Hazards of Field Work in Alaska (photos somewhat graphic)

Doberluv

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Read the article under the 2nd photo below: Enough to scare you to death! :yikes:



Holding bear's paw (above)





These pictures are of a man who works for the US Forest Service in Alaska, and his trophy bear.

He was deer hunting last week when the large grizzly 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 the hunter 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 is the largest grizzly bear ever recorded in the world.

The Alaska Fish and Wildlife Commission did not let him keep it as a trophy, of course; but the bear will be stuffed and mounted, and placed on display at the Anchorage airport to remind tourists of the risks involved in the wild.

Analyzing 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 hiker missing two days prior to the bear's own death.

Backtracking from where the bear had originated, the US Forest Service found the hiker's emptied 38-caliber pistol. Not far from the pistol was 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 (that the Service ultimately retrieved, along with twelve 7mm slugs, inside the bear's body), it only wounded the bear and probably angered it immensely.

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, this bear, standing on its hind legs, could walk up to an average single story house and look over the roof; or stand beside a two story house and look in the upper bedroom windows.
 

Doberluv

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Well, it surely puts a new spin on the hikes I take here in north Idaho. Every time I go out and return home, I think....One more uneventful hike. I have made it back alive. Whew! To think that a few hikes back, a doe was stalking me and that was creepy enough. I do need to get a new pepper spray or take a big gun.....not my .38. Can you imagine that guy's adrenelin as the bear was swiftly closing the distance between them? OMG! You couldn't be the panicky type and live.
 

Boemy

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Okay, my jaw was dropped until I saw it had "eaten two hikers" and then some bells started going off in my head.

snopes.com: Bear Hunt

The bear WAS a huge grizzly, but it didn't charge the men. The men were out hunting deer, but when they saw the grizzly looking for salmon they actively started stalking it. It never charged them--it might not even have seen them. And it didn't eat two hikers.

I feel sorry for the bear . . . I don't mind people hunting for food, but they didn't eat this big guy . . . just took his skin and skull. :(

Edit: Actually it seems it was a large brown bear, not a grizzly. Which explains why they were able to legally shoot it. On a sidenote, I know a couple guys who worked as fishing guides in Alaska and they run into bears all the time because the bears quickly figure out, hey, humans carry fish in these here parts. They use bear spray to keep them off. Apparently it can indeed keep off a grizzly.
 

Laurelin

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That is a big bear though true story or not. The browns get huge, though I'm pretty sure they're considered the same species as grizzlies now. I think they're a subspecies nowadays. I asked many Alaskans while I was up there and no one knows. It's kind of like wolves and dogs, the taxonomy seems to change a lot.

And you really don't want to eat bear meat it tastes like blegh.

If you haven't seen them, here's some real pics that clearly show what not to do around bears in Alaska. :lol-sign:

http://www.chazhound.com/forums/t103130/
 

Boemy

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I think you're right, Laurelin. I was thinking of BLACK bears. I was astonished to think one could get to that size! A brown bear makes more sense.

Mullet always cracks me up. :lol-sign:
 

Laurelin

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I think you're right, Laurelin. I was thinking of BLACK bears. I was astonished to think one could get to that size! A brown bear makes more sense.

Mullet always cracks me up. :lol-sign:
Yeah black bears are pretty small. Brown bears are the coastal grizzlies in Alaska. Other than polar bears, they're the biggest bears in the world. We only saw one but he was captive.



Though Doberluv there was a day we were hiking and we could SMELL a bear. Never saw him but you could sure smell him. And then of course we almost ran over a grizzly in a boat. I miss Alaska....
 

Pops2

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blacks can get pretty big too. the largest by weight ever killed (verified on a certified scale) was killed across the river from where i work in fall 98, 880#. 3rd biggest black bear skull ever taken. i am told spring bear tastes horrible but a fall bear is quite good similar to elk if taken by spot & stalk. a dog run bear is a little stronger and best handled by making sausage & smoking the better cuts in the same manner as pork. i am told the rendered lard is the best for pastry, like pie crusts. that it is as far above pork lard as lard is above crisco.
 

Laurelin

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blacks can get pretty big too. the largest by weight ever killed (verified on a certified scale) was killed across the river from where i work in fall 98, 880#. 3rd biggest black bear skull ever taken. i am told spring bear tastes horrible but a fall bear is quite good similar to elk if taken by spot & stalk. a dog run bear is a little stronger and best handled by making sausage & smoking the better cuts in the same manner as pork. i am told the rendered lard is the best for pastry, like pie crusts. that it is as far above pork lard as lard is above crisco.
That's very big for a black bear!

I always heard bear meat tasted different based on what the bear ate. I heard the coastal bears tasted the worst but I don't know how much truth is in that and how much is just Alaskan locals talking. I do know I'll never have the desire to try bear again.
 

Pops2

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Laurelin
you're probably right on taste as i had a fella tell me the one he took out of a farmer's cornfield tasted like a wild hog.
 

Doberluv

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Yeah, a grizzly is a brown bear. A polar bear is also a brown bear. (except it's white) LOL.

Well, that's still one big bear. It is sad that he was killed unnecessarily. It's one thing if you have to protect yourself or eat. But just for the sake of a trophy, that's sick to me.

Around here it's illegal to shoot a grizzly bear. If it's for protection, you still better be darn sure and be able to prove it. I'm not kidding. A guy I know had a problem with a Grizzly repeatedly hanging around his house and the game dept did very little about it, but told him he'd be in deep doo doo if he shot the bear and the warden said that he didn't care if he were protecting himself. He better not shoot the bear. There was quite a to do about this.

Down the road about a mile, behind someone's house a grizzly bear attacked and killed a big, huge bull moose. The people heard a big ruckus, looked out and saw the bear finishing off the moose. That would disturb me. But I'm kind of a wimp that way.

Anyhow, I've had black bears on my property and they've always been shy. But I would not like to run into a grizzly. They're just different and soooooo big. Of course, living where I do, I don't take it for granted that a black bear will always be shy. One thing I never forget is that they are all unpredictable. That's one thing you can count on. LOL. But typically....the black bears are not very aggressive.

It is true that depending on the season and what they're eating will make their meat taste different. I have had bear meat. It wasn't bad. But I think the guy who cooked it over cooked it, as he did everything. LOL.
 

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