Brown Bear Hunting in Alaska Leads to Plane Crash

September arrived and that meant it was time for another trip to Alaska where I (Michael DeShore) guide brown bear hunts. This year I went to work a ten day hunt with an outfitter named Jamie Howell. Jamie has a neat cabin that his family built on Kitty Lake, which is about 50 miles west of Anchorage. Lying at the southern end of the Alaska Range, it is a beautiful setting and a spectacular place encompassing all that Alaska has to offer.

We had a good hunt and a quality bear was harvested on day six of the hunt. A second client harvested a moose on day nine - we loaded the moose into a canoe and got it back to the cabin the same day, where we began preparing everything for the flights out the following day.

It was finally time to leave. After some discussion it was decided that my hunter and I would fly in a small float plane from Kitty Lake over to Judd Lake Here we swapped our moose, bear hide and gear into a second plane in exchange for a new hunter who was headed to Kitty Lake. After a little hard work we were finished and ready for departure.

I was in a small Cessna 206 plane with floats and the other passengers were the pilot and my hunter from Nebraska. I was in the back seat behind the pilot and decided to strap myself into the seat with a little extra pull on the belt. We had to gain speed as we progressed to the far end of the lake where we throttled through the turn - as we straightened out we hit full speed and about halfway across the lake we took off.

We were climbing in elevation and banking left to leave the lake. After 20-30 seconds we were about 200' in the air and just passing the edge of the lake when the engine of the plane instantly died. There was no sputtering...it just shut off!

There was an eerie feeling that swept through the cabin when the power from the engine suddenly stopped, with only the sound of air whistling through the fuselage. The pilot’s reactions were quick - he cranked on the flaps to try and slow us down but we were headed for the first stand of birch trees beyond the lake. Not a word was said between us but I thought "sh@t" to myself and to stay towards the middle of the plane. Everything happened so fast.

We smashed down into the ground and blew the right float off and snapped the right wing of the plane. We continued to slide and bounce through the willows stopping ten yards shy of the first trees. We were stuck in a bog and the right side was slammed shut. The pilot and I kicked our door open just enough so that I could slide out, then we got the door open and everyone was out.

We had to wade through a waist deep marsh back to the lake. Luckily there was a cabin there and we borrowed some firewood and warmed up while the second plane proceeded to deliver the new hunter to Kitty Lake. It was about an hour before we caught the second float plane back to Anchorage.

As we flew out we circled the wreckage and it was scary once we realized that in ten more seconds we would have had no option but to crash into the mature forest about 200 yards away. I am certain that the outcome would have been completely different; fortunately we were all okay.

The strange thing is that I have always felt like I would be in a plane crash and I kind of knew it was coming. The cause of the crash is still under investigation and the reporter for the Anchorage Daily News did a good job of downplaying the situation. Ten seconds later and we probably would have had an entirely different story. Here is a link to the ADN story.

Hunting Guide / Ranch broker, Michael Deshore, and Fay Ranches represent the finest land, farms and ranches for sale in Montana, Oregon and the west. Contact Us today to find out how we can help you find the perfect sporting ranch or property and start living the life you deserve.