Please check out the January/February issue of "Sporting Classics"for a Brooks Range sheep hunt guided by Aaron, article by: Rick Leonardi



This article will appear in the January issue of "Sportsmen's Voice" magazine.
See photos of the hunt in the "Bear Photos" page.
Patriots and Predators

America’s Finest See Some Action in Alaska’s Wilderness

By Aaron Bloomquist

As the sun lowered and the air cooled, we started hearing the sounds of a typical evening in a bear stand.  Bears, maybe… squirrels, probably… “There’s a cinnamon coming right there!” I whispered.  Brian got ready, and when the beautifully furred six-foot cinnamon bear turned he took the shot.  The bear, now within twenty yards, did not react for several seconds, then turned and ran off into the dense forest. This was an odd reaction for a bear that should be dead, shot with a .50 Alaskan!

This incredible adventure actually began some months earlier.  I was working in the Wild West Guns’ booth at the 2007 SHOT Show selling custom firearms and accessories, when a one armed man stopped by the booth to check out a custom AR-10 on display.  I immediately recognized the logo on his shirt as that of the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP).  He introduced himself as Brian Neuman, the group’s Benefits Liaison. The WWP’s mission is to help severely wounded servicemen transition into a post-injury lifestyle that will leave them satisfied, productive, and motivated to live life to its fullest.  After a short discussion about the organization (and guns, of course), I suggested they consider a spring black bear hunt.  As the winter of 2007 dragged along in Alaska, we began putting the hunt together.  After several phone conversations with Al Giordano, WWP Deputy Executive Director, we were set to host two Iraq Vets (one without legs using prosthetics, one without an arm), a WWP liaison, and a the Redneck Adventures Television Show crew.

By June 2007, we had five bait stations up and running and the bears were hitting them hard.  Our stations were strung out about ten miles along the Copper River (famous for its delicious salmon).  The land we would be hunting belongs to Ahtna, Inc., an Alaskan Native Corporation headquartered in the Copper River Basin.  After years of fire suppression and lack of meaningful predator management, the formerly abundant moose populations of the area have become depleted to the point that it is a hardship for the Corporation members who depend upon moose as a mainstay of their diet.  In an effort to help rebuild their moose numbers, Ahtna just recently opened their lands to outsiders for predator hunting.

I had two baits set up near the river, so a less mobile hunter could shoot from the boat.  The remaining stands were in the bush off of the river a couple hundred yards.  I was at the lodge in Copper Center keeping the baits hot as Jim West of Wild West Guns picked up the hunters at the airport in Anchorage and invited them to choose a custom gun from the shop to use during their hunt.  Imagine my surprise, when not one, but two hunters showed up in wheelchairs without legs and without prosthetics, and the WWP liaison was Brian Neuman!  This whole situation just got significantly more challenging.  Jim and I had a quick private talk and decided we could handle this; it would just take a little more Alaskan ingenuity.  We would have Doc and Dan (in wheelchairs) hunt from the boat with Jim and a cameraman. Brian and I would hunt from a stand, me doing the filming.  Luckily for Brian my video camera would malfunction the first evening.  We went to the range to make sure the rifles were sighted in, and shared our strategy for the first evening.  We would come to soon realize that we had greatly underestimated the abilities of the two tough young vets (Doc and Dan) who had lost their legs less than 18 months ago to I.E.D.s in Iraq. 

We drove our party down to the boat dock and Doc and Dan wheeled their chairs over to the boat and climbed in without anyone’s help (these guys are unbelievable!).  Brian and I got out at the first bait station to keep the mosquitoes company for a few hours, while the others continued down river to another bait station they could watch from the river.  We got to the tree stand overlooking a barrel filled with all things sweet and I asked him if he could get up the tree.  “I’ll try” he replied sarcastically.  Brian Neuman is an Army Ranger with time in Afghanistan and Iraq. He lost his arm when an R.P.G. hit his Bradley armored vehicle in Iraq.  Although the tree didn’t slow him down, the cinnamon bear I started this story with was another matter. 

I left Brian in the stand and went to look for any sign that he had hit the bear, there was none.  As I returned to the stand, another shot rang out.  Brian spotted another black bear and took a quick shot as it passed through, again no luck.  Fortunately, he was to have a chance for redemption from the first day bear jitters later in the week. 

Doc and Dan were having similar luck in the boat.  Just minutes after arriving at the next bait down river a huge black bear showed up at the bait 120 yards away and started pawing the trees and ground.  A single shot rang out from Dan’s .300 WSM, the video told the story.  A combination of a rocking boat (less than ideal rest) and a new bear hunter combined to save this bear a trip to the taxidermist’s shop.  Three bears the first night and three clean misses, Jim and I were a little worried.  Was it good luck to have had a chance at three bears, or bad luck to have missed them?

Day two was a different story.  It started out clear and crisp as is typical Copper River Basin in early June.  After “skinning Twinkies” for bait, then eating a good lunch, we hatched a new strategy for the evening’s hunt.  I would take Doc (on my pack frame!) into one of the other blinds that was a little farther off of the river.  We would have Stork from Redneck Adventures film our evening hunt.  Jim would take Dan and Brian on the river to check out the other stations and put out some fresh bait. 

After boating to the designated spot, I lifted my pack (and Doc) onto my back and walked fifty yards into the woods, only to find a bear already on the bait.  The boat had not yet left and we were still 100 yards from the blind!   I set Doc down next to a large rock and he did the rest.  A perfect shot on a great black bear!  We decided to continue to the blind and sit a while.  I packed Doc to the blind and I set up Stork with the rifle, so I could film him if another bear appeared.  Thirteen minutes later, I saw another bear approaching the bait.  It was a nice Cinnamon bear, Stork made the perfect shot and I got the video.  Now we were out of bear tags in the blind, so it was time to hit the brush and recover the trophies.  Both hunters had made perfect hits and both bears were recovered within twenty minutes of tracking.

After I got both bears out of the woods, I packed Doc over to the bears and the celebration commenced.  One 7’ black bear boar and one 6’ cinnamon bear sow within thirteen minutes was the perfect remedy for last night’s misses!  I dragged Stork’s bear to the river and came back to pack Doc over (I knew his bear was too big to drag that far, it would need to be skinned where it lay).  After all the exertion I could no longer lift Doc’s 170 lbs onto my back with the pack, and Stork stepped on my hand smashing my wedding ring flat around my finger while trying to help.  Doc decided not to wait for the boat and the additional packers it would bring.  Instead, he simply walked to the river on his hands across the rocks and mud like he was walking across the living room floor!!  This is one tough, motivated dude, we later found out the stairs at the lodge were no match for these guys either. 

The third day of the hunt found Dan and Jim in the same formation as the first evening, while I took Brian and Jim Bob of Redneck adventures to another stand in the boat.  Brian’s luck would not yet change, but Dan was another story.  I dropped Dan, Jim, and Stork off on a gravel bar across from the bait and they got in a comfortable prone position behind some alders.  Less than a half hour later the same huge bear from the first evening came calling.  With a perfect shot from 120 yards and a quick backup shot, the brute rolled out of sight.  When I showed up later in the boat I knew the outcome by their smiles.  No one had brought hip boots and we had to cross a river channel to get the bear, so we ran the few miles up river to the lodge to get some waders.  Jim and I decided we would take Shawn (our packer) across the channel and bring the bear back across to the guys.  When we got there, we just looked at each other and laughed.  There was no way we were going to bring that bear anywhere, it took all three of us just to roll it into position for photos!  So back across the river we went, loaded the guys on our packs and brought them to the bear.  At 7’4” this was one of the largest bears Jim has seen in the Copper River Valley in over 20 years. Three bears in three nights, we were right on schedule. 

Day four was to be Brian’s day.  He decided to help skin some Twinkies for his bear (although this is not an easy task with one arm).  We decided to try a new stand this evening.  The crew dropped us off at the bait known as #4 and we walked to the blind.  We could hear an animal in the brush before we even sat down.  As soon as the boat motored away, Mr. Black came to the dinner table.  He was not a huge bear, but had a nice coat and we were running out of time.  With a tough shot through a hole in the brush, our last Warrior had his bear.  We called the boat on the hand held radio and they all came to share the festivities.  Brian was so proud he insisted he pack the whole bear out himself! 

All involved were proud to have made a dream come true for some of those who have made a huge sacrifice in America’s defense while helping to manage a burgeoning predator population in defense of Alaska’s moose populations.

This hunt was the hunt of a lifetime for me, as well.  To share this experience with “true” American Heroes was a highlight of my hunting career.  I hope to make this an annual event by taking a group of these extraordinary people on a hunting or fishing trip.  I encourage others to do the same.  You’ll be glad you did!

Aaron Bloomquist is a life-member of SFW-Alaska, the Alaska Moose Federation, and the NRA.  He is an accomplished hunting and fishing guide, as well as the Chairman of the Anchorage Fish and Game Advisory Committee.   

If you are interested in The Wounded Warrior Project please check out their website at: www.woundedwarriorproject.org.