Bear Watching at Icy Strait Point

[Budget Queen]

 

I've read Keith carries a gun just in case, can anyone report about Brown Bear excursions doing the same? I've already got an email into them and when I get a response, I'll ask the vendor......... but if anyone happens to know..... thanks.

 

Frankly, they would "have to"???

[CP3o]

Frankly, they would "have to"???

 

That's good to know. Read something about people carrying bells to scare off bears; if there were a anti-gun tour packing a bunch of big bells, I'll go with the guy with the gun! ;-)

[DougH]

Yes, Phil carried a gun on our Brown Bear Lodge Excursion. Every time we got out of the van he had it on his shoulder. (except in town)

 

Just remember you don't have to be faster than the bear. just faster than the slowest member of your group :) (kidding of course)

[SPANDER]

Another option is to head out with Kenny (our guide was his friend Phil) from Brown Bear Lodge. I went out with them a couple weeks ago and we saw 12-15 bears during the day. Phil told some great stories and was a lot of fun. We were with him all day from about 8:15am until at least 4pm. Phill was willing to drive us around as long as the ship was in port.

 

 

I just read your post about Phil......do you know how to contact him and what was the charge...there will be 4 of us next week...

We went with another guy 2 years ago, very good, just can't remember how I found him...he charged $100 pp..his name may have been Bob.

He just kept going over the same 2 rivers and after a while we did see bears....1 mom and 2 babies, also a large male in another location...he also took us on a small hike...he has 2 guns and a knife w him at all times.

 

Sandy

[texasmomoftwo]

Let me start by saying, this post is for information purposes only. I have not taken either excursion. I am just in the gathering information stage.

 

I have talked to both vendors. Keith (Teckk Outfitters) costs $130 plus 6% tax. Roughly 3 hours. His wife is an absolute joy on the phone and very patient with my questions. When I asked about the possibility of bears in June, I was told maybe. But it is a "nature and wildlife" kind of trip. He sounds very accomodating and very nice.

 

When talking to brown bear lodge (http://www.brownbearlodge.com) Kenny responded the following via email:

 

I asked when was bear viewing season?

 

Response:

 

 

Bear viewing is good from May through the end of september. Northeast chichagof island has more bears per square mile than any place in alaska (1.7). It is almost the end of the 2010 season and we have had three trips all summer where people did not see bears. The most seen in one day is 21.

 

 

thank you for your intrest

Kenny

 

These excursions are scheduled for longer, but do cost more. You can find out more at www.brownbearlodge.com

 

Decisions...decisions.....

 

I just want to see bears!!!!

Edited September 9, 2010 by texasmomoftwo

[vff]

We are signed up with Keith (Teckk) for a bear tour (nature tour) on June 8th. The cost is $130pp +6% tax. Here's their web page of this tour.

 

http://www.teckkoutfittersicystrait.com/TECKKPage8.html

 

The website is a bit confusing and incomplete, but I've read good things on CC and also Tripadvisor.

 

What's confusing and incomplete about the TECKK web site?

[CP3o]

What's confusing and incomplete about the TECKK web site?

 

Did you follow the link you were quoting? It's a page with bear pictures, there are no prices, number of tours offered a day, information about the number of pax in van you will go out in, etc. Many excursions have this type of information available. The FAQ tab only relates to whale watching.

[MercedMike]

Did you follow the link you were quoting? It's a page with bear pictures, there are no prices, number of tours offered a day, information about the number of pax in van you will go out in, etc. Many excursions have this type of information available. The FAQ tab only relates to whale watching.

 

Basically this is because Keith at Teckk does not offer a standard, package tour, but is very good about making arrangements that suit YOU and what you want to do. For example, in our case, he offered the option of walking through the woods looking for bears. We specified that we did NOT want to do a lot of walking, so he arranged the tour that way.

 

Simply contact him and he will give you all the information.

 

He is great!

[CP3o]

When talking to brown bear lodge (www.brownbearlodge.com) Kenny responded the following via email:

 

I asked when was bear viewing season?

 

Response:

 

 

Bear viewing is good from May through the end of september. Northeast chichagof island has more bears per square mile than any place in alaska (1.7). It is almost the end of the 2010 season and we have had three trips all summer where people did not see bears. The most seen in one day is 21.

 

Just curious, do both of these tours operate on the same public lands searching for bears? Or does one operator cover a certain area and the other a seperate area or is any private land involved?

[Budget Queen]

Just curious, do both of these tours operate on the same public lands searching for bears? Or does one operator cover a certain area and the other a seperate area or is any private land involved?

 

Your basic "tracking" is via road, then getting out in "areas". There are spurs off roads, but not an overall, miles and miles area/ hours /distances. What you are getting with the tour purchase, is the VENDOR's expertise, which is the knowledge of prior trends, known feeding areas, animal behavior etc etc, of which, I can attest to Keith being an expert at.

[MercedMike]

Just curious, do both of these tours operate on the same public lands searching for bears? Or does one operator cover a certain area and the other a seperate area or is any private land involved?

 

AFAIK all of our tour was on public roads. When we were with Keith he started out on fairly well maintained roads near the town, and then the search spread out onto dirt logging roads. We drove through some clear cut areas, others where bulldozers were actively working, and others that were virgin forest (which is where we spotted "our" bear.) The island is small and close knit so I suppose Keith would have no problem getting permission to drive or hike on private land if there is some.

[jetta]

Just got back from our Cruisetour on Thursday, what an awsome trip! We spent the day with Tekk outfitters in our Hoonah port day. I can't say enough good things about our day. We booked the whale watching in the am and bear search in the pm. We went out on the Deborah with captain Bill and saw many, many whales up close. even saw a pod of humpbacks breaching! Beautiful sight! Captain Bill was great kept us close to the whales and gave lots of interesting info. We went back to "town" and had lunch met Edna and then left with Keith to search for bear. Wow did we see bear! Keith took us thru beautiful scenery and into the woods to see bears and took us up to the top of a mountain where we could see the Millineum in the distance, it looked like a small toy from up there. Again I can't say enough good things about this company. Go you won't regret it!

[vff]

It sounds like Keith is such an interesting story teller and experienced guide that even w/o bears, you can get your money's worth.

 

Next question, how do you know you'll get Keith? Two younger guys are shown on the website as bear guides. Maybe as the tour has gotten more popular over time, they have added tour guides.

 

http://www.teckkoutfittersicystrait.com/TECKKPage3.html

 

 

TECKK is now affiliated with AK Galore http://www.alaskagaloretours.com/

and doing bear watching tours for them as well, so TECKK has expanded. I think Keith is mostly doing the tours for the ships that dock at ISP and the other guides handle the AK Galore tours, but you can ask when you contact them.

[humrepair]

We went searching for bears yesterday with Keith from TECKK in Hoonah/Icy Strait Point.It was a memorable experience.It was a tough day looking for bears.Beautiful weather but they weren't around.We got in the van and went from stream to stream looking for the bears and only saw some in the distance.It was getting late and we were worried about getting back to the ship on time but Keith wanted to try one more place he knew.So down another trail we went and all of a sudden there was a huge brown bear just in front of us happily eating away. We got a fantastic close up view of the bear in it's natural habitat.There are no guarantees you'll see a bear but I know that Keith at TECKK won't give up and you'll learn a lot about the Alaska during the trip.Highly recommended.

[starfish216]

We used Teckk Outfitters last week for our Bear Search. We were a family of 7 adults and 2 other ladies.

 

We had his nephew Gus. He did try several places and we even walked on a trail but had no luck spotting a bear. He was very nice and tried hard to find us bears to view, even ran ahead on a trail to see if there was a bear further down. We did spot a couple of deer in the woods but we see them locally so it wasn't exciting seeing them.

 

Oh well sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Maybe the weather was an issue it was rainy and overcast.

 

The talk on the ship was that even the Bear Search through the ship didn't spot any bears. Guess it just wasn't a bear day.

 

We did spot a mama bear and her cubs on the Denali Tundra Tour!

[JNU WW&FISH]

TECKK is now affiliated with AK Galore http://www.alaskagaloretours.com/

and doing bear watching tours for them as well, so TECKK has expanded. I think Keith is mostly doing the tours for the ships that dock at ISP and the other guides handle the AK Galore tours, but you can ask when you contact them.

It's my understanding that Alaska Galore does combination tours with Misty Bay Lodge out of Hoonah for the bear search portion of their tours.

Any of the independent bear search operators out of Hoonah have more opportunity & access to finding the bears than the tour the cruise ships use. Misty Bay & the other companies already mentioned are the operators to check with for brown bear when making a port call at ISP

[frugaltravel]

We used Teckk Outfitters last week for our Bear Search. We were a family of 7 adults and 2 other ladies.

 

We had his nephew Gus. He did try several places and we even walked on a trail but had no luck spotting a bear. He was very nice and tried hard to find us bears to view, even ran ahead on a trail to see if there was a bear further down. We did spot a couple of deer in the woods but we see them locally so it wasn't exciting seeing them.

 

Oh well sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Maybe the weather was an issue it was rainy and overcast.

 

The talk on the ship was that even the Bear Search through the ship didn't spot any bears. Guess it just wasn't a bear day.

 

We did spot a mama bear and her cubs on the Denali Tundra Tour!

 

That is why in Hoonah/Icy Strait Point it is called a "bear SEARCH." Not nearly as likely to see a bear there as in places like Pack Creek, Katmai, Lake Clark NP and even Denali NP.