grizzly stories?

[jcar315]

Really enjoying this thread.......keep them coming guys!

 

[Phillip Fields]

In 1997 I was on a DIY Caribou/Black Bear hunt in Alaska. I was up on top, by myself, glassing when I spotted a black bear in a berry patch about 1/2 mile away. Using the glasses I picked out a route that would keep me concealed for a stalk. I finally made it to a small ravine just below the berrypatch. I eased up over the lip of the ravine into the edge of the patch and the bear stood up and looked at me from about 30 yards - the only thing black about that bear was his color. We stared at each other for an eternity or so and I very slowly, carefully backed out of the area. The grizz just stood there and watched me go!

[Jack Shanks]

I have only had one opportunity to hunt Brown bears and although I had four different bears within 25 yards on that trip no shots were taken. Most adrenaline filled hunt I have ever been on though.

 I have had two other encounters with Grizzlies over the course of my hunting career. The first one was in the early eighties while bow hunting elk in Montana. In that case I only heard the bear when he woofed at me after catching my scent just before dark one evening. He followed my route back to camp staying down wind and out of sight but letting out a loud woof ever so often to keep me on track I guess. In all honesty I can't say it was actually a grizzly because I didn't see it but there were a number of them in the area according to the outfitter that had packed us in on horseback.

 A couple years ago while hunting moose in Alberta my hunting partner, our guide and I were setting out a cow moose decoy in the early morning gray light on the edge of a small park. We had made a call from this spot just before dark the evening before and had hopes that a bull may have heard our calls and moved into the area during the night. As my partner and the guide fiddled with the decoy I looked up and saw a large animal about 75 yards away in the dim light. At first I had thought it was a cow moose facing us but soon realized it was a grizzly standing on it's hind legs trying to get a better look at us. I removed my pack and fumbled for my video camera as the grizzly dropped to all fours and headed our way. At fifty yards the guide yelled that's close enough and the bear made a hasty retreat across the park. I captured a bit of the episode on the camera.

[champ38]

ttt for more stories, great thread !  

[acolobowhunter]

I shot a grizzley with my bow a few years ago.  Caught the bear up on the tundra - no rocks or trees.  I belly crawled 100 yards and got 20 yards from the bear.  I jumped up and came to full draw.  The bear turned and looked at me.  I held my bow as long as I could ( I shoot a 70# recurve).  Was about to let down when the bear turned.  Put the arrow right behind the shoulder.  The bear whirled in circles then ran right back on me.  It dropped about 10 yards in front of me.  It was so fast, I never had time to get another arrow out of my quiver.  When we dressed the bear, the Zwikiee broadhead was centered thru the heart.  It was quite an experience.  My wife was 100 yards away watching.

[Gen273]

Pick up any of the Larry Kaniut bear books, if you are looking for more great Grizzly stories.          

[TxAg]

Originally posted by acolobowhunter:
I shot a grizzley with my bow a few years ago.  Caught the bear up on the tundra - no rocks or trees.  I belly crawled 100 yards and got 20 yards from the bear.  I jumped up and came to full draw.  The bear turned and looked at me.  I held my bow as long as I could ( I shoot a 70# recurve).  Was about to let down when the bear turned.  Put the arrow right behind the shoulder.  The bear whirled in circles then ran right back on me.  It dropped about 10 yards in front of me.  It was so fast, I never had time to get another arrow out of my quiver.  When we dressed the bear, the Zwikiee broadhead was centered thru the heart.  It was quite an experience.  My wife was 100 yards away watching.

Whoa!

[YORNOC]

I was working for a black bear guide in northern alberta in the early nineties for a month. We were baiting and searching new areas. As we came over a grassy knoll, there was a griz on full alert about 100 yards away looking at us. We both instantly looked around for trees, and looking back noticed it was running full tilt towards us. I went left, he went right, and the bear luckily went after him. I climbed some poplars growing close together, he went for a hemlock a bit farther away. He jumped for the higher limbs to pull up but missed on the first try. The bear was right about on him. He JUST pulled up into the tree and the bear tore the bottom of his rubber boot off, only leaving minor bleeding on his foot. He climbed high and I could hear him laughing and mocking the bear. He then urinated on the bear, again totally mocking it.
I was scared sh*&^less. The bear never looked my way, hung around for about an hour and lumbered off.
He hung the boot up in camp for the next several years that I knew and hunted with him.

[eidsvolling]

Originally posted by akdd:
So while they are out there and if a person is cautious and uses a little common sense (which I failed to do in the mentioned encounter) the chances of getting attacked are slim at least in Alaska.

My wife walked up on a brown/grizzly bear when we were living on the outskirts of Anchorage. She was on her daily dog walk with her Malinois (a fiercely protective dog that looks after her 24/7). A quarter mile from our house, she spots a big head as it pops up down the trail. (I measured the distance later at 40 yards.) The head probably came up because the wind was blowing from her to the bear.

She calmly turned and went back up the trail. The bear went back to digging roots out of the cutbank that had obscured it from her view. If the dog had seen the bear, it would have been a different story -- she probably wouldn't have been able to hold him. In my opinion, her long experience in training dogs allowed her to show by her body movements that she had no intention of interfering with the bear or doing anything crazy.

She decided shortly afterward that she no longer wanted to live among them.

The Kaniut books are hair raisers. A better perspective on how to deal with being among the three North American bears and what to do when things go wrong is Stephen Herrero's    Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance .

[SheltonCreeker]

Great thread! Good stuff.

[L. E. Carroll]

For those of you familiar with grizzley's and rifles as Back up weapons.. I have a short Remington 600 in 350 Rem. Mag wearing a Leupold Gold ring 1 1/2-5x20 MK III scope that comes in at about 6 1/2 lbs.  I always use 250 gn Nosler Partition Bullets loaded up into the 2400 fps range..It's a pretty potent package, especially at under 150 yards.

Do you feel this would be a suitable back-up weapon when big bears come into the equation?

Gene

[Looper]

Yes. As long as you can shoot it accurately. A good friend of mine in Alaska has used a .350 mag on some big brown bears with good success.

[b.glass]

One of the best stories that I have ever read was by Monty Browning about a grizzly encounter while caribou hunting. It was in TBM and it is in the book "Best of TBM".