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Notes for McNeil River State Game Sanctuary

Hanging Out With the Bears of McNeil, and returning home with Photos.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mundane, and Other UnVerified Bear Facts
Some of this is available on my other McNeil pages. Hopefully it's presented more clearly here.

  
The McNeil Bear Hunting Problem Continues.

Note: Most news links, and all referenced Anchorage Daily News web page links are no longer directly available.

March 7th, 2007
The Alaska State Game Board on March 7th changed the bear hunting policy decision approved two years ago for the lands directly adjacent to and south of McNeil. There's more information about that in this article:
 
MCNEIL RIVER AREA: Public outcry leads panel to reverse a two-year-old decision. Anchorage Daily News, March 7, 2007.
 
Still a basic question remains, how is the hunting of wandering McNeil bears to be stopped in the National Preserve and other nearby lands ? The National Preserve land area is shown further down this page on the displayed ADN map.
 
ADFG Maps for adjacent hunting units are available at the following ADFG web site page, and show more clearly - but not clearly enough the areas opened to hunting on the lands which surround McNeil:
 
09A Unit 9A - Bear hunt open only in fall of odd-numbered years and spring of even numbered years
09B Unit 9B - Bear hunt open only in fall of odd-numbered years and spring of even numbered years
09C Remainder of Unit 9C - Bear hunt open only in fall of odd-numbered years and spring of even numbered years

http://www.wildlife.alaska.gov/gis/index.cfm?GIS=Hunts.GHunts&speccode=B
 
What's needed is a composited area map based on the information contained on the above ADFG maps hopefully without infringing on ADFG copyright - to more clearly delineate the issue about bears raised near humans who don't read hunting regulations.
 
I hope to have a area map completed soon, so anyone can see that there is presently way too much hunting allowed of McNeil bears within 40 miles of McNeil - let alone a more realistic 100 mile buffer zone which is more likely the minimum needed to ensure bears that have been conditioned to non-threatning humans are not trophied out. At least one McNeil bear has been tagged over 70 miles away from the falls. The actual habitat range of the McNeil bears is unkown.
 

Febuary 15, 2007
11) Don't Go, and Don't Apply. The McNeil Experiment of nondestructive coexisting humans and bears is over.
 
It's time to move on, and change. Sanctuary Manager Larry Aumiller has already left Alaska and is living in Montana:
 
(former) Game Board chairman Ron Somerville can't speak for other board members, but offered some of his views on the sanctuary bears.
 
While he can understand people getting emotional over the issue, the sanctuary was created to protect bear viewing, not individual bears, he said.
 
"It was never designed to protect the bears wherever they wandered," said Somerville, a retired wildlife biologist and administrator with the Department of Fish and Game.

 
SANCTUARY: Board of Game opens nearby lands despite the declining population of tourist-pleasing bruins. Anchorage Daily News, February 12, 2007.
 
 
It wasn't my understanding that the sanctuary was created for bear viewing. My understanding was that the sanctuary was created to protect the bears - primarily from overly aggressive bear viewers; and to manage bear viewers.
 
What appeared to be an enlightened policy on the part of the State Game Board towards the McNeil bears is clearly not the case now.
 
Despite an already lowered bear population (2004 Notes page) because of increased hunting in the McNeil area - the State Game Board approved bear hunting on the state lands surrounding McNeil in 2005. That change takes effect this July, and there's been no about face on the propsal.  See March 7th update.
 
Until this current policy is replaced with a more enlightened long term approach toward these bears, their survival in the natural world, and their habituation to non-destructive human behavior - No one should be going to Mc Neil. All you do by going is make it easier for hunters to kill these wild animals, who are used to being in our presence.
 
All hunting of McNeil bears turns the living laboratory of non-destructive human - bear interactions into yet more trophies of dead fur hidden far away*.
 
An ancient human fear drives some apparent need to dominate all corners of the earth, and determine fate more directly than the McNeil experience of being present with wildness allowed.
 
This fear and the controlling reaction to it can only become our undoing. This connecting link in our demise will be but a faded memory after all the McNeil bears I saw and photographed are dead from hunter's guns. Some already are.
 
Natural wildness will return to us again in some other form; just not soon in such an approachable one as these bears in that land along the McNeil just some few years ago now.
 


 
You will note from this map on the ADN ADFG web site, that it's not only the close by State Lands which are were to be opened to hunting, but the National Preserve lands near McNeil that are currently open for hunting.
 
Hunting in the National Preserve has been a significant factor in the decline of bears in the McNeil area.
 
BEARS: Agency receives a flood of mail opposing nearby opening.
Anchorage Daily News: February 22, 2007
 
 
Alaska State Game Board March, 2007 Meeting:
Comment period ended: February 16, 2007
 
Alaska Wildlife Alliance
 
Alaska State Game Board Calendar: http://www.boards.adfg.state.ak.us/gameinfo/meetinfo/gcal.php
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
McNeil Area 9C Map, ADFG
 

 
Until there is a more enlightened land plan management throughout the greater McNeil ecosystem, we must bequeath the lands and bears of McNeil to the likes of sporting gentleman such as this one, photographed in British Columbia with a dead Canadian black bear:
 
 
 
Bear Kill, 2004
Outdoors writer and TV personality Jim Zumbo, posing with a bear he shot in Canada in 2004, is in hot water for his recent posting on the Outdoor Life Web site, which took aim at hunters who use military-style assault rifles.
 
'Terrorist' Remark Puts Outdoorsman's Career in Jeopardy
Washington Post: Saturday, February 24, 2007; Page A03
 
Photo Credit: Allan Tew, Chilanko Forks Outfitters
 

 
* Trophies of Dead Fur Hidden Far Away:
 
One example of bears who now inhabit modern civilization bearing the smell of dead fur to us, is found in this current exhibit and recent book on Polar Bears in the UK:
 
Nanoq: Flat Out and Bluesome: a Cultural Life of Polar Bears
Nanoq is a illustrated account of the survey undertaken by artists Snæbjörnsdóttir and Wilson of taxidermied polar bears in the UK.
 
Artist's Notes for 'Nanoq'
 
Great White Bear, Horniman Museum, London, UK Oct 2006 to March 2007
PDF: Great White Bear, Horniman Museum Exhibit Images
 



 
Augustine Island Volcano, 1995
The view from McNeil of Augustine Island Volcano, 1995, F2: Nikon 500mm f4
 
1) The Current Augustine Volcano Activity is Available Here: Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO)
 
Since they are concerned in Homer about this volcano, you might want to consider how close it is to McNeil.
I borrowed the vicinity map from AVO, it is here: Local Volcanoes Map
 
Augustine Island Volcano, 2004
Heading to McNeil, Augustine Island Volcano, 2004,
F2: Nikon 15mm f3.5
 
 
I dreamed I saw St. Augustine,
Alive as you or me,
Tearing through these quarters
In the utmost misery,
With a blanket underneath his arm
And a coat of solid gold,
Searching for the very souls
Whom already have been sold.
 
Bob Dylan,
John Wesley Harding, 1967
 
 
2) Take a Float Plane From Homer.
 
If you have never been to Alaska, or flown with a bush pilot, you may wish to prepare yourself by watching Carroll Ballard's film ' Never Cry Wolf'. He has a classic opening sequence of flying into the bush. If you don't, well you can't say that you weren't warned. (Amazon.com: Never Cry Wolf)
 
You may think I'm kidding, but then you've probably never been handed an aerial map and asked where we were at in a small plane either. (Well it is just the pilot, and a few people !) Or shown up only to find the airplane engine torn apart and lying in several pieces on the dock. When you were expecting to leave in 30 minutes to catch the tide.
 
Fortunately (or unfortunately) the flights to McNeil are rather routinely tame over the wild country. (The pilots get alot of practice on this route.) Depending on the weather though it's possible you could find yourself socked in and not able to fly in/out for your permit period. But since the weather during the summer is usually mild, you normally will not have a problem.
 
Augustine Island Volcano, 1995
A view of Homer looking towards the spit and Cook Inlet, 2004, F2: Nikon 15mm f3.5
 
One of the advantages with flying across Cook Inlet from Homer to McNeil, rather than say Anchorage is that there's less country to cover and less weather to contend with if it does turn a bit windy, cool and rainy. Which then can easily impact your ability to make travel connections.
 
Check the local Homer weather before you leave home: Homer Weather
 
Research the tide tables, you need to know when the float plane can land at McNeil before you set up your schedule: Homer Tide Table & Weather
 
In the past I have used both of these neighboring Homer to McNeil float plane services:
 
The friendly de Creeft Kachemak Bay Flying Service - whose son Jose is now the one providing the McNeil flight service trips under the Northwind Aviation banner OR contact his parents, and
 
Beluga Lake Float Plane Service, 907.235.8256, as I mention on another page - On my first trip in '95 I flew with Beluga, we did a full 360 circle flyover of the smoking Augustine volcano you'll see on the way to McNeil.
 
You will also receive additional up to-date contact information from the State of Alaska if you manage a lottery permit. But these two float plane services are the mainstays of the Homer - McNeil route.
 
There has normally been a ~70lb weight limit imposed on all my gear. When the camera equipment is a significant percentage of that you need to be creative.
Depending on the total flight load, sometimes all you need to do is pay extra for the overweight amount. Other times different solutions to ferrying your gear over may be required. If you are going to be over your weight limit - you should understand how it's going to be handled by the float plane service before you leave home.
 
Late Evening View Up Mikfik Creek
Tide is Up, a Late Evening View to Mikfik Creek from Camp, F2: Nikon 105mm f2.5
 
3) If you're from out of state, fly to Homer from Anchorage.
 
I usually fly into Homer. I find I don't really need a car there, if I do either the taxi works great, or you can wrangle some personal service from the B&B you'll no doubt be staying at. To me that beats paying for the rental on a car that waits for you while you're over at McNeil.
 
In addition the flight into Homer can be quite scenic. The last time I went to Homer the pilot flew in over the Harding Ice Field, and the Kenai Mountains. That's a real treat.
 
Unless you really like to drive (I used to), or are with several others, don't. The Alaska scenic route is best done flying.
 
If you want to drive around either before you are headed to McNeil (I recommend that), or afterwards, it's simple enough to pick up a car at the Anchorage airport. But be warned, the car rental agencies don't really want you doing any real driving. It's against their rules to drive down any road that isn't paved. That leaves out alot of exciting, and hazardous routes.
 
And really driving in Alaska is not like cruising the lower 48. I have my reasons for saying this and later I may write more about it.
 

4) See the State of Alaska's web site for this year's McNeil access and lottery permit information:
 
Alaska Map
McNeil River State Game Sanctuary, Alaska
 
Apply for the McNeil Permit in January & February !
 

Ghost of McNeil Bears
Colleen Matt, and her future husband the original bear man, and
sanctuary manager Larry Aumiller, June 1995, F2: Nikon 35mm f2
 
5) Winning the McNeil Permit Lottery: Good Luck ! works best.
 
While it's really a matter of luck, if you Study the lottery permit percentage tables on the State of Alaska web site, you will notice that the odds of getting a permit go up as you head into the early or late off-peak salmon run times.
 
While it's true there is not as much action during those periods, and more likely lower numbers of bears to be seen - because after all either the bears haven't arrived, or the fish aren't running.
 
Watching
Watching,
F2: Nikon 500mm f4
If the fish aren't running the bears will never be not dummies about that, and so they will tend to not be very public. Still though in the McNeil summer beyond the fish, there is the additional interest for bears being about due to potential mating activity.
 
Most of my better images have been captured during the early season activity along Mikfik creek. At this point now, I prefer that time. Because the start of the salmon run and intensity will vary alot from year to year, where you go and what you will do on Mikfik will depend entirely on the returning fish people. And how the bears respond to them.
 
Another way to look at the choice of bear viewing locations was succinctly summed up by a fellow permit holder: 'Why anyone wants to go and watch a bunch of old male bears scrap over a few fish at the falls is beyond me.' Really it's not that bad. But there is a greater variety of behavior, backgrounds, and activity on Mikfik compared to McNeil Falls. Also there's more of a tendency for more bears to get a bit closer to you on Mikfik.
 
If you're not interested in hiking all that much, then Mikfik creek is probably not the best location for you. (So don't then pick the early - June time slots.) Mikfik can easily be a muddy slog all day long as you move from one spot to another. When you see a bear run pell-mell though what you stumble foolishly through you will be mightily impressed with that life they live. As you sheepishly realize you can never out-run a bear.
 
Usually about the beginning of July, the salmon start moving up the McNeil River in enough numbers to attract the bears there - on a more or less constant basis. So that's where you will be heading from then on with the fish.
 
 
Eagle and Salmon
          Eagle with a Salmon Catch, F2: Nikon 600mm f4
 
6) Apply for a Standby permit too.
 
Don't ignore the chance to obtain a standby permit. On every trip I have been on, either one or two regular permit holders have not shown up. Sometimes those in camp chose not to go out. Standby permit holders usually manage to get out at least one day during the overlapping permit period. My experience has been that you usually get at least two or more days out with the bears.
 
So apply, and then go if you do get a standby permit. It's definitely worth it. Even when you think it won't be.
 
The Infamous Hump of the Brown Bear
The Infamous Hump of the Brown Bear, F2: Nikon 500mm f4
 
7) Now what ? You did *not* win the McNeil Permit Lottery !
 
Most people don't manage a permit who apply. While you could slowly pine away at home, and depending on your disposition to adventure - there are options.
 
Primarily the first option is doing a day trip from Homer to Katmai for a bear visit.
 
I don't have experience going this route. But I would recommend checking with Ken and Chris Day at Emerald Air Service. You can see Chris on the 'Bears' National Wildlife - Imax movie done a few years ago.
 
Chris has the appropriate sensitivity you need to assist you in spending time actually 'being' with bears, rather than just visiting the furry sights. There are other Alaska operators who also specialize in this type of day trip too - but again I have no experience there doing this.
The Infamous Hump of the Brown Bear
Standing Bear, F2: Nikon 500mm f4
 
In addition if you make it to Homer permitless, you will want to check with the float planes operators servicing the McNeil traffic to see what they may recommend. I expect they can easily come up with a good suggestion or two for a bear visit. (See Homer float planes above)
 
Bear Eating Sedge
Bear Sedging, F2: Nikon 500mm f4
 
 
 
8) Arrive prepared. It's not called the Alaskan Bush for no reason.
 
If you come through Anchorage on your way to McNeil I have found the Anchorage REI store is better stocked for Alaska than a local store was here. Which makes sense.
 
While I like the Anchorage store alot, unless I lived in Alaska, I would not expect to outfit my trip in one quick stop there. I use it to purchase those items I forgot, or left behind. Of course I usually remember them on the flight up.
 
Use the item list the State of Alaska recommends for your organizing efforts before you leave home.
 
Camping:
 
Consider yourself, and how well you fit camping out under the sky and drizzling rain for maybe six days. Plan accordingly.
 
Mosquitoes:
 
I have never had much problem with mosquitoes, as McNeil is right on the coast there's usually enough of a breeze to keep them grounded. But on those occasions when there's not - you need to be prepared. Especially so in the mud and sedgy sections along the Mikfik.
 
BTW: > hip boots are essential
Alder Circle Tent Village, McNeil
Alder Circle Tent Village, F2: Nikon 15mm f3.5
 
Don't make this mistake. This doesn't mean Waders ! - You won't need waders BUT you definately need coverage to your hips with easier to manage hip boots. The water you have to move through can be a bit more than you would expect while safe at home. The ground can become rather slick under foot, so you will need boots that grip well.
 
Ye Ol' Cookshed
Ye Ol' Cook Cabin, F2: Nikon 15mm f3.5
 
You will be glad to know if it's totally pouring out, or the mosquitoes are thick as the hair on this bears head there's always the crowded cook cabin to hang out in at the end of the day.
 
Too Close
Slightly Too Close, F2: Nikon 500mm f4
 
9) Camera - Lens basics.
 
You may notice on this page that I use some great Nikon longer fast lenses. The minimum length lens you want to have for the longest reach is a fast 500mm.
 
And you can easily find yourself wishing for something longer than that. I really liked the 600mm f4 lens that Nikon produces even better than the 500 - which is a fine lens.
 
 
But be practical in this regard. If you're only taking snapshots to show your friends, then patience will be your reward. For instance I used a 105mm to take this shot here at the falls, and it was almost too long (you don't want to be backing up or really moving at all when a bear is right on you):
 
Two cameras are always better than one for fast changing situations.
 
Practice with your equipment before you drop out of the wilderness sky. Go to the zoo, photograph bears. As much as I dislike zoos, because I think wild animals need to be free ranging - and for many now they cannot be - use a zoo to hone your skill and test your equipment.
Bear Mother and Cubs
Bear Mother and Cubs,
F2: Nikon 105mm f2.5
 
Consider where your power is, there's none available for you at McNeil. With the new digital cameras, you will require battery power and storage space. One of the pros the last time I was at McNeil lost most of his shots due to a hard drive crash. Consider how you will store, save and protect your images in isolation for up to 6 days.
 
If you burn through shots, and machine-gun it you will need either a lot of film, or storage and batteries.
 
I don't shoot much, the light and the bears come together only so often during the day. Most people will shoot more than I do, I think last time I shot about 10 or 12 rolls of 36 exposure - and that includes both Kodachrome and black & white.
 
And then too, don't forget you will need to keep it all dry !
 
Eagle at the Zoo
Eagle at the Zoo, F2: Nikon 300mm f4
 
 
10) Study up. Learn before, during, and after your trip.
 
Move your ego aside, understand your place, the landscape, bears, and the great divides of our days.
 
Consider well why it is that we have to travel so far to safely spend time among these beings. And why the number of bears returning to McNeil is dropping every year.
 
Do what Timothy Treadwell didn't do. Try to get a feel for what this is you are seeing. My other McNeil pages have plenty of reference links to material that explore different facets of this opportunity to enlighten our lives.
 
You may think as I first did you are only headed to see bears at McNeil. Catching salmon. And yes, if you're as naturally illiterate as I was that's all you will.
 
But the experience of McNeil can be a touchstone to a inter-dependant awareness of life beyond the distracting tumult of our days. And then too everything in between.

The following is a short list of critical links towards coming to terms with the state of the bear, the salmon, their life, the wild life and our life without it:
 
Tom Butler: Wild Earth: Wild Ideas For A World Out of Balance
 
Freeman House: Totem Salmon: Life Lessons from Another Species
 
Aumiller, Walker: The Way of the Grizzly
 
Forbes, Jay, Madsen: Reaching Home: Pacific Salmon, Pacific People
 
Dave Foreman: Rewilding North America: A Vision for Conservation in the 21st Century
 
Jim Lichatowich: Salmon Without Rivers: A History of the Pacific Salmon Crisis
 
One Reel: First Fish, First People
 
Doug Peacock: Grizzly Years : In Search of the American Wilderness
 
David Quammen: Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind
 
Gary Snyder: The Practice of the Wild
 
Jack Turner: The Abstract Wild
 

 
Young Bear Ready To Sleep
Young Bear Ready To Sleep, F2: Nikon 180mm f2.8
 

 
To be continued...
 

 

Young Bear Ready To Sleep
Bill de Creeft and his '29 Travel Air Lifting Out of Homer,
F2: Nikon 600mm f4
 
 

 
Additional Bear News and Links of Note:
 
Information on the De-Listing of the Yellowstone Grizzly Bears:
 
Comment period ended: February 15, 2006
 
Greater Yellowstone Coalition
 
Sierra Club Grizzly Web Site
 
Salon.com Article
Unbearable By Katharine Mieszkowski
 
 
Alaska State Game Board 2007 Meeting:
Comment period ended: February 16, 2007
 
Alaska Wildlife Alliance
 
Alaska State Game Board Calendar: http://www.boards.adfg.state.ak.us/gameinfo/meetinfo/gcal.php
 
Feeding and Watching
Feeding and Watching,
F2: Nikon 500mm f4
 

 

all images, photographs and personal text © 2006 by:

Utah Glyph  henley/graphics
 
12 August 2010
 
All other text copyright by the respective authors

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