http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/1618619p-1736211c.html Fisherman shoots, kills grizzly
BEAR! BEAR! Man plugs lunging bruin with 9 mm pistol on Russian River.
By Zaz Hollander
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: August 18, 2002)
A fisherman shot and killed a sow grizzly as she charged him in the early morning darkness Saturday on the banks of the Russian River.
The bear surprised Garen Brenner and two friends about 2:30 a.m. as they packed up their gear at one of the Kenai Peninsula's most popular fishing spots, said Larry Lewis, an Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife technician on the peninsula.
Brenner heard his friend yell "Bear! Bear!" and looked downriver to see the sow a few yards down the bank eyeing the friend. The bear lost interest in Brenner's friend after he backed into the water and threw his shotgun at her.
But then she turned, looked up at Brenner and lunged, said Lewis, who interviewed the three men Saturday.
Brenner fired at the center of the hulking shape closing to four or five feet away. He fired
twice. The sow, estimated at 400 to 450 pounds, went down. Then Brenner fired three more shots into her head.
He shot the bear with a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol. Lewis said such a low-caliber gun ordinarily doesn't pack enough punch to kill a bear. But Brenner loaded the pistol with full-metal-jacket bullets that penetrated to the bear's vital organs, he said.
"I think that's what saved his bacon," Lewis said.
