This picture was taken at 1:50 AM with a self-timer. Yes, that's the full moon in the background. I had never experienced hunting by moonlight before this - it was eerie.

It's 2:00 AM and I'm still on the river. But its cold and I'm beginning to get sleepy - my turn in the tent. I woke Stan from his short, two hour sleep and we traded places. It was a risky situation, the bear could appear without a lead time and with me asleep in the tent we could miss the opportunity. Conversely, if I watched the river, I may not have time to get Stan out of bed to back me up with the gun and I'd have to go it alone. For these reasons, we limited our break to one, two-hour period during the overnight with the balance of the time hunting together.

Let me tell you, sitting there alone, in the dark, over a grizzly trail is creepy. At one point, during the darkest stretch of nighttime, a chunk of the bank below me caved in. I must have jumped a foot from my seated position just from the pucker factor alone.

The sun would set around 11:30 PM but it stayed light out until nearly 1 AM. From then until 3:00 AM it was twilight but a full moons' reflective light gave us enough to hunt with. Even my binoculars still functioned. The ability to shoot a bow instinctively comes in handy during these times - I don't believe I could see pins under these conditions.

Besides one group of caribou running down the river, no bears or other animals were seen. We hunted till 8:00 AM then slept the rest of the day. After dinner we headed up at 7:00 PM and sat another shift on the river. Stan noticed a nice black bear across the river. It was a mature bear, probably a boar, and it was in a good position for a stalk.

Video Clip showing our setup on the river (1mb)

But an interesting dilemma came up over this bear. Since I was on a guided hunt could I go over to the other side of the river (out of Stan's guide-use area) to kill this bear? It is perfectly legal for me to hunt black bear without the assistance of a guide but since my hunt contract stated both grizzlies and blacks there was a question mark on what role Stan could play - if any. We decided to err on the side of caution and leave the bear alone.

Is night hunting legal? Yes, in Alaska, unlike most lower 48 states, there is no "legal sunset" or shooting hours' restrictions. You are allowed to hunt 24 hours a day despite the amount of present light. You are not allowed to use any artificial lights or electronic sighting devices to aid in your hunt. Is night hunting ethical? Yes, but only if you can make an effective shot on game. That means having the ability to pick a spot and clearly see where your arrow hit. In our case I had that ability because it was a full moon and the riverbank we were hunting over was snow covered. The conditions were right or I would not have hunted this way. Is night hunting grizzlies dangerous? Maybe - but it's subject to interpretation. If the bears in this situation decided to follow the same route (as indicated by the two prior sets of tracks) we should have been able to spot the grizzly(s) 100 yards upriver. That should give us enough time to setup and prepare for a sticky situation like a sow with cubs. But had they come from the opposite direction - or the alders in back of us - they would have surprised us and that could be a problem. Despite feeling relatively comfortable alone on the riverbank, I was wired every second of the night.