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Another great trip for me with my friend Mike Flores of Ninilchik Charters. Mike always makes sure everyone is well taken care of whether fishing or hunting. We are already booked to make the trip again next spring.

Although Mike was unable to make the trip with us we could not have asked for better Captains and Mates

Captain Bob Stumpff
Captain Jesse Wallace

Mates:
Levi Wallace
Marvin Park

They truly busted their humps making sure everyone was taken care of and I can't forget about Heather who made sure everything was in order prior to our arrival. Due to a late winter our starting point was changed from Seward, AK to Homer, Alaska at the last minute, a welcome change for me as Homer is a favorite city of mine.

If you look close you can see 2 black bears on the beach.

Amazing scenery

Does it get any better?

Jim Sifers, Mike Morgan, Doug Warren

The cove where I missed my first bear and cut open my eye/nose with my scope when I shot. Prone position and not stable enough with my 375 H&H. I know, more gun than I need for Black bears. It has become my favorite round and rifle for my Alaska hunting. It is a customized Remington custom shop. Squared, lapped, mercury recoil reducer, Timney trigger and coating inside and out by IonBond. Topped off with a leupold 2 x 7 and to complete it for weather resistance I am going to have a McMillan composite stock installed this year.

The main reason for my decision to go with IonBond for coating my rifle was because of the great success that Kershaw knives has had with the same coating on many of their knife models. The main knife I used was the ZT 0100 fixed blade for most tasks.

ZT 0100

Although not necessarily designed as a hunting knife it held up fantastic and really held up the edge through my bear and assisting with a second and with it being a coated knife of course no rust. What I really liked was carrying the knife on my side in low slung holster style, it made it very convenient and comfortable for use.

Doug Warren (L) and Steve Michels (R)

My bear- After extensive searching I was unable to find a box of Win 270gr fail-safe in 375 H&H so I had a buddy load them for me. My shot was appx 70yds from the side of a rock while standing in roughly 10 inches of ocean. The bear dropped like a rock without even a twitch, he was a mature boar close to 6ft.

I have to give a tremendous plug to my friends at Ionbond, just prior to this hunt they coated my rifle inside and out for corrosion resistance with their Black Diamond coating because of the saltwater and just general overall wet conditions hunting near the Alaska coast. I left the rifle alone on purpose during the hunt and while other exposed metals rusted the rifle stayed free of any signs of corrosion. I am confident I am set for all my future Alaska hunts with this rifle and IonBond will be seeing a few of my other rifles very soon for the full treatment.

Steve's words

Steve's Bear was shot with Winchester's new 30-06 180 gr. Supreme Elite XP3, dropped it dead to the ground.

The Echo knife by Kershaw was another knife we used on this trip, another knife that performed perfectly for every task. The only wish I have for this knife is to have it coated for saltwater environments.

My buddy Jim Sifers from Waco, TX with his bear

Jim's words

Alaska, a place that through it's shear beauty actually defies description.
What more can a person ask for than to have a bounty of black bear aboard that have been harvested, a line in the water catching fish and a view in the background of an active volcano and breathtaking scenery all at the same time while spending time with some of the most wonderful and experienced people you could ever meet?
 
This is the closest you could ever come to heaven without actually going there!
 
The hunt in my opinion is about the experience of being joined with great friends, the harvesting of the animals is icing on the cake.
We were truly lucky all the way around and I felt fortunate to be a part of it all!
The worst part is the urgency to return and once again do the things that Ken, Doug, Steve, and myself truly enjoy, hunting, fishing and being in the GREAT Outdoors experiencing the best of the Last frontier.

My buddy Ken Krieg from Fairbanks with his nice bear.

Ken's words

The bear was a mature boar that squared just under 6 feet (70 inches) and was taken at 180 yards while he was approaching another bear on an open beach.  The skipper managed to put Jim and I on a large rock formation out in the bay with about a two foot surf where I shot the bear with a Savage model 99 in 300 Savage caliber using a Remington factory loaded 180 grain Core Lock soft point bullet.  It was a two shot kill with the first bullet breaking his spine and the second taking out his heart.  The drag to the skiff was about 12 feet.

Mike Morgan of Hunting Across America and Steve Michels, sales manager for Zero Tolerance knives by Kershaw dragging out Mike's bear.