https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/wil...sponding-to-bear-mauling-in-eagle-river/

Wow. Crazy stuff. Is there any indication as to what killed the missing hiker?

Rumors are bear in above article was defending kill site. But rumor only. If that proves to be the case it will be interesting to see if it was a predatory event or opportunistic scavenging situation.

" the bear was not acting normal" protecting its kill ?

APD confirmed missing man was killed by bear and bear was protecting kill.

Update, 1 p.m.:

Mike Soltis, the Eagle River hiker missing since Monday night, was killed by a bear, said MJ Thim of the Anchorage Police Department.

Soltis' body was found in the same area — near where Hiland Road ends — that a brown bear attacked a member of a search party Wednesday morning.

"It appears the brown bear was protecting the body when it attacked a member of the search party," APD said.

The body was found a short distance from the road, Thim said.

As of 1 p.m., officers were on the scene protecting the body for the medical examiner. Traffic was being blocked from passing the area.

"The bear has not been located," APD said in a statement. "Police are still asking people to avoid the area due to the aggressive bear.

Link and full story

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/wil...sponding-to-bear-mauling-in-eagle-river/

Play stupid games win stupid prizes. We enter their world we should be prepared to pay. Goverment should not be there to protect us from our own ignorance.

Wouldn’t the bear have eaten a considerable amount of the body in a couple days time?

Care to elaborate? What, exactly, was the stupid game? Hiking by oneself? Looking for a missing loved one? Not sure I follow.

Maybe he wasn't a tasty meal. One never knows.

Hiking by oneself.

That's a very popular area for hikers, I've hiked it dozens of times and have never seen a bear but I do carry a handgun just in case. I also see lots and lots of hikers there that don't carry any weapons. Hiking by yourself isn't a stupid game, people do it all the time up here. It ain't stupid by any stretch to go hiking by oneself as long as you're aware of your surroundings.

That indicates a predatory attack, bear needs to be taken out.

Agreed, what is stupid is hiking by oneself and wearing earbuds to tune out the world around you as you imitate a gob of roe in a salmon's face...

Now that is stupid.

Yes , one can hike alone but must be aware at all times and be prepared with spray and or a firearm. Assuming you'll have no problems is making a ass out of you or me. A sad but true possibility.

Spray really seals the deal for me on your comments...

So fellows ...if the guy carried any gun ...would it have helped? Im talking a .380....any gun better than none? I have had my runnings with bears ,poping jaws ,ground tromping and all. (..chit happens fast)

I would never carry it, everyones not comfortable with firearms. So be it. Opinions are like azzholes ,we all have one.

I happen to agree on spray also. May as well make it teriyaki spray.

A shame for the hiker and family and friends.

Who knows if the hiker had earbuds or not.

When you are out and about things can happen. Though I still think generally speaking the drive to the trailheads are still the most dangerous part of the journey.

That said the wife doesn't go unarmed around the place here, well in the yard here its ok, but once she ventures outside the fence its rare to not have something. In our future home, we take the protection off inside the house and thats it. Situational awareness and readiness goes a long way but it won't protect everyone all the time.

I did not mean to apply in any way that Soltis was wearing ear buds, though it is easy to see how one could infer that from what I wrote. There have been multiple confirmed instances here where the "victims" had them in for their mountain running...

"A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion." - Proverbs 18:2

Lots of assumptions here.

Give it a day.

As someone who's spent a fair bit of time in that area, whose kids hike in that area and have quite a few friends in that area it's just a damn shame. I don't believe I know either of the victims, but it could just have easily been someone I know or my kids.

I won't speculate as to what happened and as someone who likes to hike in the Chugach solo when ever I can I'm not going to cast aspersions. It's practically the back yard of many of us. Sure some people run and hike in the mountains not aware of their surroundings, but IMHO that's the exception to the rule.

I will say it's long past time bears in the front range of the Chugach and in town are no longer treated as protected species. I don't think we should shoot all bears on sight, but IMHO enough of them need to be regularly shot so that the population at large has a healthy fear and respect of humans.

Just heard this this morning,very sad,Mike was a friend of mine.

So, was the bear protecting an earlier kill when it took the hiker, or "protecting" the killed hiker?

Can't trust reporters anymore to get things accurate....

Get careless - or even not- chit happens fast. Really fast! If you haven't been there, don't knock it. .....

In my own case, it was carelessness (and stupidity as well).

She looked a whole lot better at 100 yards going away, than 10 coming in.... Closest passage 9 feet. I've always been shot with luck...

Damn, she was beautiful! (I have the mental image....) Nice lady!

But I think I'll pass next time!

What a stupid comment to make. I doubt you know jack all about what the situation was and yet you call the man ignorant from the sanitized comfort of Northern California. GFY. I hike by myself all the time in bear country, you calling me stupid too?

Las, that was a crazy situation you found yourself in with that Sow and cubs. Cubs can sure create a bad situation with their curiosity at times. It’s unbelievable how fast a bear can go from lumbering along, to a full charge and cover ground in seconds.

Does anyone really know if bear spray works? So many stats say, yes, it’s a great deterrent; where other reports say it’s not. Just curious. Since you all live amongst the big bears. What’s real and what’s BS? 😎

LOL. Keyboards.

I didn't mean to infer that you inferred... it was an open statement.

You could likely run your whole life down here, with ear buds in and never have any serious issues, assuming you were not on a roadway. Last I checked about the worst were cattle and maybe the whitetails in the rut. The does around the house pretty well let us slide during fawning season.

What I can't believe down here is the runners/walkers on the STREETs( define that as anything from public, to city street to highway or other roads) with earbuds. I dunno, but I want to HEAR whats going on. Maybe a partial result of being at to many wrecks as first responders, not to mention fires and seeing additional disasters happen. Much less if your not hearing due to plugs.

One would think where there are things bigger than a rutty buck or a nappy coyote around one would pay attention. Can listen to music later at home with a scotch in hand etc... At least thats Carolyns view along with mine. Plus, if you are lucky enough to be in nature, why not enjoy it? If not you could run on the high school track( which might not even be safe in AK, I put in a cautious LOL here) instead of out on trails and such.

Since I"m on my soapbox, and y'all graciously allow me to keep rambling so far and we are still illegal aliens at this time, I saw part of some show about nature attacks where this idiot gets attacked by a grizz in the lower 48... sprays her, she tears him a new one even though... and then leaves... he gets up to walk away and goes some distance, I'm thinking it was 500 or more yards the guy thought, says all of a sudden here she comes again... and I couldn't get to my pistol. WTF. I mean WTF. You had a pistol and used spray first? And then AFTER being attacked and attempting to walk out you didn't have your handgun in your..... HAND? WTF she should have taken your dumb ass out of the gene pool for the betterment of us all.

Ok, nuff said.

Well, I'll comment on 458 Lott... we walk alone at times too.. but never un prepared, and even in others company any time you take a breath its a gamble. Step out the door, more so. Not that it bothers us for we will be prepared as we can, but as we know in nature, there are winners and loosers. Nothing is guaranteed.
Though I still laugh at those afraid to fly... for the drive to the airport still is the most dangerous part of your flight generally speaking.

And I don't recall if I've said it, condolences to family and friends. Chit happens for sure. You can be as prepared as you can be and still loose.

Won't keep us from the bush alone or in company. Well worth the risks IMHO

sad deal, my thought is he was so used to this area and felt safe and I can understand walking,running or whatever with no reason to carry gun or spray and then this happen`s.i walk a lot in the country ,hike in the woods all my life and lately there is plenty bear sign too I still don`t carry spray or a gun either.the last bear in yard 5 days ago was a huge female black bear with a big year and half old cub, 60 feet from me,i had no gun or spray, I yelled at them to get the f--k out of here ! and yes black bears with cubs are nothing to mess with either . I can feel for the family wish them the best so let`s all take time and pray for this family and just think of his little unborn baby on the way, I believe I read about too. god bless the future for this family.Pete53

2 young garbage Br Bear were killed a block away Monday night around 11 PM, they had been 20 ft from my house last week, went for a walk at 530 AM this morning left the Ear Buds at home and brought the Glock.

Went up to the Russian river falls yesterday I was more scared of the Pit Bulls on the trail than the bear.

Eagle River is a Br Bear corridor they use the river trails to move in and out of the State Park, see little hunting pressure and can be problem bears.

My condolences for Mike and his family.

I watched an episode of "I WAS PREY" the other night and it had a story of a fellow (Todd Orr I believe) I Montana who was a seasoned outdoorsman and was out scouting for elk. He was attacked by a grizzly sow with cubs. He managed to get off a shot of bear spray as she was just about to hit him and she went right through the cloud of spray unfazed, at least long enough to do some damage. It did eventually have an affect on her but not enough to deter her from attacking a second time. He was a pretty tough guy, after being attacked twice he managed to walk out on his own, 3 miles to his truck, took some pics of the damage then drove himself to the hospital. He also had a 10mm handgun but wasn't able to use it prior to her attacking him.

So with that said, I won't carry pepper spray and always have a pistol on me when I'm out and about in the wilds of Alaska.

Sometimes spray works, sometimes it doesn't. My issues with spray are there's no way to know if you have a bear that won't be affected by it until it's too late, and the wind can cause the spray to incapacitate you. Gun's are also on guarantee, but used properly they can be more effective.

I refrained yesterday, but must must heartily agree with Pittu - what an ignorant comment, and I’ll leave it at that.

+2

what a terrible thing to post in a tuff time for this family,its no wonder most of us want the wall to go on the east side of California and Mexica can have that Liberal loser state back . have you ever been outdoors besides a zoo or do you want to just be a troll with negative comments ?

+3 Pittu.

You and I saw the same show... my point was if he didn't have the gun out the first time, WTF was he doing with it not in his hand after he had walked hundreds of yards or a half mile or some such after she had left. THE FIRST thing I"d have gotten out if I"d had it buried in the first place(not) was the gun. Geez.

I think the 2nd time the sow attacked him he did reach for the handgun but it wasn't there and he saw it laying on the ground out of reach. He eventually was able to get it after she left after the second attack, which was too late. I can't believe he stopped and took pictures of himself and sent them off to his friends before he got in the truck to go to the hospital. They said afterwards he had 3 more bear encounters but nothing became of them.

You should probably stay safely at home.


mike r

Horrible for his family and friends! Thoughts and prayers for their comfort!

I have been in dangerous areas before from both man and beast alike. I try and prepare for the unknown by staying aware of surroundings, having an adequate firearm within easy access, among other things. This does not GUARANTEE your survival, but it sure does help the odds...hopefully enough to save your skin!

Nice lady. That she is.

Mine was as well...

Must have been 2010, west of Talkeetna. We were three in camp - hunting black bear.

Sow and her cups walked right into camp. Our wind in their faces. I had turned towards my tent and was closed to them - about 30 feet, when her and I realized what was happening. A yell and chambering a cartridge into my .45-70 Marlin was met by her turning away 90 degrees and hightailing it. She stopped at about 40 yards when she realized, that her damned cubs were still curious.

By that time the damn things were no more that 30 feet from me. I remember thinking "Come on, mama, straighten them out."

And that she did. You know that sound they make? Snapping their jaw and letting air out? She did that and the cubs got the message quicklike and the train was on its way outbound. Mightyly relieved I was. She was beautiful.

Turned out well. But could have as easily not have...

2nd attack was hundreds of yards away IIRC. Why would the gun have been on the ground? But you never know.

Ready we had a somewhat similar incident occur in the Brooks range though with a griz sow and her two cubs. We'd camped in a saddle and were up doing our morning routine when in walks the sow and her two cubs. I watched them mostly from the scope of my 7 mag.

when they moved on through and caught our scent, they hightailed it out of there. Looked beyond my scope to see my pard had been watching them through the lil video camera we took with us. WTF ? says I, why didn't you grab your rifle. He replied, saw you had yours, figured that was enough and we got some cool video.


so thankful that didn't go ugly. I've not had to do it, but pards have, kill a sow and then forced to kill the cubs to save them from a worse fate. Not a fun job.

Yep. I almost "loosed" a couple times...

we had some big bear trouble near Yellowstone park on a elk hunt on a horse and mule hunt ,had this sow grizzly and 2 cubs come out by me, my mule was not happy friend yelled at them at 60 feet away and before I could get my rifle out of the scabbard bears took off and ran the other way that day . my old friend a world war 2 vet said to me that's a good bear, I asked him what if the bear came after us ? two words: > dead bear, I laughed because he met it. also on that hunt game warden check my license and because of all the bear trouble that year up in the mountains he said to me get some bear spray. I ask him does it work? he said this: what ever happens if you shoot a bear make sure you spray the bear so my paper work goes easier please. he then said do you understand? I said yep .my old friend started to laugh and said do you know what he was talkin about ? I said so he doesn`t care how you kill the bear just make sure you spray it before warden gets there ,old friend said that`s the right answer.

bears going the other way are not big bear trouble. So you had normal bears thankfully.

Damn shame about our stupidity in this country RE the spray and game warden, but nice to give the tip

‘Bear country’ in Alaska is huge. So are the variables in conditions. Breeze or wind are a virtual certainty 99% of the time in some parts. Encroaching on a bear from downwind (favorable for lighting said bear up with spray) is very improbable. Even a 25 ACP has better odds of working correctly.


And sometimes they’re just there....



They’re primarily olfactorily; we’re primarily visual, not a great overlapping sensory situation.

The fossilized, right rear metatarsal of a cave bear. Pre bear spray.

yes that day was normal bears, enough said.

I am certainly no bear expert but was “bear spray” a politically correct answer to bear danger when first promoted ? And remains so?

I know when I’m in bear country I’m armed with more than a condiment spray and were I in AK’s brown bear country, especially solo, I probably would carry a short-barreled 12 Ga pump loaded with Brennekes, the weight and inconvenience be damned.

Risk-taking fades as I get older.

Edit to add: so sorry for this man to pass in this way and sincerest condolences for his friends and family.

Old critters had to have been scary!

As I recall, he lost the gun on the first attack but didn't realize it. I can see how that would happen after going through something like that. When you see the bear coming again, and reached for the gun, that's when the panic is going to hit. He was a tough dude for sure, to go through all that and still walk back to the truck.

+4 Pittu.

I was up there last week in Eagle River and Palmer and they had still not found that bear. We went down to the Russian River for a little combat fishing and while the bear trails in the ferns are interesting, more dogs were seen than bears.