Alaska State Troopers are investigating the death of a bear hunter on Kodiak Island after his body was discovered by a fellow hunter on Monday afternoon.

According to the report, Viacheslav Akimenko, age 39, of Delta Junction was on a hunting trip near Sturgeon Lagoon on the remote west side of Kodiak Island with his partners Aleksandr Neverov, age 33, also of Delta Junction, and Mikhail “Mike” Malyk, age 30 of Palmer.

The trio had arrived at their hunting location on a chartered flight with Andrew Airways. Troopers learned from the hunters that they had been scheduled to be picked up on Wednesday by the charter service but Neverov and Malyk decided that they wanted to leave early and Akimenko wanted to stay and finish the hunt.

When Andrew Airways flew in to pick up the two hunters on May 8th, Neverov and Malyk were at the camp but Akimenko was not. When queried about their hunting partner, “They stated that Akimenko had left that morning on a hike and had not returned,” troopers revealed.

Malyk would leave the hunting site and return to his home in Palmer while Neverov remained at Sturgeon Lagoon to look for their missing partner.

It wasn’t until five days later, on Monday afternoon at 4:20 pm that troopers were notified that Akimenko’s remains had been discovered by Neverov.

On Tuesday, troopers flew in to the remote site to recover Akimenko’s body and open an investigation. Akimenko’s remains were turned over to the State Medical Examiner’s office in Anchorage for autopsy.

Troopers report that the investigation into Akimenko’s death is continuing.

Photo: Location of Sturgeon Lagoon on Kodiak Island. Image NOAA Charts

  akimenko, Alaska, ast, bear, death, deceased, delta junction, hunt, investigation, island, Kodiak, lagoon, malyk, neverov, palmer, river, sturgeon, troopers