Huge Grizzly Bear

[mm2002]

Wow, my hat's off to the dude who kept his cool and actually brought this beast down. 14 ft tall, and 1600 lbs??? WTF??? The Bears head alone had to weigh as much as the guy that shot it. I would just hope that if it were charging at me, I could actually remember how to operate the rifle. I'd probably just crap my pants and get ate. Anyway, here's the story:


The pictures are of a man who works for the US Forest Service in Alaska and the bear he had to kill. (killed in self defense). He was out deer hunting last week when a large grizzly bear charged him from about 50 yards away. The guy emptied his 7mm Magnum semi-automatic rifle into the bear and it dropped a few feet from him. The big bear was still alive so he reloaded and shot it several times in the head.

The bear was just over one thousand six hundred pounds. It stood 12' 6" high at the shoulder, 14' to the top of his head. It's the largest grizzly bear ever recorded in the world.

Of course, the Alaska Fish and Wildlife Commission did not let him keep it as a trophy, but the bear will be stuffed and mounted, and placed on display at the Anchorage airport to remind tourists of the risks involved when in the wild.

Based on the contents of the bears stomach, the Fish and Wildlife Commission established the bear had killed at least two humans in the past 72 hours including a missing hiker.

The US Forest Service, backtracking from where the bear had originated, found the hiker's 38-caliber pistol emptied. Not far from the pistol were the remains of the hiker. The other body has not been found.

Although the hiker fired six shots and managed to hit the grizzly with four shots (the Service ultimately found four 38 caliber slugs along with twelve 7mm slugs inside the bear's dead body), it only wounded the bear and probably angered it immensely.

The bear killed the hiker an estimated two days prior to the bear's own death by the gun of the Forest Service worker.

Think about this:
If you are an average size man; You would be level with the bear's navel when he stood upright. The bear would look you in the eye when it walked on all fours! To give additional perspective, consider that this particular bear, standing on its hind legs, could walk up to an average single story house and look over the roof, or walk up to a two story house and look in the bedroom windows.

[JCAT]

The real story.....snopes.com: Bear Hunt

Still a pretty big bear and if I would have seen it, Bolt could not have caught up with me. I would have been gone like yesterday.

[chinacat46]

That is one huge bear. I have a good friend who was attacked by grizzly up in Montana. He was out hiking with his girlfriend. They lived thru it barely(almost bled to death). This happened about 20 years ago and there story was written up in Reader's Digest. He has some pretty nice scars. I've seen them in the wild on the other side of a large river. Close enough for me.

[scubajane]

3 cheers for snopes!!! it keeps us honest. I've used snopes for other urban legends with great success. still.... I'm glad I;m not the one that met that bear!!

[mm2002]

So I guess the story got twisted a little along the way according to Snopes. Still one big damn bear!

[kjvander]

boy i wish i had that in my freezer....be eatin for a long time...

[JCAT]

but the bear will be stuffed and mounted, and placed on display at the Anchorage airport to remind tourists of the risks involved when in the wild.

I was sitting here thinking about the story and my trips through Alaska, and there is a bear stuffed on display in Anchorage or one of the Airports. A big A$$ flippin wolf as well, teeth like you wouldn't believe. There was a fish market inside the terminal as well, but this was in the 80s, so unsure if still like that.

cheers

[mitsuguy]

bah... no big deal... my father in law has 4 bears, 1 mounted, two as rugs, and one more was stolen at the taxidermy...

his were all bow and arrow kills...

[BarbadosSlim93]

Damn, I was all set to call fake on that picture. Excellent work JCAT on getting that snopes information. I can't believe how freaking huge that bear is!

[BSea]

I saw that a few years ago. It does make you shiver to think about the situation of a bear that big being that close.