Alaska’s appeal can be found in the beauty and purity of its landscapes, and in the wildlife that is a world away from our home-grown experience. But what fans of hunting expeditions really dream of are the bears and other majestic trophy animals!
How and where to hunt bears in Alaska
There are a number of companies that organise bear and other animal hunting expeditions in Alaska and Canada. We met with Orchape, which has been carrying on the tradition of hunting and fishing expeditions since 1958.
Branch manager Augustin Motte answered our questions about this particular trip, just one of a whole range of tours that the company organises.
The hunting area is located “in unit 9, on the western coast of Cook Inlet, between Lake Clark National Park and Preserve and Katmai National Park and Preserve“. The region is vast, with very few villages.
“The area is also renowned for the quality of its impressively sized Brown Bears that easily bear comparison with their cousins on Kodiak Island, opposite. Bears measuring over 10 ft (3 metres) tall are harvested there every year.
The logistics
Brown bear hunting periods are very short in Alaska. The spring hunts are on even years and last only two weeks, from the 10th to the 25th March; the autumn hunts are on odd years in the three weeks from the 1st to the 21st October.
The journey needs to be planned well in advance in order to get all the necessary local harvest tags and licences and to process all the paperwork. Orchape deals with “the choice of guns (lots of hunters use guns provided locally), binoculars and gear. We manage everything from beginning to end, from air tickets to administrative formalities and shipping the trophies back home.”
The most important thing to know is that it is “open to any hunter who is physically fit and not afraid of spending a few days roughing it in the great outdoors!”
When bear hunting, we recommend you use a Browning X-Bolt Stainless Super Feather in 338 wm or 375 H&H.
Still not sure?
We’ll let Augustin Motte have the final say: “Don’t spend too long thinking! Seize the adventure!”
Tell us all about any similar experiences you’ve had!