a memory I will not forget.
I hope everyone is making some of their own good bowhunting memories this fall. Be safe, good luck, hunt hard, and have fun.
Frank Noska
PSE Pro Staff
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