Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Hunter killed by grizzly

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/202...bear-in-wrangell-st-elias-national-park/

A hunter was killed by a grizzly bear in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve on Sunday, according to the National Park Service.

The park service reported Tuesday that the hunter was on a 10-day moose hunt with a friend near the Chisana River drainage at the time of the attack.

It was the first known bear mauling fatality recorded in Wrangell-St. Elias since the park was established in 1980, according to the park service.

The identity of the deceased hunter had not been released Tuesday, and no other details were immediately available.

Read that in the national news. Concluded the bear had been wounded, but it was a conclusion I jumped to, as the article didn't say.

The article also left out interesting details such as were the hunters together, guns or archery hunters, age, experience, sleeping in tent, dining, etc,,,

More detail may come along later.

Latest
A Mansfield man on a moose hunt was mauled to death by a grizzly last Sunday.

Austin Pfeiffer, who would have been 23 on Tuesday, was an avid outdoorsman who was reportedly field-dressing a moose he had just taken when the bear attacked.
One of the other hunters reportedly killed the grizzly after the attack.

https://www.richlandsource.com/news...2f378d0-fd98-11ea-8b70-d340c05ec252.html

Tragedy

i won't open a elk or deer here unless i have someone watching my six. here the bears have come to associate a shot with a free gut pile. doubt they have in the area of this Tragedy but that's just my policy anymore. we have 6 adult griz within 5 miles of our place. you get aware fast.

Holy moly.

Rare for a bear to attack a group of people...

I wonder if he was actually a packer or guide and alone at the site when attacked... the others then found him...

Park bears that are seldom hunted are dangerous in my opinion lost there fear of humans.

Hunter killed by bear in Wrangell-St. Elias died in ‘surprise attack’ while field-dressing moose, officials say

The hunter killed by a grizzly bear in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve on Sunday was a 22-year-old man from Ohio who was field-dressing a moose when he died in an attack so sudden that he couldn’t defend himself, National Park Service officials say.

Austin Pfeiffer is the park’s first recorded victim of a fatal bear mauling since Wrangell-St. Elias was established in 1980. Wrangell-St. Elias National Park covers more than 13 million acres.

The attack took place in the Cottonwood Creek drainage, a remote area of mixed tundra and forest with dense vegetation about 50 miles from Northway and 130 miles from park headquarters.

Pfeiffer and his hunting partner, also from out of state, killed the moose Saturday night, according to Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve spokeswoman Jan Maslen. The next morning, the pair returned to field dress the moose and bring the meat back to camp.

Pfeiffer stayed behind to butcher the moose while his partner ferried loads to their campsite, Maslen said Thursday.

The partner, who has not been identified, was on his way back from camp when the bear charged him, Maslen said. He shot at the animal several times. At one point, it got within 20 feet. Then it flinched as if shot, then veered and ran away.

The partner found Pfeiffer dead when he got back to the moose carcass, Maslen said.

“We assume it was a surprise attack, that he was preparing the next load and didn’t have a weapon or deterrent on hand to defend himself,” she said.

The partner contacted their Tok-based air service using an InReach device, according to Maslen. The air service contacted authorities. By then, it was dark. The company picked up the partner the next morning.

Reports by local media described Pfeiffer’s hometown as Mansfield, and said he worked at a tree service and a taxidermy company. He had been married for less than two years.

Park rangers and Alaska Wildlife Troopers recovered his body on Monday. It was taken to the State Medical Examiner Office in Anchorage.

Rangers found no evidence the bear remains in the area, the Park Service said. No other visitors are known to be in the area of the mauling, which is extremely remote, but they are monitoring it for bear activity. All of the moose meat was salvaged, as required by state hunting regulations.

An Alaska Department of Fish and Game bear safety guide for hunters encourages the removal of game meat immediately, because bears may be drawn to the kill site.

Above from ADN update ...
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/wil...hile-field-dressing-moose-officials-say/

Damn sad.

Bad news-- RIP mister

Bad juju to work on an animal by yourself. I've done it a few times with no other real choice.

These days multiple people at the animal. Then multiple people pack out together. Go back together etc... I won't leave anyone by themselves. Even if they beg.

I have looked over a bunch of kills for days and only killed a few bears doing it.

Sad story. Long odds on that happening though, probably had a better chance of dying in the bush plane on the trip in.

At least he got to go out doing what most guys consider a hunt of a lifetime.

Yah, real sad, the world loosing and young outdoorsman. 22 years old, that's a darn tragedy. Reminded me of a 21 year old, PFC Love, who was killed in action in Iraq. Too young. Keep them chambers hot after downing a moose or bou.

My wife and were discussing how easy it would be to be hit from behind or on a charge out of the brush. At time's you can't just stand around with a loaded weapon when there is work to be done. I have been way to close to too many bears,,I just call it luck. We have a brown bear in the neighborhoor that only comes around when it's the darkest time possible,,our Karelians have kept him out of the yard so far!

Not sure how this comment applies to the death.

That said I've not seen nearly as many gut piles as you have. But I"ve seen bears on every one of them sooner or later. Sometimes a day or two. Sometimes 10 days. But they have always had bears. And many of them wolves.