At one relatively recent point of time, the No. 1 Grizzly in the B&C book was killed near Lesser Slave Lake in Alberta, Canada (by a woman shooter). Does anyone happen to remember the kind of rifle and the cartridge she used?

If I remember correctly it was 12 year old Belle Twin with her Stevens crackshot 22. Her and a little friend, Danny Auger 9???, were out hunting to get a couple grouse for mom's pot when they saw the bear wandering their way under the power lines They hid under a slash pile and yogi tried to sniff them out, she stuck the 22 in his ear and shot, down he went. Seems like this bruin held the B&C record for 12 years. Could be wrong though, I was only 4 or 5 when this took place

Now that's a head shot!

I don't know about the shot, but the 1977 B&C book shows a larger bear shot the next year (1954) by a F. Nygaard.

quote:

Originally posted by swheeler:
Now that's a head shot!

Hydrostatic shock.
.

In the telling of the story I read, she was/is Native American Indian and her grandfather was the tribe's bear killer. He used .22 Long Rifle in his single shot. Baited the bear to the brush pile when the tribe ask him to harvest a bear. She, however, a child, did not rate the expense of long rifle ammunition and all they gave her was .22 shorts. Old story. Probably standard velocity. She baited the bear to a "pile" like granddad showed her, shoved the gun into the bears mouth and put the bullet into the brain. Way my hand would be shaking, I would be lucky to hit an ear... oh well.

quote:

Originally posted by iiranger:
In the telling of the story I read, she was/is Native American Indian and her grandfather was the tribe's bear killer. He used .22 Long Rifle in his single shot. Baited the bear to the brush pile when the tribe ask him to harvest a bear. She, however, a child, did not rate the expense of long rifle ammunition and all they gave her was .22 shorts. Old story. Probably standard velocity. She baited the bear to a "pile" like granddad showed her, shoved the gun into the bears mouth and put the bullet into the brain. Way my hand would be shaking, I would be lucky to hit an ear... oh well.

Is that what U were lokking 4 AC? roger

quote:

Originally posted by iiranger:
In the telling of the story I read, she was/is Native American Indian and her grandfather was the tribe's bear killer. He used .22 Long Rifle in his single shot. Baited the bear to the brush pile when the tribe ask him to harvest a bear. She, however, a child, did not rate the expense of long rifle ammunition and all they gave her was .22 shorts. Old story. Probably standard velocity. She baited the bear to a "pile" like granddad showed her, shoved the gun into the bears mouth and put the bullet into the brain. Way my hand would be shaking, I would be lucky to hit an ear... oh well.

Sounds like the Hollywood screenplay for the movie. Reality is she was on her trap line, hunting rabbits, with her single shot .22. She ran into the bear on the trail and keeping her head, filled his full of .22 shorts. The Dave Auger referred to, was her trapping partner. One of her relatives has a lodge in that area and I'm often tempted to stop and find out what happened to the skull. when I was a kid, there was an exhibit in the Luxton museum in Banff, with pictures of the bullet riddled skull and rifle, held together with electricians tape.
Grizz

Reminds me of the old joke.

One guy says "The bear is just afraid of you as you are of him."

Other: "I don't think so."

First: "Why?"

Other: "He did crap in his pants"

It could be any of the above.

Where I ran across the tale again was a day or two ago in a 1989 issue of Rifle magazine. (It did not happen in '89, that is when the story I am referring to was printed in Rifle.)

There it states that she and several other kids were fishing together where a tributary runs into Lesser Slave Lake. They saw a big Grizz coming in their direction along the lake edge. They hid in a brush pile hoping the bear wouldn't notice them and would continue on his way. No such luck. So, with him 20 or 30 feet away and still coming more or less toward them, she fired at him with her single-shot bolt-action .22 LR and he went down like a sack of garbage. Don't recall where in the head Rifle editor says the bullet struck.

If anyone wants to read it, I will try to find it again and post the issue and page number. I found it interesting because at one time I did a little bit of guiding for moose in that very area, but never heard the story locally.

Yes, I would like to read it, probably where I saw it in the first place, memmory isn't what it used to be, so my take on it probably a little off after 2 decades.

Okay, I'll try to find it and post an exact citation within the next day or two. Am having some problems related to surgeries at the moment, but will get to it as quickly as possible.

Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by swheeler:
Yes, I would like to read it, probably where I saw it in the first place, memmory isn't what it used to be, so my take on it probably a little off after 2 decades.

Well, so far your memory is proving a lot better than mine. I found the source you pretty likely referred to. It is on page 60 of the September/October 1989 edition of Rifle. But, so far I can't find the one I was referring to. It must have been somewhere other than in Rifle that I saw it.

The one you referred to does say she was grouse hunting. It also mentioned something another poster above had referred to....that after the bear dropped to the first shot, she (Bella Twin) moved up, placed the muzzle of her rifle within a few inches of the bear's head, and put another half-dozen or so .22 LR rounds into his skull just to make certain.

The writer, BTW, was Layne Simpson, and the article was titled "What 63 Dead Brown Bear Can Tell Us".

Will continue looking to see if I can find the one which referred to her and a bunch of other kids out fishing. (Not that it matters much. The point is still pretty obvious. When one isn't hunting for sport, it is still better to be armed with ANYTHING in bear country, even the weakest of small bores, and to do the best one can with what one has. If the animal either dies or suffers enough to leave one alone, those circumstances can be dealt with when one gets help.)

Best wishes, AC

AC; seems like I was a Sports Afield and Outdoor Life subscriber back then, could've been there too. Scot