A surprise spring trip and building a strategy for spring bear 2026: Part 1

After much consideration, my wife and I have decided to return to our beloved spring bear hunting area off of the road system for this upcoming May. It was either a bear hunt, or a vacation to Hawaii. And I’m very happy it was the former.

Our trip was successful last year in both the adventure we shared as a couple and the opportunity to harvest a very respectable black bear. This remote town has stolen our hearts and has become our favorite destination within the state. We are both very excited to visit the area in a couple of months as the snow melts and the temperatures warm up. As with every trip, I take notes on what worked and what didn’t work. Here are a few thoughts that I have for the initial planning of this trip.

We harvested our bear early in the hunt last year. Because of this, we had to find a way to keep our meat and the hide cold. The two of us frantically scoured AirBnB once we got back into phone reception and found one that had a chest freezer that we could use. We also had to track down the town’s laundromat to cleanse our hunting clothes of blood and grime. This year, we plan on booking an AirBnB ahead of time that will have all of the amenities we need to make the trip go as smoothly as possible.

Having packed our fears for our previous trip, we now know what we need and what we don’t and what can be purchased in town. We’ve decided against taking our camping gear and strictly staying in either our rented vehicle or in our vacation home. We won’t be packing a tent, but we’ll bring our sleeping bags to leave in the car. Just in case. The grocery store in town is fully-stocked with plenty of fresh foods that we can purchase rather than having to bring supplies with us.

One thing about Alaska is the sheer amount of water bodies, both flowing and still. We will be purchasing an inflatable packraft in the coming weeks to bring along with us to access some of these areas that would otherwise be very difficult to navigate on foot. I believe this will open new opportunities for us and allow us to separate ourselves from other hunters. I have been doing some digital mapping research over the last few days to find areas that we can focus our time on, looking for large grass fields and south facing slopes with open hillsides.

Possibly the most stressful part of our trip last year was getting our meat and our gear back to Anchorage and then home. We paid two overage bag fees to ship just the meat back and we maxed out our Club 49 checked bags and our carry ons. On my November deer hunt, my hunting partner and I successfully used Alaska Air Cargo to ship our deer meat back separate from our passenger flight plans. I am currently in the process of applying as a known shipper with Alaska Air Cargo to make these kinds of trips more feasible in terms of getting equipment and meat from one place to another without hassle or having to pay exorbitant fees.

This trip is still in its infancy planning stages. As my seasonal jobs begin to wind down, I’ll be able to focus more of my time on our spring bear hunt and making it the best one yet. For now, planning is strictly in the notes section of my phone and in this column. I look forward to sharing the rest of the before, during and after of this hunt over the next couple of months.