The Phantom of Hungry Hill

I don't often pick up a copy of Outdoor Life but couldnt resist grabbing a copy of this months(Feb) edition. Theres a great story about a monster griz in the smithers area that was killing dozens of cattle and out smarted the CO's on several occasions.

I have a friend who lives in the Bulkley Valley, where this story takes place, who was keeping me up to date on the stories surrounding this problem bear. Of course, by the time the locals had there way with the story the details were a little different than the story in OL. Non the less, this bear will be a legend.

They think this bear was the grown cub of a sow and a pair of cubs that had been a problem some years earlier in 88 with the cattle ranchers. They disapeared but the cattle started getting preyed upon a few years later in 98. They tried trapping it but it was pretty smart. It would trip the traps and drag off the bait which was its favourite meal, cattle of course.

In Oct 2001 they finally had the big bear trapped and as they approached, the SOB broke the snare and charged them. They had to think quick and when the smoke cleared, the bear laid dead seven paces away.

He's now on display at the Smithers airport. His live weight was 1,012 lbs and squared at 9,1 by 9,6. They claim that he killed over 60 head of cattle.

Grab this month OL. I think you'll enjoy the story even though I gave the ending away.

Yeah, I thought it was a pretty good story. Nice to hear it's actually based on fact - you never can tell these days. I was surprised to not read that they shot the bear with a .300WSM or UltraMag and expensive bullets.

I read that story as well, and found it to be exciting. I think, however, that I would have been shooting that bear sooner, rather than moving closer watching it yanking on the chain for all it was worth.

The charge would have surely been an adrenaline rush.

Someone posted a couple of photos of the Phantom on the thread I have going on huntshoot.com.

the phantom

phantom 2