imported post
Here is a story, just to get you thinking;
http://www.stocksandnews.com/searchresults.asp?Id=2454&adate=2/12/2007
"Craig Medred, Anchorage Daily News:
“The grizzly bear that fell dead, almost miraculously, inches
from the feet of Doug White last fall changed his life, possibly
forever. Near-death experiences have a way of doing that.
“When the bear came seemingly out of nowhere near Dillingham
and the shooting started, White thought he and moose-hunting
partner Reed Thompson were dead.
“In the blink of an eye, they found themselves in the center of a
chaotic reality that seemed more like some crazy dream. There
was the dead moose they had shot on the ground, a grizzly bear
that wanted the moose almost on top of them, and only a .44-
caliber Magnum handgun with which to defend themselves.”
It seems the two had already killed the moose, returned to their
riverboat to retrieve their backpacks and mentally shifted from
being hunters to packers.
“As they headed back to their moose kill, it was mainly out of
habit that the two Dillingham men grabbed Thompson’s pistol
along with the knives they would need for butchering, game bags
and backpacks for hauling 600 or 700 pounds of food. Adding
heavy rifles to the burden seemed like a lot of unnecessary effort.
But the .44-Mag was light enough and compact enough they
grabbed it as a precaution: Better to be safe than sorry.”
But for all the animals Alaska’s hunters kill over the course of a
year, rarely does a grizzly try and take it from them. It’s only
now, though, that Doug White has decided to write about his
incident from last September.
“With darkness approaching, we decided to remove the top front
and rear quarters of the moose, tie them to our pack frames, gut
the moose out, and then roll the behemoth over to cool through
the night. We would return in the morning to finish up.”
But as they were taking out the internal organs, and “As Reed
pulled the heart out [oops…sorry…I didn’t warn you
beforehand] and tossed it behind us, a loud ‘HUFF’ snapped us
to our feet.”
“Turning around, we saw standing before us, on hind legs, a
large, chocolate-brown grizzly bear. The next minute seemed to
last an eternity. The term surreal is so overused, but it was
dreamlike, bizarre, fantastic and unreal.
“The bear was standing next to the tree where the pistol was
hanging. We both started shouting and waving our arms back
and forth as we moved somewhat to our right toward the tail end
of the moose. The bear came down off his back legs, onto all
fours and started circling to his right – toward the head of the
bull. My only thought was to get to the gun so that we could
scare him off.
“I sensed that he charged from the head of the moose as I broke
for the gun. Reed commented later that the bear vaulted over the
moose and went straight for him. Halfway to the tree, I tripped
on a fallen log and went down on all fours.
“From my peripheral, I saw the bear going after Reed, who had
moved into the tall grass. It appeared that the bear had knocked
Reed down and was standing over him. My worst fear was that
my friend was being mauled.
“I grabbed the holster but was unable to remove the revolver
regardless of how hard I tugged. As I looked up, I saw the bear
charging toward me.
“I started backing up as I continued screaming and hollering at
the bear….With the bear almost on top of me, I fell over another
log. I did a back drop and felt him grab my left leg. His huge
head was above my lap, just out of reach of my holstered club.”
White tried to shoot through the holster but that failed.
“Just when I thought all was lost, the bear rose up, pivoted 90
degrees to his left and was gone. The grizzly had charged back
in the direction of Reed as he had jumped up and yelled once
again.”
Reed dropped back down into the tall grass and he could hear the
bear sniffing for him, as Doug White was finally able to get the
gun out of the holster. But now the bear was charging back at
him again.
“I pointed the revolver and fired at center mass. The .44
magnum boomed in the night and the bear fell straight down, his
head three feet away from I stood.”
But if you thought the two’s troubles were over, that night a
wicked storm hit the area, with winds of 60-70 mph. Cold and
wet, they rigged up a tent and weathered it. Two days later they
made it back to Dillingham. And the biggest mystery remains
how it was that the bear was felled with just one shot from a .44. "
Tarzan