After a successful convention with Alaska Republicans, congressional candidate Nick Begich changed clothes and headed to the airport, destination: Kodiak.
From there, Vertigo Air transported Begich to the Uyak Bay area, where he had a tag to hunt Kodiak brown bear. He was accompanied by friend Pat McCollum of Wasilla, husband of Mat-Su School Board member Kathy McCollum.
The next day, Begich bagged a Kodiak bear, taking the shot at about 100 yards. One shot took the bear down instantly, hitting right at the shoulder.
After having the hide and skull checked by Alaska Department of Fish and Game personnel, who removed a tooth and hair samples for a long-term study, the bear was “sealed” legally and upon returning to Anchorage, Begich took the hide and skull to famed taxidermist Dan Williams in the Mat-Su Valley.
Begich said he used a Kimber Montana .300 Win. Mag., using Nosler 190-grain, AccuBond long-range, trophy-grade ammunition.
He then returned to the campaign trail, preparing for an event at Bell’s Nursery on Tuesday evening in Anchorage.
A Kodiak brown bear hunt is often a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and for many hunters represents the pinnacle of the sport.
“I’m proud to live in a state with such abundant wildlife resources. It’s critical that we maintain our hunting opportunities in the years ahead through proper game management, conservation, and maintaining access to public lands. Alaska truly is The Great Land!” Begich wrote on his Facebook feed.
Can’t imagine the taxidermy bill.
My guess would be $5K-$6K. I’ve never heard of the ‘famed’ Dan Williams, despite having lived here for half a century.
Dan is a true artist. You won’t find any better.
That’s fricken AWESOME!
Rep Peltola is in a quandary. Show a pic of your trophy and risk the wrath of PETA and other woke anti-hunting folk. Don’t show it and…well, that could mean lots of things. None of which are good. Oh the tangled webs we weave.
She could try an upside down rifle and say it didn’t work.
Well done!
Congrats Nick. Kodiak tag is like a Tok sheep tag. I’ve got two of each but the last one was 1989.
This confirms for me (in addition to several other factors) that Nick Begich is precisely the type of individual who should represent all Alaskans in the US Congress. He’s got my support and vote!
Yes.
Hope he harvested the meat, my father taught us, you shot it you eat it.
Yuk.
No thank you!!! You have to cook hell out of it or risk trichinosis, plus it taste like hell if it has been eating fish.
Bears are not eating fish now. Just sayin.
Herring in Uyak Bay. – sd
Depends where you are. SE black bears are always open for seafood when possible.
If you soak it in the ocean @ 15 fathoms, it tastes surprisingly like shrimp. hint
The state of Alaska does not require you to salvage the meat of any brown/ grizzly bear that you harvest.
Mother Nature doesn’t waste anything and if the meat was left in the field another bear will certainly eat it.
In the backcountry, Andrew, I pack a Marlin 45-70 XLR that was customized by Wild West Guns–a great rifle–and I keep it loaded with Buffalo Bore’s 430 grain, hard lead, flat-nose ammo. It isn’t a sniper’s rifle, but it has proved to be “reliable” at close range in brushy terrain. That said, probably like your father, I take my brown bear nicely seared and quivering–right out a hot pan and with a touch of salt and pepper–camp-style! How did your pa cook the gallbladder–roasted or boiled?
Edit: “That said, probably like your father, I take my brown bear nicely seared and quivering–right out of a hot pan and with a touch of salt and pepper–camp-style!”
F&G recommends not eating brown bear.
What a dumb a**. He needs votes from moderates to beat Peltola. But most moderates don’t condone big game hunting. The bear probably cost him 5K votes. Maybe more. Idiot.
After seeing him at the convention, I don’t think Nick Begich cares to change his stripes for votes. He says and does what he believes. Even though I don’t agree with everything he says, I respect that. That’s why he has my vote.
Or he just tosses out empty words he knows will draw in the voters he’s hoping to get its salesmanship..
“…….most moderates don’t condone big game hunting……..”
Then they aren’t “moderate”. They’re extremists. Do you own a dictionary?
Correct. If someone frowns on hunting they are liberal/ Left.
There are no moderates.
In the thinking person dept, there are only America-hating Communists and patriots.
Only one type will vote for Peltola.
Of course, there are also apathetic drugs addicts who’ll trade their votes for anything, and I suppose their numbers are not inconsiderable…ugh.
You don’t mean moderates, you mean Californicators like Sierra Club twits. Alaskans hunt. Get over it.
Another reason to not vote for this loser. “look at me, I shot a sentient, intelligent animal for a campaign prop.”
Psychopath. Same guy who stabbed Don Young in the back.
For the record it was Don Young who stabbed Begich and Alaska in the back by lying to Begich and lying to many people including me in Juneau when he said he was going to retire and support this man. He instead stayed where he was and died while still in office. Left us a mess!
If you think shooting animals is a bad look, maybe you should have seen the dozens of animals including bears that adorned the walls of Don Young’s office. Those were his personal hunting trophies.
Good post yachting.
I wonder what happened to all of those trophies? I’m sure Mary wouldn’t keep them in the office.
If you don’t have the guts to stalk down something that can kill you, outsmart it and then pull the trigger I don’t want you in DC.
Don Young did-he was a trophy hunter!
“…….Same guy who stabbed Don Young in the back.”
Ever seen the inside of Don Young’s Washington DC office? Did you notice his big game trophies?
Good heavens.
Where are you from?
M, so its about sentience? So if the bear was hibernating then you would be okay with killing it? A human baby in her mother’s womb is more “sentient” than a sleeping or hibernating bear.
Whatever advisers he uses probably worked for Bear Doctor Gross
I expect you are one of those folks who believe their meat grows in a cellophane package in a grocery store cooler. You do know that even your vegetables respond physically to being harvested, yes? Take your childish arguments with you when you go home, please.
Was that directed at me?? If so, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Ivehunted since I was old enough for a license. Started with a recurve bow. I switched to bird hunting later, as I was busy, working and finishing college. At a college with its own farms., cows and pigs,mostly. I didn’t have time anymore to go out for days chasing the locally very scarce deer.
Nice!
We used to watch them at night in the village dump at Perryville. Course we didn’t shoot them. That’s like shooting cattle through a barbed wire fence. Shame on him for killing one of Alaska’s treasures.
“……Shame on him for killing one of Alaska’s treasures.”
Do you understand the realities of “renewable resource”? Do you understand the definition of the word “renewable”. Did they teach you in elementary school science that only so many bears were created by God and that when they die, they’re gone forever, and new ones are never recreated?
Yes, yes, and no.
Greg, there is a concept you may be unfamiliar with: conservation of wildlife requires professional, science-based, game management. It enables biologists to stabilize populations with measures such as controlled hunting permits which help avoid inevitable population crashes. Whether you realize it or not, game populations in Alaska are tightly managed with very few exceptions. In that process, controlled hunting is a necessity.
Kodiak aren’t going hungry nor are they overpopulated. I don’t agree with killing beautiful animals. Ugly ones too. Hope he feels like a man now.
Greg, my sources tell me that Kodiak Islands Bear population is currently at max carrying capacity. This is largely due to the fact I believe that ” Trophy” hunters harvest the dominant boars aka ” cub killers” which translates into a higher survival rate for juvenile Bears. Essentially when one whacks a big boar you give 2 or 3 Little Bears a chance to grow up into big bears!
They don’t need any help.
Where did he disappear to after his election loss?
Funny they avoid mentioning that loss part. And staying in after the first loss, helping make sure that Scary Mary was selected
If you mean big Al, either California or Hawaii.
Must of hired David Keith to run his campaign.
Poor 🐻
BLM. Bear Lives Matter
What a man, right? Goes out with his high powered rifle and kills an animal that doesn’t need killing for a trophy then brags about it like he did something awesome. What a waste.
Would you prefer he performed an abortion?
What? What a stupid reply.
I’m just trying to keep it on your level.
I knew a federal biologist who made a decent living taking rectal temperatures of Alaskan bears in hibernation. He never got mauled once.
DF, he was a Dept. Of Fish and Game employee and he wasn’t a Biologist either. He however likely knew Bears and their behaviors better than anyone on the planet.
He’s suffering as of lately. Tail feathers singed on here.
To PJ:
For the record, I’m voting for Nick and Trump. However, I somewhat concur with your view of shooting big game for sport only. As a hunter, I have been on the receiving end of bear and mama moose charges, escaping with my life. My .44 mag S&W saved me from being the prey.
But, taking down a beautiful Alaska animal for trophy or wall mounting purposes is not in my bailiwick. These animals mostly leave humans alone. We are the apex predictor. Bagging one for a photo op is not my idea of sport. I prefer a camera and observing from a safe distance. Nick Begich didn’t need to show off this dead animal to get my vote. I just hope he realizes that killing an animal for sport won’t earn him any additional votes.
Nice.
Kodiak is beautiful.
Mary Peltola definitely has won the cash harvesting competition hands down from deep pocket investors in DC by a landslide…
I cant quite make up my mind who would represent us better in DC….
I guess we will have to ask Don’s best friend Aunt Nancy who she is investing her dollars in.
And again, well said Mr. Coogan.
That’s some well coifed hair for a day spent in the field. I gots to hide this article, lest my wife starts having me pack a blow dryer in my hunting kit.
Naw, lucky tiger hair ointment more likely.
My dog team wouldn’t touch brown bear meat that was donated. It’s nasty and full of worms 🪱
In Hoonah the black bear population is outsized of the area’s ability to support them.
They are also riddled with worms to the point it’s recommended to burn the meat.
MA, Black Bears are not found in Hoonah. In fact they don’t dwell on any of the A B C islands. Turns out that when you have a dominant population of Brown Bears they are similar to progressive leftist which are intolerant of other species and their points of view. Wolves flourish on Prince of Wales Island but are unable to get a toe hold on the Bruno infested A B C islands.
The last I knew, bears were not an endangered species. Hunting is a long and valued tradition in many places and Alaska is one of them. I’m having a little trouble understanding how many people have commented her in a negative way. I guess I didn’t realize how many “lefties” are checking out MRAK. My husband worked for a native corporation on the North Slope and he was always surprised at some of the young native guys bragging about using caribou for target practice and leaving the carcasses to waste. But of course, that’s not mentioned much because natives get a pass, right? Now, THAT kind of shooting animals gets my hackles up, but legitimate bear hunting is certainly an acceptable thing to do. Go, Nick!
Interesting. You think lefties don’t like killing beautiful animals. I’m certainly not a lefty. More conservative than you. You don’t know the meaning.
Hunting is a lot more humane than slaughter houses 😉
Elk is my favorite ❤️
Congratulations on a successful hunt, Nick!
Green score? Hide square?
Details, man!!
Kodiak is a long way to go for meat.
Some of the comments speak volumes about the state of modern “conservatives” in particular and Alaska in general.
So many people getting so outraged and butt hurt over a man doing something legal “they” don’t care for.
He didn’t beat women, rob anyone, vandalize other people’s property, disrupt the public, panhandle, etc. He hunted a bear. Legally.
I’d suggest growing up, but it’s clearly beyond many these days.
You never did think a person was entitled to their own opinion if it differs from yours. Monumental hypocrit!
And there he is! Tada! Just can’t help yourself, can you? Sad little man.
You have no idea what or how I think, my reasoning processes, and my life and educational experiences which formed them. It’s beyond you. You live in a perpetual cranial rectal inversion which willfully blinds you.
You do you, boo.
Never the less, history proves me correct.
Ya when I was a kid I was taught fill the freezer, eat what you kill. I guess I should grow up.
If you think you should, your probably should. Good rule of thumb.
They don’t have sarcasm in who na?
Congratulations Nick! The state managing which areas are open and how many animals can be taken contributes to the overall health and conservation of the various species. It’s good to see you had such a successful hunt!
If he weren’t doing it for solely political image,I’d be fine with him shooting a bear. Its just that is why he did it,to show off how “he’s just like all theconservatives who hunt” seee! See! He even shot a bear!!. Just like those staged pics of Obama with a shotgun at Camp David it proves that he’s really not like his hard left family, riiiiight, sure! See, his web site shows him with shotgun. Its a total salesjob.. Telling you what they think you want to hear!!