Check out this kill with the mighty .223.
http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/mar/28/polar-bear-killed-fort-yukon/
Polar bear killed near village in Interior Alaska
By Mary Beth Smetzer

Published Friday, March 28, 2008

Print story
E-mail story
Comments A polar bear wandering around the outskirts of the Interior village of Fort Yukon, 250 miles inland from its normal coastal habitat, was spotted eating lynx carcasses Thursday morning and was killed later in the day because of safety concerns.

The bear was first spotted outside a cabin on the edge of town by Peter John, said Tony Carroll, who had recently been skinning lynx at the cabin.

Most people didn’t believe him, Carroll said, but as word spread around town, more than a half dozen hunters began tracking the bear.

Zeb Cadzow, maintenance director at the Council of Athabascan Tribal Government, took off work after lunch to join in the hunt.

“There’s usually grizzly around this time of year,†he said. “You want to get rid of it because it’s hungry.â€

The men tracked the bear three miles out of town to the Porcupine River, where it moved onto a river island.

At that point, most of the hunters returned to Fort Yukon for a sled dog race, leaving Cadzow, 30, and Paul Herbert, 60, to continue the hunt.

“We assumed we were chasing a grizzly bear,†Herbert said.

Cadzow concurred, thinking the white description meant it was an albino bear or a grizzly covered in frost.

While Herbert waited at one end of the island, Cadzow, on foot, went into the brush tracking the bear.

Suddenly, the bear came out from under a brush pile about 10 yards away. It charged straight at Cadzow, who was carrying an AR-15, a rifle similar to the U.S. Army’s M-16.

The encounter was so close, Cadzow said, he didn’t have time to lift and sight the rifle.

“I shot from the hip, seven or eight times,†he said. “If I had gotten it to my shoulder, it (bear) would have been on top of me. It happened so quick, by the time it was down, it was about 10 feet from my feet.â€

According to the hunters, the young female bear appeared to be in good health and wasn’t starving.

The hunters contacted the Department of Fish and Game in Fairbanks on Thursday and are delivering the hide and head today so biologists can have a closer look at the bear. It will be sent to the Marine Mammal division of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for further study.

After perusing some photographs Thursday evening, Dick Shideler, a Fish and Game wildlife biologist who studies North Slope grizzly bears, is in cautious agreement.

“I’m not 100 percent sure, but it sure looks like a polar bear. The ear set looks right, so does the head profile, and the feet look pretty big which is pretty typical (of polar bears),†Shideler said.

“It’s definitely not a grizzly. The only other possibility is a hybrid. I’m leaning pretty far towards polar bear,†he said. “It’s a super interesting bear no matter what it turns out to be.â€

The Fort Yukon hunters and the village of more than 900 people are still in a state of disbelief that a polar bear wandered so far south.

“I think all 900 people have been by my house today,†said Cadzow, who spent the rest of Thursday skinning the bear hide.

Townspeople in the Yukon River village have been fielding calls from friends and relatives around the state since word about the polar bear has spread.
[/URL]
“It’s quite a shock to our town,†wrote Bonnie Thomas in an e-mail. “Our oldest elder, Rosalie Joseph, 102, passed away. She must have some powerful medicine to bring a polar bear to

It didn't look like a very big bear. I would imagine at 15 yards 7 or 8 223 rounds would be quite effective none the less.

I'm a little pissed they had to "hunt" her down. Where were these guys discarding of the lynx carcass'? Edge of town by the sounds of it. Basically baiting for bears!

It took 3 miles to catch up to her to "defend" the towns folk from the hungry vicious predator.

Come on really, what happened is they saw a polar bear that far south,(global warming) thought it would be a nice trophy and busted her down.

Well done, then they wonder why there is little to no respect given now to natives.

.223 nice round for whacking fur seals !.

I will refrain from out blandish remarks since I wasn't there .

How ever I tend to agree pursuing an animal 3 miles out of town and killing it hardly qualifies as " Defending " their town !.

Shoot Straight Know Your Target . ...

If a predator, especially a bear, has been in town feeding, there is every reason to believe it will return. I don't think the townspeople were out of line, based on what I read. If they did nothing and the bear returned and killed and fed on a child, how would you feel then?

you must understand, humans are on the Polar Bears' prey item list...the only mammal that routinely hunts and eats us.

Rich
DRSS
Knowledge not shared is knowledge lost...

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Idaho Sharpshooter:
you must understand, humans are on the Polar Bears' prey item list...the only mammal that routinely hunts and eats us.

I fully agree, in polar bear country or grizzly for that matter, you're number 2 no doubt. Bad luck for sure it was a polar bear, but nonetheless, they are still in bear country regardless of type. I believe more care should have been taken where to discard of animal carcass'. Any carnivore could smell that and come looking for dinner be it wolves, coyotes, big cats etc...

I try and follow my father's rule of thumb. Don't go looking for trouble, it'll find you easy enough on its own.

I would have figured they should know better than that of all people.

congratulations to him for smoking it when his life was in obvious danger !!

It may be hard for some to believe but in the out back villages, they don't have twice a week garbage pick up. However, in the not too distant past, they would have eaten the lynx and feed the guts to their sled dogs which would have kept the bears run off. I don't guess the Ski Doos made too much of a clamor.

I admire their courage for going after a grizzly, they thought, with a .223. Most likely it's the only rifle that they had and probably use it a lot on the other game they take.

My choice would have been different if I had a bunch of rifles to choose from.