I Saved Seven Years for a Kodiak Brown Bear Hunt

Some hunts you book on a whim. A Kodiak brown bear is not one of them. The dream started on a wet fall evening in 1950, when an ad in a hunting magazine offered a Kodiak bear hunt, and it ended on a sheltered bay at the southwest corner of the island nearly seven years later. In between came a lot of saving, a lot of letters, and one lesson every hunter working toward a trip like this should hear: careful planning and honest expectations matter more than a guarantee anyone can make.

The hunter had chased game for 25 of his 35 years by the time he reached Kodiak — pheasants, ducks, geese, deer, antelope, and elk across the Lower 48. He lived in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and worked as an appliance wholesaler. A brown bear hunt in the Alaska rainforest is a different proposition, and he treated it that way from the start.

Why Seven Years of Saving Came First

After he first wrote to a guide in 1950, he decided he was not financially ready for an Alaska adventure, and he put the trip off. Then he saved money for six more years before he was finally in a position to commit. A hunt of this kind is not something you fund out of pocket change, and the discipline to wait pays off in two ways: you arrive with the gear and the mindset to make it count, and you do not spend the trip resenting the cost.

When the money was finally in place, he moved deliberately. During the fall of 1956 he sent letters to three outfitters whose ads ran in the hunting press. That is the right number — enough to compare answers, few enough to actually read and weigh each reply. The guides he chose from were Hal Waugh, Earl Stevens, and Jim Woodworth, all established names.

Choosing a Guide on Honesty, Not Promises

The detail that should stick with anyone booking a big trip is how he picked his man. All three outfitters gave fair and honest answers and promised to guide him personally. Just as important, none of them made a flat guarantee of finding a record bear. A brown bear hunt depends on weather, luck, and the animals, and an outfitter who pretends otherwise is telling you something about his honesty.

He settled on Waugh for a plainspoken, honest letter and for the reputation of the bears his clients had taken. Reputation plus candor, in other words, rather than the biggest promise. The pace moved quickly once he decided. He first wrote to Waugh in October, and by December the hunt was locked in for the following May. If you want a specific guide in a specific window, you book early.

Packing for the Southeast Rainforest

Waugh’s advice shaped the gear list, and it is advice worth copying. On Waugh’s recommendation the hunter packed hip boots along with a raincoat that fell below his knees. That is exactly the right call for a coastal hunt in country that earns its rainforest name. Wet feet and a short slicker will end a hunt’s comfort fast, and a guide who tells you what to pack before you arrive is doing his job.

He flew out from home on May 6, 1957, routing to Kodiak Island through Seattle. From Kodiak he flew to Deadman Bay in a light plane, with Bob Hall handling the local flying. The flight itself was memorable: dazzling sunshine, winging between snow-covered peaks on the way in. Deadman Bay cuts a sheltered notch into the rugged coast at the island’s southwest corner, and the hunting camp sat at the head of the bay.

Who Was in Camp

A guided Alaska hunt is a small community for the length of the trip, and this one ran to nine people total. The hunters were George Heinold of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Joe Steine of Baltimore, and the hunter himself. Jim Woodworth, a published hunting writer in his own right, was along with his bride Marge; the two had wed not long before and were on a bush honeymoon. Marge, a Southern woman, cooked for the camp and had top-notch recipes — no small thing when you are living in the field. Larry Keeler, a husky lad of 22, handled chores around camp.

The camp also hosted a visitor with a scientific interest in the quarry. Dr. Bob Rausch, who served as Alaska’s chief zoonotic-disease control officer, had come to Kodiak to research the health problems of its brown bears.

The Lesson That Cost a Rifle

The guide worked the coast in an outboard-powered dory, and the party at one point came up on the inlet leading into Horse Marine Canyon. Near that inlet, three hair seals were spotted resting on a kelp-draped rock just above the surf — and those seals make a stern test of a shooter’s accuracy.

Then came the moment no hunter wants. When a swell rocked the boat and his footing gave way on the rain-slick bottom, he dropped his rifle into Deadman Bay. A fine .348 Winchester now rests under 60 feet of water on the floor of the bay. It is the strongest argument there is for keeping a firm grip on your rifle every second you are moving on slick surfaces. Gear fails, boats move, and the sea does not give things back.

What the Trip Was Really After

Underneath the logistics was a clear goal. He wanted a brownie big enough to make the record book, going in fully aware that no honest guide would promise him one. You save for years, you pick your guide on honesty, you pack what the country demands, and then you accept that the animal is the animal’s decision.

How He Went About It

Strip away the particulars and the plan behind this trip holds up for anyone eyeing an expensive, once-in-a-lifetime hunt. Decide the trip is worth real money and save until you can pay for it without strain. Write to more than one outfitter, read their answers closely, and weigh candor as heavily as reputation — the keys to hunting successfully in Alaska are careful planning and thorough preparation. Trust the guide who refuses to guarantee what he cannot control. Pack exactly what the man who knows the country tells you to pack, and then guard your gear, because the one thing this hunter could not plan around was a lurching boat and a rifle gone to the bottom. The hunt itself he would never forget — but the way he went about booking it is the part you can copy.

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