Peter Montesano and Paul Wunnicke were on their final boating trip of the fall in Prince William Sound on Saturday afternoon when the two friends saw something strange floating in the water of a small bay in the fjord-like Esther Passage.

It looked furry.

Montesano, an Anchorage physician, pulled his 22-foot Sea Dory closer.

"And then we said, wait a second — those are two pairs of hind legs," Montesano said.

Two dead black bear cubs were floating upside down, each tied by the neck to a weight made of a milk jug filled with concrete, Montesano and Wunnicke said.

The men used a boat hook to get a closer look. The bears were decomposing a bit, though not that bloated. They could see a clear bullet hole in one bear's lower leg.

A day later, they were both puzzling over the macabre discovery. The bears were evidence of an intentional effort to dispose of the carcasses of the cubs, which are illegal to kill in Alaska in most circumstances, Montesano said.

"There is no question in my mind," he said. "They were both tied in the same place with a cement weight (connected) to their necks. Is it mafia like? I mean, how many people are thrown off the Brooklyn Bridge with a weight on their neck by accident?"

The pair didn't consider bringing the carcasses on board the boat — they seemed very heavy and were starting to stink, Montesano said.

He took a dozen pictures but wishes he'd have taken something else from the scene to show troopers.

"I almost wish I had taken the weight with us as evidence," Montesano said.

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Wunnicke says the bears looked like this spring's cubs.

They hadn't been heavily picked over by birds or scavengers. And they looked pretty fresh, Wunnicke said.

"They didn't look bloated, they weren't all ballooned up," he said.

Montesano said he called Alaska Wildlife Troopers on Saturday evening. No one has called back yet, he said Sunday.

He figures one of two scenarios happened: A hunter shot a sow and realized she had cubs, killed them and tried to dispose of the evidence. Or a hunter shot the cubs purposely to get the sow.

"Neither one is OK," Montesano said. "One is a little more dark."

The Alaska State Troopers did not respond to questions Sunday about the find and whether wildlife troopers are investigating.

Montesano said he realized the chances wildlife troopers will be able to crack the case are slim. But he hopes if he puts the story out to the public, maybe someone will feel guilty and volunteer information to troopers.