Story By: Nevada Crimmins
Well, there I was coaching wrestling at the state high school tournament when I got a call from Huntin’ Fool. They told me I had drawn the Unimak Island spring brown bear tag. I was already fired up because our team was doing great and had just won a big match, but after that call, my excitement went through the roof!
I reached out to R&R Guide Service, and Rod filled me in on the details for the May hunt. I mentioned that I had already bought another brown bear tag for a September hunt, and after some research with the help of Huntin’ Fool, we realized I’d have to postpone that one. Alaska regulations would prohibit me from harvesting two brown bears this close together. A few months later, Rod called again to tell me he had gotten a different concession and that Justin Dubay with Kokanee Guide Service would be taking over the Unimak hunts. For a while, there was some confusion, and I wasn’t sure if the hunt was even going to happen. That news hit hard as this hunt was at the top of my bucket list. Thankfully, in December, Justin called with the good news: the hunt was on!
I flew into Cold Bay, Alaska on May 12th, ready to head over to Unimak Island. My guide, Charley, already had camp set up and had been out scouting. Once I settled in, he told me he had spotted a good bear. The next day, we headed out and spotted one bear on our way to the Bering Sea. It didn’t take long to glass up the big one Charley had mentioned—he was sleeping on a dead sea lion with another bear about 75 yards away.
After an hour or so of watching the big bear sleep, stretch, and feed, Charley turned to me and said he thought this was the one I’d come for. We moved in to about 200 yards and waited two hours for him to stand and move around so we could get a better look. While we waited, we watched whales surfacing offshore and even saw the volcano send up smoke and soot over its snow-covered peak.
Once we confirmed he was the bear we wanted, two shots later it was all over—and the real work began. Rolling that massive bear around on the rocky beach for photos and skinning him out was no small task. It took everything the two of us had. Although the hunt was short, I’ve been on plenty that lasted much longer, so it felt great to have luck on my side this time. The bear squared out at 10 feet, 1 inch, and the skull measured 28 1/16”.
A huge thanks to Justin and Charley for their hard work, to my wife, Steph, for always supporting my hunting adventures, and to my boys, Houston and Cash, for holding down the fort while I’m away.