Record Grizzly in Alaska

[lockmaster]

Trophy bear (killed in self defense).This man works for the US Forest Service in Alaska.

He was out deer hunting last week when a large grizzly bear charged him from about 50 yards away.! The guy emptied his 7mm Magnum semi-automatic rifle into the bear and it dropped a few feet from him. The big bear was still alive so he reloaded and shot it several times in the head.

The bear was just over one thousand six hundred pounds. It stood 12' 6" high at the shoulder, 14' to the top of his head. It's the largest grizzly bear ever recorded in the world.

Of course, the Alaska Fish and Wildlife Commission did not let him keep it as a trophy, but! the bear will be stuffed and mounted, and placed on display a! t the </ SPAN>Anchorage airport to remind tourists of the risks involved when in the wild.

Based on the contents of the bears stomach, the Fish and Wildlife Commission established the bear had killed at least two humans in the past 72 hours including a missing hiker.

The US Forest Service, backtracking from where the bear had originated, found the hiker's 38-caliber pistol emptied. Not far from the pistol were the remains of the hiker. The other body has not been found.

Although the hiker fired six shots and managed to hit the grizzly with four shots (the Service ultimately found four 38 caliber slugs along with twelve 7mm slugs inside the bear's dead body), it only wounded the bear and probably angered it immensely.

The bear killed the hiker an estimated two days ! prior to the bear's own death by the gun of the Forest Service! worker.

Think about this:
If you are an average size man; You would be level with the bear's navel when he stood upright. The bear would look you in the eye when it walked on all fours! To give additional perspective, consider that this particular bear, standing on its hind legs, could walk up to an average single story house and look over the roof, or walk up to a two story house and look in the 2nd floor bedroom windows.

[royden]

are you sure about this one lockmaster? the tale of two hikers and the #'s sounds like a bear story going around last year or the year before. If it's true, i might have second thoughts about going after a brown bear with a sharpend indian bullet!

[lockmaster]

Like a lot of things of this sort, I have no idea and will not confirm or deny it. Interesting photos and reading though. It was just a "thing" I got in an e mail from a friend!

If it IS true, my main question is.....why would a guy "try" to shoot a grizzly with a .38. I'm sure if he did, the bear was attacking him but if I were there in that area, I would "opt" for a little....no a LOT larger caliber handgun to carry for "protection".!!

[Greg Krause]

It is a true story, I have seen it published in reputable mags before BUT, it happened a year or two ago.

[royden]

check out truthorfiction.com and search for "1600 pound bear". They claim the story grew from a slightly smaller bear in the two pictures (I think those were real).

I'm not sure if any handgun even the .500 would be adequate for that beast - a nice 10 gauge would work.

[fullfan]

Saw that story about 2 years ago. Big bear

[akdd]

I have heard several different stories about these pics and I think that they are pretty tall tales. They have been floating around for a couple of years.

[BT]

Saw the story in outdoor life and the interviewer personally saw the bear.

As Skipmaster said....a couple years back

[akdd]

I copied this out of an article in the May-June 2003 Bear hunting Mag. regarding this bear

We called The Alaska Department of Fish and Game and spoke with Martha Krueger about the facts surrounding this story. The bear was a legally harvested animal that has peaked the interest of many people. She e-mailed us the short clip that they are using to field the flood of inquiries received, and here it is.

A lot people have inquired at this office concerning the large brown bear taken by a serviceman on Hinchinbrook Island in Prince William Sound, Alaska. It's amazing how hunting stories grow as they move rapidly around the internet. I responded to a lot of these e-mail inquiries either by relating what few facts I knew about the bear based on the department’s sealing record for the bear, or provided my own speculation about the bear and the circumstances based on personal experience or observation. An article appeared in the Anchorage Daily News (December 16, 2001) in which the writer interviewed the hunter as well as a professional brown bear guide. The truth is considerably different than what has being circulated in cyberspace. Based on that article, consider the following information as the truth (as best as I can assess it).

The hunter and a friend were deer hunting up a creek bottom when they saw the bear up ahead fishing in the creek, perhaps 40 yds. away. It didn't just stand up and charge the hunter whereby he emptied his gun and dropped it in the nick of time. One of them decided it was a “shooter” and he decided to take it. The bear meandered down the creek towards them and they momentarily lost sight of the bear. The bear appeared again about 10 yds. away but had not seen or smelled the hunters. He put a shot through the muzzle and into the bear’s brain. The bear fell backwards and couldn't get up. He shot it two more times in the vital area and then put three more rounds into it, a total of six shots. The hide measured 10´ 6˝, nose to tail. The skull measurement was correct at 28 8/16˝.

According to a master brown bear guide Joe Want (40 years as a brown bear guide on Kodiak) said the bear probably weighed 1,000-1,200 lbs. As guide Joe Want said, “I can guarantee you, in a year or two, someone will tell him (the hunter) how big the bear was and it will be up to 1800lbs. And when he tries to correct them, they will call him a liar. It's an exceptional bear (certainly for that area) and it's an understatement to say that it is a trophy of a lifetime