Hunting brown bear on the Alaska Peninsula

The Big Bear

The Big Bear

I was sitting at my desk on a beautiful April day in Alaska when I heard the chime of a new Email coming in.  It was Brent.  He was at a sports show in Wisconsin.  Matt Caldwell from Illinois had dropped by Brent’s booth.  Matt is a good friend of ours who had hunted with AAA on eight different occasions.  Brent had told Matt about a really big brown bear that one of his guides had taken a photo of through his spotting scope during the spring season in 2016.  He also told him about a couple of openings he had for the late spring hunt at a discounted price and if Matt wanted to come on one of those he could hunt for that bear.  Matt had already taken three brown bears including a 10’1” that I had guided him on in 1992 in our Cold Bay area.  Matt asked, “Does Roger still have his guide license.” Brent wasn’t sure so that was why he had sent me the email.  I emailed Brent saying that I had let my license lapse after I turned 70.  The State has a special deal for retirees to keep their license in an “in-active status” for $200 a year but that was too expensive just to say you were a Master Guide but couldn’t guide.  I told him to tell Matt that I would love to come down just to hang out if he wanted.  Matt is just one of those guys that is fun to be around.  I told Brent to give me a call once they decided.