Alaska Spring Bear Hunt

Videographer Rayno Egner joined one of our most loyal clients in the harsh wild lands of Alaska for a spring bear hunt with Katmai Guide Services.

Rayno Egner writes:

Alaska has always been on my travel destination wishlist. In May of 2010 I was privileged enough to travel to this true wilderness to film a bear hunt with Christy Bass from Dallas, Texas.

It was a very late spring, so there was not much bear movement around in the Meshik valley. Hunting with guide James Kephart out of Jurassic Camp in the Aniakchak National Preserve, we endured the poor weather conditions and were fortunate enough on the fourth day to take a respectable brown bear.

We first spotted the bear on the second day where it was holed up on a mountain about 2 miles from us. After watching it for two days, we decided to approach it with the intention of getting a better look. We endured an epic 4.5 hour hike in wet conditions, and as we approached the area where we last spotted the bear, it poked its head above a stand of elders and Christy had to make a quick shot from the sticks. She did considerably well, especially considering the difficult climb and terrain we had just traversed. With more bad weather coming in, we decided to try and get back to King Salmon and onward to our homeward flights.

The Alaskan wilderness is quite unlike the African bush. The feeling of solitude is far greater and conditions can change so quickly that the unprepared could find themselves in a precarious situation. However, it has a rugged beauty that I have simply not seen anywhere else. Thank you to Christy Bass for allowing me to accompany her and experience this truly amazing experience.