My uncle called me last night and we chatted for awhile. He asked if I had heard anything about a giant brown bear that had been shot by a warden. He said it was something like 14' tall and had several bullets in him that were old wounds. When they cut him open, they found the remains of two different people in him that he had eaten. Anyone hear anything to this effect or is it one of those "urban myths" ????

Can't say I've heard this one yet? I just checked the Kodiak Daily Mirror - Nothing in the headlines about a 14 ft man eater bear. Are you sure your not referring to the nut case photographer and his girl friend that got ate by an old bear on the Alaska Peninsula last year or so? What was that bear huggers name? I know he was from the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia.

I bet it's about the pics that have been on the net for years, wiht a young Air FOrce guy by a big grizz..

Most of the stories about it are bunk.

quote:

Originally posted by CK:
Can't say I've heard this one yet? I just checked the Kodiak Daily Mirror - Nothing in the headlines about a 14 ft man eater bear. Are you sure your not referring to the nut case photographer and his girl friend that got ate by an old bear on the Alaska Peninsula last year or so? What was that bear huggers name? I know he was from the Peoples Republic of Kalifornia.

CK:
The guy's name was Treadwell. A real nut case if ever there was one. As sure as it's gonna be freezin' here in Fbks., the guy most certainly killed his girl friend just the same as if he'd put a gun to her head & pulled the trigger.

My buddy & I were supposed to fly out with his pilot for an elk hunt on Afognak. We were weathered in at Kodiak but the pilot could get to the Peninsula. He came back & informed everybody what had happened. Yup! The guy was a real cracker case. I think even worse is that there are quite a few people who were enamored by all of his BS & it coulod get 'em into trouble sometime. Anyway, all for now.
Bear in Fairbanks

Just a question. I assume that if the wardens shot the bear it was because it was either wounded or being a pain in someones ass. My question is why would they be field dressing it. Whenever the wardens around here have to put down a blackie they just load it on the truck and dump it somewhere. Just a thought.

Bowhuntrrl ----- The Bear your uncle saw on the internet was the same one that has been on here at different times for three years. A buddy of mine brought it to me and low and behold it is the same Bear. This time some joker supposedly shot it 11 times with a .38 and remains of two people were found in the stomach. The picture is the same we have seen here but the story is the Treadwell Bear attack and the pistol actually was a .44 and the shooting by a game warden when the game and fish department guys investigated the Treadwell attack scene. I saw the same picture and it is the same Bear that Dalliwacker who posts here and a buddy killed. I also saw it again on the net about a year ago with a half eaten body that supposedly had been attacked by the same Bear. That makes a total of 3 different stories attributated to the same Bear. It is amazing how a story can be concocted on the net with a legit picture. The Bear has been as tall as 15 ft when it actually was a 10 1/2 footer I wonder when it will appear again. I am sure Dalliwacker and his buddy are amused by all the convoluted press attributed to their Bear. Good shooting.

In Alaska, the fish and game will auction off the skulls and hides of bears that have been killed in self defense, or for any other reason are put down.

The story sounds like a morph between the airman bear, and treadwell. It's amazing how much bigger, how many wounds, and how many people a bear eats when it starts traveling around the net.

I don't think there has ever been a 14 foot bear taken from Kodiak, or anywhere else. 12 foot would be a monster, and once in a lifetime bear.

Here it is:

http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-grizzlybear.htm

Actually, they found some lumber and a pair of door hinges in the stomach. The forensic biologists that did the necropsy opined that the bear ate a small hunting cabin that happened to contain to people.

quote:

Originally posted by NBHunter:
Just a question. I assume that if the wardens shot the bear it was because it was either wounded or being a pain in someones ass. My question is why would they be field dressing it. Whenever the wardens around here have to put down a blackie they just load it on the truck and dump it somewhere. Just a thought.

In ALASKA they have to salvage the hide & skull if possible!

Were the remains Jimmy Hoffa by chance?

Some articles about the Treadwell mauling/death:

http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/West/10/09/bear.attack.ap/

http://www.adn.com/front/story/4102002p-4119654c.html

And, it seems, Treadwell was something of a phoney:
http://www.rednova.com/news/display/?id=38961

-Bob F.

quote:

Originally posted by Gatehouse:
I bet it's about the pics that have been on the net for years, wiht a young Air FOrce guy by a big grizz..

Most of the stories about it are bunk.

Gatehouse: The bear story with pictures of a young man from Eielson AFB is true. But that bear was a little over 10', killed with a .338WM, and not in Kodiak.

Here are two pictures of the bear that likely started the exagerated rumour you heard, followed by the true story of what actually happened:





Nov. 9, 2001 The Bear Story

Hunter bags huge trophy by Tech. Sgt. Elton Price 354th Fighter Wing Public Affairs

EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- An Eielson hunter recently bagged one of the largest brown bears ever taken in North America. Theodore Winnen, a senior airman load crew member with the 18th Fighter Squadron, took a 10-foot, 1,800-pound brown bear during a hunt Oct. 15 on an island in Prince William Sound.

Winnen explained the true measure of a bear is its skull size, "and this one's skull measured 28 and 1/2 inches." The world record brown bear - also taken in Alaska - had a skull measuring 30 5/16 inches. Winnen said the bear should make the top 150 in the Boone and Crockett scoring system, which records North American big game trophies. Winnen and the rest of his four-man hunting party had flown to the island from Valdez Oct. 14. The bear's paw alone nearly dwarfs Senior Airman Theodore Winnen, an 18th FS load member.

His hunting partner was Staff Sgt. Jim Urban, a supply technician with the 18th FS. Ron Lutrell, an F-16 equipment specialist with the Air Force Engineering Tech Services, set up the hunting trip. His hunting partner was Jim Scheu, a flight chief in the jet engine shop at Elmendorf AFB.

Winnen shot the bear during their first full day of hunting. "That first day, after we got to our cabin, my hunting partner and I went out and just scouted the area," he said. They were encouraged, seeing signs of lots of Sitka Blacktail deer, which is what the group had set out to hunt. "The islands down there are overrun with deer," Winnen said. "They really don't have that many predators, so the deer are every where."

After getting up for an early breakfast, Winnen and Urban started the hunt around 7:45 a.m. They had agreed that Winnen would take the first shot at a bear and Urban would get the first shot at a buck. "We were walking along a creek, and saw a deep pool with salmon, so right there, we thought we might see a bear. We also saw fresh deer tracks, so we decided to follow the creek," Winnen said.

The hunters came to a point where the creek split, leaving an island in the middle. "We went on the island and noticed vines with large berries all around the outside of the island," he said. "That was another good sign that bears might be in the area." As they walked a bit farther on the island, "I looked up and saw a bear about 40 yards up the creek. He was walking in the creek, looking for salmon. I grabbed Jim by the arm, yanked him over close, and said, 'There's a bear.'"

Both hunters chambered a bullet as the bear continued walking toward them. "There was a large log between the bear and us, and I told Jim that as soon as the bear walked over that log, I was going to shoot," Winnen said. The two decided to take cover behind a large pine tree and watched as the bear continued toward them, climbing from the creek onto the island.

"By this time, he was about 10 yards away, and he was still walking directly toward us. Jim kept saying, 'Shoot. Shoot.'" Winnen finally did, taking aim at the bear's eyes, and firing his .338 hunting rifle. "He raised his head like he was going to roar, but he didn't make a sound. He just fell over backward." He fired a few more shots into the bear's vital organs to ensure he was dead.

"Then the work began," Winnen said. He and Urban spent the next six hours skinning the bear and scraping the hide. Winnen packed the hide, which weighed about 250 pounds, while Urban packed the skull, his pack and Winnen's pack. After making their way out of the drainage, Urban took a tarp from his pack and used it as a makeshift sled. The two then dragged everything over the wet grass.

They got about half a mile, before deciding they could use a little more help. Urban went back to the cabin to get Lutrell and Scheu as Winnen stayed with the hide. Together, the four hunters finally made their way back to the cabin.

Winnen spent the next couple of days fleshing out the hide, then salting it down to keep it from spoiling. He estimates it will cost about $1,400 for a taxidermist to turn the hide into a rug. He plans to have the skull mounted on a plaque.

Winnen wasn't the only successful hunter on the trip - Urban got a doe, and Lutrell and Scheu took three deer altogether.

Though this was his first bear, Winnen said he bear-baits near Nenana and hopes to also get a black bear some day.

Some on it here

bear