Full story and pictures at the link

https://www.snopes.com/news/20...rviving-bear-attack/

In an exclusive interview with Snopes, the 31-year-old said he was charged by the bear while working on a remote island in August 2021.

And Aug. 22, 2021, was just another day in Coltharp’s rainforest office. In an exclusive interview with Snopes, the 31-year-old Alaskan said he was hiking along a stream with two colleagues when, seemingly out of nowhere, he heard several branches crackle and break from where he was standing.

"In an instant, a 7-foot-tall, approximately 500-pound adult male bear latched on to Coltharp’s left knee with its 3-inch-long teeth , throwing the young man to the ground."


Must have been a Sabertooth - Bear cross. They are common up here. I just measured the longest canines on my 8 1/2 square 25 3/8 skull Brown Bear and it's right at 2 inches in length from the skull with no gums hiding part of the teeth.

Well, that was a remarkably less than fact filled Snopes report… par for the course with them.

A 7’ 500 pound brown bear is a mature adult? Hmmn. The pics sure look like an adolescent bear.

That wound to his knee… if he was able to walk on it, it wasn’t quite the major trauma he made out. There should have been more damage from a true mauling, especially if he was “tossed about” by the bear.

He startled a young bear at close distance and was between it and safety. Speaks to his expertise being less than claimed, or talking up the story to a doofus reporter (what I’d say happened).

quote:

There should have been more damage from a true mauling, especially if he was “tossed about” by the bear.

What you think he is lying about being attack.

Wow I am sure you would gladly trade places with him and only have his little bite.

How many thousands in ER bills how much time off work.

Just a little bite.

What's a true mauling. Minor compared to some but still a bear attack.

Most likely stopped from being worse by the quick reaction of his work partner. Who killed the bear.

The point is he got hit in one place. If the bear was attacking, as opposed to going through him, the bites should have been opposing, and with the bite energy it should have crushed the bone underneath.

The story doesn’t agree with the evidence.

He said he was out of sight of his partners.

The bear came out of nowhere, “bit and tossed him to the ground” and then his friends came up and shot the bear.

Did he get hurt? Yes.

Would I want the injury?

No.

But if the story in the article is accurate, then AF&G is not going to be so gentle.

At best, he was not acting like an experienced woodsman. At worst, the story is a pack of lies.

Let’s hear from the guys around bears a lot… is this story making sense?

He got hit above his knee. Was this him getting in the way of a fleeing bear, or was this a predatory attack that guys out of sight came up and stopped?

Of course none of this would have happened if he had been carrying a belt fed 454 Casull large framed revolver!

It's a wonder anyone survives walking outside in AK these days with all of the scawy scawy man eating bears roaming the land!

Where is ole Chuke with his 30 round 10mm Glock when you need him?

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:
Of course none of this would have happened if he had been carrying a belt fed 454 Casull large framed revolver!

It's a wonder anyone survives walking outside in AK these days with all of the scawy scawy man eating bears roaming the land!

Where is ole Chuke with his 30 round 10mm Glock when you need him?

Don't know if he was armed or not.

But what we do know is that is working partner killed the bear stopping the attack short.

quote:

Originally posted by Todd Williams:
Of course none of this would have happened if he had been carrying a belt fed 454 Casull large framed revolver!

It's a wonder anyone survives walking outside in AK these days with all of the scawy scawy man eating bears roaming the land!

Where is ole Chuke with his 30 round 10mm Glock when you need him?

Last night I think we saw five bears and today we saw two.

They seemed fine and we were too.

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:
"In an instant, a 7-foot-tall, approximately 500-pound adult male bear latched on to Coltharp’s left knee with its 3-inch-long teeth , throwing the young man to the ground."


Must have been a Sabertooth - Bear cross. They are common up here. I just measured the longest canines on my 8 1/2 square 25 3/8 skull Brown Bear and it's right at 2 inches in length from the skull with no gums hiding part of the teeth.

Isn't 500 lbs a little heavy for a 7' brown bear? Seems like he spent too much time at the Golden Corral buffet

According to this chart. 500lbs would be right in the ball park. Plus or minus depending the bear.

https://www.researchgate.net/f...hwest_tbl1_238012951

quote:

Last night I think we saw five bears and today we saw two.

They seemed fine and we were too.

I find seeing bear interesting.

Most people do.

I am sure Mr. Coltharp has seen many bears in his professional life also.

Then he just happen to run into one that took a dislike to him.

Just like Phil did. Or the other attack this month.

Or the 6 people that were killed so far this year by bears

One can see a lot of bears and never run into trouble. Until one decides he/she doesn't like you.


Guess it is up to the bear to decide if he likes you or not.

For his lived and professional lives, Jess Coltharp has spent his years living and working amongst North America’s apex predators: bears. In southeast Alaska, the Last Frontier’s largest terrestrial predator is often quite literally in one’s backyard. And 14 summers spent working as a surveyor with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game meant that Coltharp spent his days hiking through bear country, counting local populations of salmon — Alaskan coastal bears’ preferred snack.

quote:

But if the story in the article is accurate, then AF&G is not going to be so gentle.

At best, he was not acting like an experienced woodsman. At worst, the story is a pack of lies.

Let’s hear from the guys around bears a lot… is this story making sense?

I think he had a little experience with bears and I don't think Fish and Game is going to be to hard on one of their own.

And 14 summers spent working as a surveyor with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game meant that Coltharp spent his days hiking through bear country, counting local populations of salmon — Alaskan coastal bears’ preferred snack .

By the way the person who actually shot the bear while it was attacking Mr. Coltharp. Was another Fish and Game employee.

I guessing with a issued firearm.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
According to this chart. 500lbs would be right in the ball park. Plus or minus depending the bear.

https://www.researchgate.net/f...hwest_tbl1_238012951

According to your chart they are saying the "average" twenty year old "Brown Bear" is 6 1/2 feet and 405 pounds.

Sounds much more like an interior Grizzly to me.

quote:

According to your chart they are saying the "average" twenty year old "Brown Bear" is 6 1/2 feet and 405 pounds.

Sounds much more like an interior Grizzly to me.

First off it is not my chart. I just posted it. The same with the story.

If you don't believe the results argue with the people who made them.

If you read the chart you know where those measurements were taken.

So what are you saying.

That costal brown bears are bigger. If that the case a 7 foot costal brown bear could easily be 500 pounds.

I would agree.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:

quote:

According to your chart they are saying the "average" twenty year old "Brown Bear" is 6 1/2 feet and 405 pounds.

Sounds much more like an interior Grizzly to me.

First off it is not my chart. I just posted it. The same with the story.

If you don't believe the results argue with the people who made them.

If you read the chart you know where those measurements were taken.

So what are you saying.

That costal brown bears are bigger. If that the case a 7 foot costal brown bear could easily be 500 pounds.

I would agree.

What's wrong with you. You that unhappy in your life that everything needs to be an argument in your world.

You posted the chart and I simply pointed out that it doesn't jive with my personal observations from living among Brown Bear for the last 30 years.

As I stated once before and will reiterate now ......

Your Dick is bigger, you win. I'm out.

quote:

You posted the chart and I simply pointed out that it doesn't jive with my personal observations from living among Brown Bear for the last 30 years.

If you would reread the chart you would note the 3 bear populations it covers.

Northwest Mackenzic, Northern Yukon and then Northwest Alaska.

And I agree with you about costal brown bears being bigger then the bears in the areas mentioned.

I guess you must not like the fact that we agree on something.

Well metric is too much like math so I'm out lol

I just don't understand why some of you only look at story de-bunking possibilities instead of just reading the story as told by the person who got mauled.

If a bear is killed while it bites your leg, it is still a mauling. Things like that happen very now and then in Alaska, specially to fish counters, like the guy in the story and have to walk along streams that are usually noisy. It also happens to geologists and helpers working in remote locations. These people usually have another person who's job is to protect the workers. Read the stories about the Exxson Valdez spill and the armed "guards" assigned to protect the workers from bears.

That the bear was fat and heavy, skinny, full of muscle, or a midget have nothing to do with the story. Now, if it would have been a toothless and clawless bear, then it would not have been a mauling. In this case it would have been a "bear hug"?

Quoted from the story:
https://www.ktoo.org/2021/08/3...ith-saving-his-life/

quote:

Sitkan Jess Coltharp has worked 14 seasons surveying streams for Fish and Game.

“For the most part, the main part of my job is just walking creeks and counting salmon and then reporting escapement numbers back to the office,” Coltharp said last week. “So they have an idea of how many how many fish are going up the creek and spawning.”

By the way, all bear and human confrontations are recorded by F&G, and so other data including size, weight, and approximate age of the bear.

quote:

Originally posted by Ray Alaska:

By the way, all bear and human confrontations are recorded by F&G, and so other data including size, weight, and approximate age of the bear.

Not to nit pick, but....

My daughter and I just had a confrontation with a bear. None of the three of us were harmed, so it wasn't reported to F&G.

Out there in the wilderness there are countless confrontations that are not recorded in any official manner. It's just part of living in the wild.

quote:

Originally posted by JBrown:

quote:

Originally posted by Ray Alaska:

By the way, all bear and human confrontations are recorded by F&G, and so other data including size, weight, and approximate age of the bear.

Not to nit pick, but....

My daughter and I just had a confrontation with a bear. None of the three of us were harmed, so it wasn't reported to F&G.

Out there in the wilderness there are countless confrontations that are not recorded in any official manner. It's just part of living in the wild.

That makes sense, and you are correct. A lot of cases go unreported. I should have said that all reported cases are recorded. It has also been done, although temporarily, by Tom Smith and Stephen Herrero. Tom Smith had a database that covered 100 years of human and bear confrontations when he lived in Alaska. The last time I read the report was around 10 years ago.

[quote]It has also been done, although temporarily, by Tom Smith and Stephen Herrero. Tom Smith had a database that covered 100 years of human and bear confrontations when he lived.

They only used the data that helped make there case for bear spray.

They were very careful what data they used.

Adopted strange criteria that eliminated many cases that did not work for them.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
[quote]It has also been done, although temporarily, by Tom Smith and Stephen Herrero. Tom Smith had a database that covered 100 years of human and bear confrontations when he lived.

They only used the data that helped make there case for bear spray.

They were very careful what data they used.

Adopted strange criteria that eliminated many cases that did not work for them.

Perhaps that is true during the last years the database was published, but not the original one. This one was a list of bear/human interactions where people were injured or killed for that past hundred years. I don't think that pepper and other sprays were used years ago. On the last year (or so), Tom Smith was adding an appendix to the database relating to firearms and bear sprays used recently, and then the database was pulled off the Internet (no idea why).

Also, years ago most cases were published on newsprint, and a great portion of the database relating to those years were gathered from newspaper archives.

Because there was no reporting requirements for a lot of those 100 years.

Very few cases were found out about.

Of course spray was not used before it was invented.

Smith and Herrero had a agenda, save bears.

They had selection bias when they included cases in their study.

I will give Tom Smith credit as he has been changing his tune a bit in the last years.

But has done very little to correct the errors in his study with Herrero.

It is still being used as the main source for saying spray is better then firearms.

At the best the were sloppy and just didn't use good scientific methods or practices in that study.

At the worse the were down right dishonest and deceitful. To push their agenda.

Probably more so on Herrero's part as he is a life long anti hunter, anti firearm, anti war activist from the 60's.

Who moved to Canada from CA. to avoid the Vietnam war scene in the USA.