The guys returned with another good catch of shrimp.  I really wanted to get home before midnight! We all needed some quality sleep! We were able to get the boat into Picturesque Cove to load some of our gear, but the tide was heading out and we had to move it to the outside pretty quickly or risk it being dry until next high tide (in 6 hours). That meant that we were going to be carrying the rest of our gear at least a quarter mile. Not fun! John loaded 2 quarters at a time into his pack and hiked them to the boat. We finally had everything loaded, pulled the anchor and departed around 5:00PM. The ride back to Whittier was beautiful. The water was smooth and the temperature was warm. We had such a load that we had to run the kicker all the way back to port. Once we arrived in Whittler, I couldn’t wait to call my dad and report my bear hunting success. I ran to the payphone in the harbor office and called.  We stopped at the Sunrise Bar on our way home to have a celebration beer (since we no longer drink in the truck while driving). There was one couple and the bartender inside, and we, of course, shared our bear hunting story with them. After one beer, we headed on to Sterling. We got home around 11:00PM, we were all exhausted  After wonderful, warm showers, we finally got to bed around 2:00AM. Another late night!

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We took my bear skull and hide to Mike Frazier, at Fur & Feather Taxidermy, to get it ADF&G sealed and prepped for making into a rug.  He was surprised by the size of my bear's skull.  He measured it at 19 3/16.  He said of the 40 or so black bears he seals each year, he usually only gets one this large!  

I told John that I thought I might be interested in a moose hunt next.  Strange, but ever since then, I've noticed the moose hunting video, Love, Bull and Thunder has been playing on the DVD player a lot.