Recently Viewed
Icy Strait Shore Excursion: Small Group Bear Hunt
3.7
13 Ratings
Hoonah
When you dock at Icy Strait, close to Hoonah, you’re in for a memorable shore excursion. Ready for a bear hunt? This four-hour tour gives you the opportunity to see brown bears, Sitka black-tail deer, and other wildlife in their natural environment, against the stunning backdrop of the final frontier.
When you dock at Icy Strait, close to Hoonah, you’re in for a memorable shore excursion. Ready for a bear hunt? This four-hour tour gives you the opportunity to see brown bears, Sitka black-tail deer, and other wildlife in their natural environment, against the stunning backdrop of the final frontier.
Duration:
4 hours
Cancellation:
24 hours
Highlights
- Hoonah - National Geographic has dubbed this area “Bear Island,” offering the highest density of bears globally, with 1-2 brown bears per square mile. To enhance your experience, this tour is conducted in small groups, ensuring a more enjoyable outing.
- Icy Strait - The island boasts ten varieties of edible berries, a breathtaking muskeg view,…
- Hoonah - National Geographic has dubbed this area “Bear Island,” offering the highest density of bears globally, with 1-2 brown bears per square mile. To enhance your experience, this tour is conducted in small groups, ensuring a more enjoyable outing.
- Icy Strait - The island boasts ten varieties of edible berries, a breathtaking muskeg view, an old-growth forest, and potential sightings of the island’s king: brown bears. By utilizing current data on bear movements, feeding habits, and daily temperatures, the tour includes brief stops at strategic locations to provide an incredible view of these fascinating animals.
Our esteemed guides will share insights about the region and the Tlingit Native community. During the tour, you are almost certain to encounter a variety of other wildlife frequently seen on our tours, such as mink, marten, bald eagles, sea birds, red squirrels, otters, beavers, ducks, and Sitka black-tail deer. Don’t forget to bring your camera.
Please note: While wildlife sightings cannot be guaranteed, this tour can quickly adjust its position, offering a significantly higher chance of sightings compared to slower, larger tour groups.
What's Included
- Local guide
- Driver/guide
- Port pickup and drop-off
- Small Group size of max 12 people
- Local guide
- Driver/guide
- Port pickup and drop-off
- Small Group size of max 12 people
What's Not Included
- Food and drinks
- Food and drinks
Additional Information
- At time of booking, Cruise ship passengers must provide the following information at time of booking: ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time
- We can also accept hotel guests on this tour.
- At time of booking, Cruise ship passengers must provide the following information at time of booking: ship name, docking time, disembarkation time and re-boarding time
- We can also accept hotel guests on this tour.
Location
Hoonah
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
3.7
(13 Ratings)
5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star
Amy_b
Jul 21, 2025
The guide was extremely... - The guide was extremely knowledgeable and friendly. He helped us find 4 bears and knew a lot about bears. It was my husband’s favorite tour though out alaska
Review provided by Viator
Faraway30298339447
Nov 9, 2024
My wife and I enjoyed this tour, - My wife and I enjoyed this tour, saw the bears and we learned a lot much our guide. Loved the small group feel compared to what we were looking at on offer from our cruise. Thanks guys loved it.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sightseer68644063275
Jul 19, 2024
The Best! - We had a Awesome Experience. Boat Captain Justin, Naturalist Kacie, and Taylor did a great job in making sure we all had a wonderful time. We even got in on a group of Orcas, that is usually hard to find. Great Experience!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mercymoi2
Jun 2, 2024
Excellent tour of Hoonah, Culture and Wild Life - Read about the tour on a Cruise Critic message board. Very glad we did. It was a great tour from Jack and Howard. They picked us up outside Icy Strait Point and took us around Hoonah including their home and the surrounding area. They made sure we saw lots of wildlife. Both Jack and Howard have a passion for their culture and town. An excellent tour.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Gregaustex
Aug 15, 2022
Great bear watching experience! - This was one of the highlights of our trip. Our guide Gary took us to "bridge #3" and we watched a mama grizzly and her cub catch four salmon. I know that not everyone will see a bear on this excursion, but we were very fortunate to watch this pair for over 20 minutes just a few feet away. A fantastic experience!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Asm284
Aug 13, 2019
Highlight of our holiday! - I think this is now called Alaska Shore Excusions Icy Strait Exclusive Wildlife and Bear Search Tour.
We had a fabulous experience on our bear and wildlife tour. We went out with Hotshot as our driver and he knew so much about the area and bears and their way of life. The tour is four hours which is good as it allows time to drive a long way to quiet spots where your driver knows there are bears in the area. We spent a long time not seeing any bears - only a deer and bear tracks, scat and trail through the grass. We were getting resigned that we might not be lucky when one of the passengers called out she had seen something. There we saw a bear! He crossed the creek, crossed the road and back into the creek where he caught a salmon in front of our noses and our cameras! We couldn’t have been happier. Hotshot was ready with his gun, but we felt quite safe watching the bear from the bridge over the creek.
The ride is in a fairly battered minibus so try and sit near the front for a better view and to hear the commentary. Don’t forget to take some water as there are no snacks or water provided.
Altogether a great experience - the highlight of our whole holiday.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Julie_g
Jun 20, 2025
Dalen our tour guide was... - Dalen our tour guide was very knowledgeable and made the experience interesting and entertaining. Sadly on this occasion we didn’t see any bears, probably as we are a little early in the year. Having said that, we had the opportunity to see the amazing countryside and beautiful views.
Review provided by Viator
U2054idnancya
Jul 20, 2022
Disappointed! - We paid $129/1 person for the Icy Strait Bear & Wildlife Tour. It was a 3 hour ride in a van on very rough (washboard) roads. The tour was too long and no refreshments given. We did not see any bears and only 2 deer. That is a lot of money for basically nothing. The driver and asst. were nice but it got old riding w/o seeing anything but trees. It seemed like since the salmon had not arrived, it would be very hard to find bears and it was . Like I said, we no none! Don't waste your money on this excursion.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Phuketfoody
Jul 11, 2022
Unbelievable - Could not believe boyfriend of owner hit disabled man. I was totally shocked when boyfriend of owner struck disabled deaf man of 77.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Justdoit121
Aug 28, 2019
Too many trees to see bears - We didn’t see any bears but if they had been there we wouldn’t have seen them because we were driving so fast. A long drive with lots of trees.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
More activities from this operator
