Bear Watching at Icy Strait

[SJSoccerCruiser]

Anyone use Teckk Outfitters and Keith this season yet?

 

How was it?

[stilley9]

I'm doing it next week and will report back!

 

 

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[fleckle]

Anyone use Teckk Outfitters and Keith this season yet?

 

How was it?

Not this season, but when we did a whale watch and bear combination with them a few years ago, another guy drove our whale watching boat while Keith stayed behind to go scout out the bears.

 

Then when we returned to Hoonah after the whale watching tour, Keith already knew where the bears were hanging out and took us right to them.

 

[Let'sCruise]

Just back yesterday and the bears were hiding. No bears were seen on the excursion. We saw one on shore from our whale watch. The salmon are not yet running so bear sightings not easy.

[aarrcc2]

Went bear watching with Keith several years ago and saw 5 bears on 3 different viewings. Keith was very careful about safety but knew where and how to find them. This was early September and the salmon were running so chances to see bears were enhanced.

[cassamanda]

Went bear watching with Keith several years ago and saw 5 bears on 3 different viewings. Keith was very careful about safety but knew where and how to find them. This was early September and the salmon were running so chances to see bears were enhanced.

 

Good to know. I have booked with Keith for our group in early Sep this year.

[SJSoccerCruiser]

So we took the bear watching with Teckk and were very disappointed. They loaded 9 people in a van and promptly drove forest service trails for the next three hours. No hiking and only two quick stops to stretch our legs. Completely opposite of what was shown on their web site. The people in the back row of the van couldn't even hear the driver.

For almost $300 dollars I expected a lot more.

[mapleleaves]

Sorry to hear that it was a disappointment. Hopefully the rest of your trip was great!

 

If you do a 'search' on this forum using the word Teckk, his bear viewing is definitely a hit or miss excursion.

In his defense though; bears are wild so it's hard to predict where and when they might be around. If salmon are running you can usually go to a fish hatchery or the river that feeds the hatchery and you'll find bear. But in looking at the Teckk web site the guy appears to be a local yocal with a rifle strapped on his back, hoping to come across a bear. There's no mention of peak viewing times, or where to go, or salmon runs. Seems like it's all luck.

 

Hope it didn't spoil your trip.

[bearbait]

So we took the bear watching with Teckk and were very disappointed. They loaded 9 people in a van and promptly drove forest service trails for the next three hours. No hiking and only two quick stops to stretch our legs. Completely opposite of what was shown on their web site. The people in the back row of the van couldn't even hear the driver.

For almost $300 dollars I expected a lot more.

 

That's how they do it when the salmon aren't running. Hoonah isn't like the other bear viewing tours in that they don't have a choke point for salmon like Anan Creek or Traitors Cove.

[SJSoccerCruiser]

That's how they do it when the salmon aren't running. Hoonah isn't like the other bear viewing tours in that they don't have a choke point for salmon like Anan Creek or Traitors Cove.

 

I wish I had known that before the tour, hence the original question post. If we would have known we would have done something different. From everything I found, we were expecting at least some hiking.

 

Seeing 0 or 100 bears would have made no difference to us in this type of tour. We still would have been disappointed. Especially since they had separately defined "U.S.F.S. Road Tour" which this bear tour basically was.

[SJSoccerCruiser]

Sorry to hear that it was a disappointment. Hopefully the rest of your trip was great!

 

If you do a 'search' on this forum using the word Teckk, his bear viewing is definitely a hit or miss excursion.

In his defense though; bears are wild so it's hard to predict where and when they might be around. If salmon are running you can usually go to a fish hatchery or the river that feeds the hatchery and you'll find bear. But in looking at the Teckk web site the guy appears to be a local yocal with a rifle strapped on his back, hoping to come across a bear. There's no mention of peak viewing times, or where to go, or salmon runs. Seems like it's all luck.

 

Hope it didn't spoil your trip.

 

Yep, definitely saw hit or miss reviews, but none mentioned the actual tour. Most just rating were based on finding bears or not , which was not the highest priority for us.

 

We knew the slim odds because of it not being salmon season. The searching throughout the wild part of the island (partially on foot) was the goal. Any bears would have been a bonus.

[frugaltravel]

Yep, definitely saw hit or miss reviews, but none mentioned the actual tour. Most just rating were based on finding bears or not , which was not the highest priority for us.

 

We knew the slim odds because of it not being salmon season. The searching throughout the wild part of the island (partially on foot) was the goal. Any bears would have been a bonus.

 

Part of the problem is that some vendors get touted on CC very regularly by very regular posters, including Teckk Tours. Some posters' words are clung onto like none other, even having their handle in the subject lines of threads they start. This can all lead to very high and unrealistic expectations. Too bad that your experience was not positive, but hopefully you will have helped others who do their due diligence when researching about tours.