ABOUT US
Grizzly Skins of Alaska Inc. Is a family owned business that caters to discriminating and adventurous travelers wishing to experience the remoteness and beauty of the true Alaskan wilderness. We have been in business since 1983 and operate from our private 4o acre homestead, situated within a federally designated wilderness in the heart of Becharof National Wildlife Refuge.
The Area
We are located 3oo miles southwest of Anchorage and the nearest US highway system. Our closest human neighbors are over 60 air miles away in the small village of King Salmon.
The remote, seldom visited Becharof National Wildlife Refuge is one of Alaska’s hidden gems. Bordering Katmai National Park, it compromises over 1.2 million acres surrounding Becharof Lake on the Alaska Peninsula. The lake drains into the famed Bristol Bay region of SW Alaska. Every year hundreds of millions of salmon return to these waters to spawn. Following and feeding upon this bonanza are millions of oversized Rainbow Trout, Arctic Char, Dolly Varden, Northern Pike, Lake Trout, and Arctic Grayling.
Also attracted to this unlimited protein buffet are thousands of massive brown bears. They migrate in from nearby Katmai National Park, some from distances of over a hundred miles. During the salmon run, the area supports the highest density of Brown Bears in the world. Migrating herds of caribou, trailed by peripatetic packs of wolves, travel between seasonal feeding grounds and calving areas. In the fall, prior to their rut, prehistoric-sized Alaska Yukon Moose migrate from the upper reaches of isolated valleys toward the lowlands.
For hunters and fishermen, the area is well known as a world class destination due to its immense diversity of fish and wildlife. Fauna, however, are only one aspect of the area’s rich beauty. Situated along the geologically active Pacific “Ring-of-Fire”; steaming, snowcapped volcanos tower over panoramic expanses of open tundra. Alders, Dwarf Birch, and Willows push up through a carpet of lichens, grasses and crowberries. From May through August the tundra is punctuated with bright splotches of color from a multitude of iridescent flowers like the Kamchatka Rhododendron, Arctic Forget-Me-Not, Moss Campion, Cinqfoil, Lousewort and Fireweed. The tundra is also prime nesting area for countless species or migratory birds. Ducks, geese, swans, cranes, eagles, godwits, sandpipers, jaegers, and innumerable passerines nest in the open tundra while the steep cliffs along Shelikoff Straits are home to millions of nesting murres, puffins, cormorants, kittiwakes and gulls.
Your Hosts
We have been in business since 1983 and operate from our family homestead, situated within a federally designated wilderness in the heart of Becharof National Wildlife Refuge and near Katmai National Park.
Phil Shoemaker and Rochelle “Rocky” Harrison, and their son and daughter, Taj and Tia, are your hosts
Phil is a licensed Alaskan Master guide with a degree in Wildlife Management. After a tour of Vietnam, he followed his dream of hunting, flying, and living remote. He is a commercial pilot and flight instructor and spent the majority of his 15,000 hours “bush” flying in Alaska.
Taj has a degree in Natural Resources Management from the University of Alaska and has worked around Alaska as a pilot and hunting guide. He owns and operates a small air charter service, North River Air, specializing in wildlife surveys and remote logistics. Taj is the contracting outfitter for Grizzly Skins hunting concessions. In the off season he lives in Kodiak with his wife Kate and their daughter.
Rocky is an avid outdoors woman and naturalist with a degree in Biology. She oversees the business and operates as general camp manager. She moved with Phil into bush Alaska in 1980 and soon founded Grizzly Skins of Alaska as a business allowing them to live remote.
Tia has a degree in Outdoor Therapeutic Recreation and is a licensed pilot. She has worked all over Alaska and Montana as a fishing guide and Outdoor Educator. Tia runs the fishing business, guides during hunting season and hasn’t missed a hunting season with Grizzly Skins since she was 14. Many consider her to be the top trophy producing guide.
Zulu’s World
Photo Credit Andy Anderson
