Today’s Presentation: Rod Mahler presented about Big Game Hunting trips he has had in Alaska! Rod was always fascinated about big game hunting and dreamt about being able to go Alaska someday. He described that Brown Bears and Grizzly Bears are really the same thing, however brown bears are the ones that eat salmon near coastal areas. Grizzly bears are more inland. Rod has hunted in Alaska in various areas over the years including in Fairbanks, Juneau, Denali, and Sitka 1971 was Rod’s first-time hunting in Alaska was with Stewart Shaft, who got him into big game hunting. The first hunt was in Fairbanks Alaska for Dall Sheep.
Rod said that they first attended a Fairbanks Rotary noon meeting and hunted that afternoon. They stayed at Judge Hepp’s house which had beautiful scenery in the photos he showed. They flew from Fairbanks to a hunting cabin in the mountains. From there, they went further into the mountains with horses and stayed in tents. Rod described the hunt and they were successful in getting Dall Sheep. He described how it took 2 shots to first shoot at the horns of the sheep, then they stand up for you to take the second shot while standing up. Rod said he hit the Dall Sheep in the horns on the first shot!
When they finished hunting Dall Sheep, they were able to still hunt Moose, Caribou, and Black Bear. Rod shot a bull Moose with an antler spread of 60 inches! There is a very in-depth process to take care of all the meat but they did that. In 1999, Rod told his wife Jean that he wanted to take a 10-day hunt in Sitka Alaska. His selling point was that he would hunt for 5 days and that the family could come and make it a family trip for the last 5 days. His wife told him that was okay so long as he lost 50 pounds before the trip. He said he did lose 35 pounds and they still went on the trip.
In 2000, after a year of planning, Rod did the 10-day trip to Sitka Alaska to hunt Brown Bear. Rod described the hunt where he and another hunter went by boat with two guides and their significant others. The boat was 60 feet long. Rod then went out with one of the guides on a smaller boat to hunt bear. They were in a remote area with a waterfall, pictures that Rod showed looked like a beautiful area. Rod saw two bears on the shore and they were able then work their way close enough for him to get a shot. Rod shot a large male bear while the smaller female bear ran off. The guide told Rod they had better get the bear before the tide rose later in the day. The two of them were able to retrieve the bear and had a couple close encounters with the female bear whom came back to the area. The tide rose to the point where the water was up near their ankles before getting out of the area.
Lastly, Rod talked about another trip he took with his son and grandson to Anchorage to go Salmon fishing. After a couple days of fishing, they decided to go to Brooks Falls which is a popular destination to see bears catching and eating Salmon. They got there and while walking in they had a close encounter with a brown bear at 25 yards. The guide told them to keep walking but Rod was able to get a quick photo of the bear which he showed us! The last photo of Rod’s presentation was of the male brown bear he shot. The photo is of the mount he had done and him standing next to it. The bear stood at 8 feet 4 inches tall and was estimated to be about 15 years old.
Rod answered several questions Rotarians had about his trips to Alaska.
This was a great presentation; thank you Rod for sharing your stories with the club today!
