Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Brown Bear Charge Story from this past week

This was forwarded to me from an ADF&G employee. I have done nothing to verify its truth... but it is an area we duck hunt quite a bit...

Subject: FW: BEAR ATTACK IN PORTAGEGood Morning, Let me tell you I am very happy to be here to tell this story. My friend Steve Thompson and I were duck hunting on Saturday (10/08/11)in Portage Valley (Alaska) and we were attacked by a brown bear. We are both OK but we killed the brown bear within 10 feet of our duck boat blind. This is one of those stories where you are just glad to be alive to tell it. I have lived and worked in Alaska for over 25 years and been around bears but never thought I would encounter one in my blind while duck hunting. I have provided a brief description of what happened below. We had a small bull moose run about 10 feet behind our duck boat blind.About 30 seconds later, we heard some grass rustling and thought it was another moose, but then we see a brown bear following the trail of the moose. When the bear gets about 20 feet from our blind he looks up and sees us and heads right toward the front of the blind where I am sitting. I fired 3 rounds (3" #4 steel shot) into the bear at pointblank range. My friend says I fired my last round when the bear was 2 feet away. He goes on to say that my head and the bears head were 2 feet apart at one point. After firing my third round, I dove away from thebear and out of the blind and my friend Steve fires 3 rounds (3.5" #4steel shot) into his head that sends the bear to the front of the boat on the ground about 10 feet away. Steve reloads as the bear is doing the death spin. He puts 3 more rounds into the bear. I get up, reload, and fire 3 more rounds into the bear. The bear isn't moving at this point in time. Neither of us was hurt (not a scratch). We were just scared [bleep]. We had 2 dogs with us. The older dog (Mynx) was out of the blind with hackles up about 20 feet away from the bear. The young (5 months) dog(Lulu) was hidden under one of the chairs in the boat, She was shaking and wouldn't come out for awhile. On a side note, we got one duck (a gadwall). I have attached a few photos. You will see our boat blind is destroyed.That was from me diving out one side of the blind and the bear coming in the other. There is also a picture of blood on the blind to show how close the bear was when he got shot. We think the bear was a 7+ footbrown bear. As a department employee, I thought I should send this to some select staff and the staff I work with. I did complete a defense of life andproperty report and turned in the completed report and the skinned bear to ADF&G staff here in Anchorage.

Regards, Tim__________Tim BakerFIshery Research BiologistBristol Bay Salmon ProgramADF&G-Commercial FisheriesPhone: (907) 267-2240Email: tim.bakeralaska.gov<mailto:tim.bakeralaska.gov>

Heck of a duck hunt...

I guess you could say it really put the "duck" in hunt...

Another good reason I don't duck hunt.

I'll make an exception for geese - they eat waaaay better.




Heck of a Pucker story.

Miss T made some duck the other day that would change your mind...

Did you get the pics with the story Art?

No pics in my version...

For forty years,I wondered how # 4 shot would have worked in lieu of my .44. Now I know.

I would've eaten the Bear, and told F&G that I DLP'd the Ducks!!! Never had a duck that didn't taste like "Swamp water". Ducks are nasty!

Love to eat ducks, the ones that can't dive that is. I like goose a lot , but no goose comes close to fine, fat mallard, pintail, or pan full of teal.

Not too surprised about small shot up close - and lots of rapid shots in succession. I still remember my surprise as a youth in seeing a one ounce load of #6 lead out-penetrated my "powerful" 1 ounce foster slugs at point blank.

The things that make you go 'Hummmm....'??? There is something else going with this story (I'm glad everyone is alive and well), but the write up also has a CYA factor to it as well.

If you, your buddy and dogs just cheated death via a pant's crapping terror incident, your going to preserve the scene for the game wardens/highway patrol to investigate not skin the brun later to be turned over with an email dictation to the important people within your own agency.

These are the folks I would call first:

http://www.dps.state.ak.us/AWT/detachments.aspx

Frankly, it is just one bear in a better place... They have stopped brown bear hunting all around and have only just lately started acknowledging the fact there are way too many, way too close... Killing one bear that might just be curious enough to check people out at those ranges is plenty of reason to whack him in my opinion.

I believe the legal season opened just today and I know a couple people that were watching a bear in the general area... So it might not have shortened its career much.

According to page 16 in the reg book:

Had a muskrat climb into the blind once - Virgil kicked at it and it left...



Johnny $

killed a bear within 10' of our duck blind. duck blind destroyed from me going out one end and the bear coming in the other. total shots fired from point blank range (2 feet) 12 gauge three inch mag, six shots, # 4 shot. 3 1/2 inch mag, six shots, # 4 shot. 7+ foot bear, one gadwall. Scared [bleep], yet had the presents of mind to skin the griz and strength to haul the hide out.

I want pics of the carcass and the hide and the destroyed boat and the location. A combined pound of steel (just say 1 1/4 oz. shot loads times 12 rounds), shot feet away @ 800 miles per hour (1200 fps) is going to leave .73 caliber holes...that is almost 3/4" holes in that hide.

One man's word against a necropsy could show the bear got shot in the ass for nosing around, then got pissed...but like you say one more bear in a better place.

Presents of mind? I'm going to assume you meant "presence" of mind, and will write that off on my taxes as a charitable donation.

When you are involved in a traffic accident, do you have the presence of mind to not flee the scene? Or do you stay because you are legally required to do so?

Perfectly legal actions being interpreted as a cover-up/conspiracy always makes you wonder about the interpreter.

Then again, you do live in NM, and thank god for that.

You are correct, I don't live in a town of a 1/4 million people like anchorage, ak. Total population where I live is two, me and my wife. Neighbors? Far and few between. Which I do thank
God for, each and every day.

If the Alaskan regs on pg 16 are correct this state biologist should have also known to included the griz skull, which is left out of the detailed account when considering number of shots fired and by whom and how dogs were scared.

What I do not understand is when something like this occurs, is the evidence turned over to the game and fish department or the highway patrol. Because the latter is the enforcement arm of the wildlife regulations in Alaska.

Had two muskrats climb - well actually jump from the water - who knew? into the boat once..... and WE left, all four of us - and we were anchored out. It WAS about 90 degrees and we were teenagers,ostensably fishing, wearing swim-trunks and T-shirts.

We had netted one of a half dozen babies swiming single file behind the two adults as they came swimming alongside - (Don't do that. ), so piracy laws likely weren't in effect.

Might also have been a little dicey getting shackles and blindfolds on the little buggers before making them walk the plank.

LNF - we don't have a Highway Patrol.

We have State Troopers - which would be the same as your "HP" and Protection Officers, whose primary assignment is wildlife.

BUT, they are the same agency- just wear different uniforms with different "regularily assigned" duties. As such they cross-dress (so to speak) in their duties as the situation calls for.

As enforcement, they are a seperate agency from Fish and Game, who also have enforcement powers when need be. State biologists can write citations (at least for F&G violations), in other words. But if there is a Trooper or PO available, they have them handle it.

LNF---You'd do better to second guess the Mexican border policy....your CSI-FU is admirable but misplaced.

Also LNF - the hide, claws, and skull all have to be turned over in a DLOP. It is REQUIRED that these be salvaged! It is not required that the site be preserved in "pristine" condition for an officer to investigat- this often doesn't happen, period. "Field judgement" by the person involved is usually sufficient unless something is hinky about his story.

Such as the two non-res GI's out of Galena (many years ago)who claimed DLOP on a charging moose.

The double-lung/rib bullet wounds mitigated against them..... And yes, the PO did fly out to the kill site and look it over on that one.