Alaskacajun
Active Member
Here's the story of when I was charged by a Brown Bear..... 
This September my Dad and Brother-in-law Ben came up to do a little camping with guns in moose camp for a week... While we were out there we caught some lake trout and saw some caribou but never saw a moose.
On the way home I brought Dad and Ben to a secret spot where we spotted a legal bull on the side of the road. But he was moving away and up a small mountain and by the time we reached him Dad decided not to shoot. Besides it being close to dark we saw bear sign and it was very alder choked on the mountainside and not very conducive to packing out meat! I agreed with his choice and we descended the hill. Ben was very excited about how close we were to the bull and wanted to know why we didn't shoot. Dad told him that tomorrow was his day and if wanted to climb that mountain and shoot the bull he could....
Ben decided that he wanted a black bear instead so we returned home and I called some friends with jet boats to get a ride into a nearby river drainage but I couldn't get anyone to commit in the middle of the week! So I told Ben we could go down to the Penninsula and glass the Berry hills for blackie's... We had barely made it to the first pull out when we discovered a blackie on the side of the hill about a half a mile away. It was a big old boy and he was near the rocks way up the mountain. We drove down the road to where we had last seen him and proceeded to ascend the mountain...
I remebered that there were some yellow looking trees to the left of the bear, and some alder's right below him so I headed toward those trees to get above him. We climbed the mountain for about an hour and a half before we arrived at the patch of alder's below the bear. I told Ben to go ahead and load up, and we proceeded up. About then I noticed some fresh black bear droppings and showed Ben. Then we took a few more steps and I showed him a huge steaming pile of Brown Bear/ Grizzly mess and he about freaked!
Then it happened, I heard something moving in the brush ahead of us about 20 yards away. The terrain didn't allow Ben to see what I saw next... A huge old Brown head immerged from the alder's and looked straight at me, then it crouched like a cat and charged...
We were both carrying Weatherby's chambered in .300 Wtby Mag and were packing 200 gr Nosler Partition handloads. I had already flipped the safety when I heard the movement in the trees so I let the bear get to within 8 yards or less when I put one right between the eyes. The bear rolled and Ben hit it in the side! I jacked in another shell and hit it in the shoulder as it went by about 5 feet away.... Ben was shook up pretty bad for a minute but was back in the game in no time! I told him to reload and stay up mountian and for God's sake keep that rifle pointed at the last place we seen it! Ben said he heard the brush move so I told him to hit it again so he shot into the brush and then we waited a good 20 minutes for it to die.
I went first while Ben covered me and with my bino's searched the brush for hair... Eventually I located the bear and confirmed that it was expired. Then we approached the bear and poked it few times, and it was very dead... I had hit it in the forehead and had crushed it's skull the other 2 shots really weren't needed but we were simply going by the "keep shooting till it stops moving" rule!
Well since we were like a mile up the dang mountain and there was barely enough room to scoot down the mountain, we decided to roll the browny down the hill. Ben would sit near the bear and push with his feet and it would take off downhill for about 75 yards till it would get hung up in the brush... We would repeat as needed till we got the bear near the truck, where we skinned it.
At the time Brown bear season wasn't open so I had to turn the bear into the State as a "Defense of Life or Property" bear.
I green measured it's hide at approximatly 9 feet and the claws on it's front foot measured over 6 inches. You'll notice that all the claws were missing off the left front foot and I would assume they were lost in a scrap with another brownie, but your guess is as good as mine. But they were almost completely healed!
Ben said he won't return to Alaska without a .375 H&H but Dad told me that he already wants to return this spring to get a brownie! :grin:
Now, it was asked in my trapping thread if there was a high "pucker factor" and the answer is NO. I was in control of the situation the whole time.... If I hadn't have been prepared for him it may have been different, but I didn't even have an adrenalin dump afterward!
It was also asked if I ever had something happen that did scare the crap out of me and the answer is YES....
I went with a hunting buddy for black bear a few years ago in a nearby river drainage. He'd never been bear hunting before and wanted me to help him get a Blackie!
It was early Spring & I spotted a large bear on the side of a mountain for him. It was about 3/4 of a mile away and after spending half an hour watching it through a spotting scope my boy decides he wants it!
We climbed that mountain and got within 30 yards of the sleeping bear when homeboy says he ain't climbing into the think brush to shoot a sleeping bear....
To make a long story short I pull out a varment call and blast away 3 times! On the third note the alders come alive and you can actually see the bears progress toward us from the splitting of the brush.
All of a sudden to our left I see 3 small cubs break through the brush and climb a tree not 10 yards froim us,and blocking our escape route! Then Momma comes out teeth popping,eyes glued on me,and bluff charging.... She continued to retreat and bluff charge me for 10 minutes all the while popping her teeth,snorting,and woofing at me!
I cussed that poor Momma bear for a dawg, heck I even made up new cuss words too! A couple of times I could have almost picked her nose with the shaking barrel of my .300 Wthby! But it is illegal to shoot a sow with cubs and she never actually touched me, but I did almost drop the hammer 3 times during the episode!
Finally she calmed down enough to get her cubs out of the tree and leave.... & I was a happier man for it!
- Clint
This September my Dad and Brother-in-law Ben came up to do a little camping with guns in moose camp for a week... While we were out there we caught some lake trout and saw some caribou but never saw a moose.
On the way home I brought Dad and Ben to a secret spot where we spotted a legal bull on the side of the road. But he was moving away and up a small mountain and by the time we reached him Dad decided not to shoot. Besides it being close to dark we saw bear sign and it was very alder choked on the mountainside and not very conducive to packing out meat! I agreed with his choice and we descended the hill. Ben was very excited about how close we were to the bull and wanted to know why we didn't shoot. Dad told him that tomorrow was his day and if wanted to climb that mountain and shoot the bull he could....
Ben decided that he wanted a black bear instead so we returned home and I called some friends with jet boats to get a ride into a nearby river drainage but I couldn't get anyone to commit in the middle of the week! So I told Ben we could go down to the Penninsula and glass the Berry hills for blackie's... We had barely made it to the first pull out when we discovered a blackie on the side of the hill about a half a mile away. It was a big old boy and he was near the rocks way up the mountain. We drove down the road to where we had last seen him and proceeded to ascend the mountain...
I remebered that there were some yellow looking trees to the left of the bear, and some alder's right below him so I headed toward those trees to get above him. We climbed the mountain for about an hour and a half before we arrived at the patch of alder's below the bear. I told Ben to go ahead and load up, and we proceeded up. About then I noticed some fresh black bear droppings and showed Ben. Then we took a few more steps and I showed him a huge steaming pile of Brown Bear/ Grizzly mess and he about freaked!
Then it happened, I heard something moving in the brush ahead of us about 20 yards away. The terrain didn't allow Ben to see what I saw next... A huge old Brown head immerged from the alder's and looked straight at me, then it crouched like a cat and charged...
We were both carrying Weatherby's chambered in .300 Wtby Mag and were packing 200 gr Nosler Partition handloads. I had already flipped the safety when I heard the movement in the trees so I let the bear get to within 8 yards or less when I put one right between the eyes. The bear rolled and Ben hit it in the side! I jacked in another shell and hit it in the shoulder as it went by about 5 feet away.... Ben was shook up pretty bad for a minute but was back in the game in no time! I told him to reload and stay up mountian and for God's sake keep that rifle pointed at the last place we seen it! Ben said he heard the brush move so I told him to hit it again so he shot into the brush and then we waited a good 20 minutes for it to die.
I went first while Ben covered me and with my bino's searched the brush for hair... Eventually I located the bear and confirmed that it was expired. Then we approached the bear and poked it few times, and it was very dead... I had hit it in the forehead and had crushed it's skull the other 2 shots really weren't needed but we were simply going by the "keep shooting till it stops moving" rule!
Well since we were like a mile up the dang mountain and there was barely enough room to scoot down the mountain, we decided to roll the browny down the hill. Ben would sit near the bear and push with his feet and it would take off downhill for about 75 yards till it would get hung up in the brush... We would repeat as needed till we got the bear near the truck, where we skinned it.
At the time Brown bear season wasn't open so I had to turn the bear into the State as a "Defense of Life or Property" bear.
I green measured it's hide at approximatly 9 feet and the claws on it's front foot measured over 6 inches. You'll notice that all the claws were missing off the left front foot and I would assume they were lost in a scrap with another brownie, but your guess is as good as mine. But they were almost completely healed!
Ben said he won't return to Alaska without a .375 H&H but Dad told me that he already wants to return this spring to get a brownie! :grin:
Now, it was asked in my trapping thread if there was a high "pucker factor" and the answer is NO. I was in control of the situation the whole time.... If I hadn't have been prepared for him it may have been different, but I didn't even have an adrenalin dump afterward!
It was also asked if I ever had something happen that did scare the crap out of me and the answer is YES....
I went with a hunting buddy for black bear a few years ago in a nearby river drainage. He'd never been bear hunting before and wanted me to help him get a Blackie!
It was early Spring & I spotted a large bear on the side of a mountain for him. It was about 3/4 of a mile away and after spending half an hour watching it through a spotting scope my boy decides he wants it!
We climbed that mountain and got within 30 yards of the sleeping bear when homeboy says he ain't climbing into the think brush to shoot a sleeping bear....
To make a long story short I pull out a varment call and blast away 3 times! On the third note the alders come alive and you can actually see the bears progress toward us from the splitting of the brush.
All of a sudden to our left I see 3 small cubs break through the brush and climb a tree not 10 yards froim us,and blocking our escape route! Then Momma comes out teeth popping,eyes glued on me,and bluff charging.... She continued to retreat and bluff charge me for 10 minutes all the while popping her teeth,snorting,and woofing at me!
I cussed that poor Momma bear for a dawg, heck I even made up new cuss words too! A couple of times I could have almost picked her nose with the shaking barrel of my .300 Wthby! But it is illegal to shoot a sow with cubs and she never actually touched me, but I did almost drop the hammer 3 times during the episode!
Finally she calmed down enough to get her cubs out of the tree and leave.... & I was a happier man for it!
- Clint
