Lawcop:
Others with more first hand experience than I may disagree but....
I well remember the bear on Kodiak Island I wounded in the spring of 1977. I was using a .338 Mag. loaded with 250 gr. Partitions. Briefly, I'll neve forget to this day my thinking to myself, as he ran off - "What in the world does it take to put one of these guys down? A .458 Mag.? I might as well be using a .22." Those are my exact thoughts as he hightailed it out to the valley floor.

A year ago this last Oct., while elk hunting on Afognak Island, we walked up onto a bear who was watching a deer trail from above. We were going downhill, back to camp & came onto him at literally about 20 or so yards. We didn't know he was there until I walked past him & he snorted & huffed & puffed. No growling. In short, we slowly moved downhill, the bear got up from his resting place, walked over and stood between the 2 trees we walked between when we came onto him. We were facing each other at about 30 feet (not yds.) by now. Very carefully & slowly, we backed down more never taking our eyes off him. The bear slowly turned and meandered up the slope following the path we had taken. I can guarendamntee you there was a pucker factor there and my "measley", little .338 again felt like it was no better than a .22 rimfire.

These are only a couple of the reasons why I'm so adament here on the board when guys ask about min. chamberings for the large bears. I just think a .338 Mag. is the min. but that's me. Ya'll take care now. Bear in Fairbanks

From what I have been able to find out the photo was a peninsula bear. Which are larger than any Russian bears I have seen or heard of. Last year I talked with the top Russian Bear biologist and he showed me his field notes on all the bears they had taken. Out of over a hundred the absolute largest would just barely make ten foot (depending on who and how you cut him) and had a 27 inch skull before drying. There are a lot of stories coming out of Russia but no verifiable trophies making B&C.

So this is why you carry an elephant gun for Brown Bear.



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Having a buddy for lunch



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Great pictures.
Thanks for sharing them.
I assume that the larger bear had been eating the smaller bear.

DMC

No, that is why I carry a bear rifle. Some folks I hear even use bears rifles on elephants.
Great shots and a super bear. Let me know the skull measurements and GMU.

NEVER DONE one of the BIG bears, but just out of curiosity, how small and insignificantly puny does that rifle feel in your hands when you are looking at a 1000pound protien converter that all of a sudden has YOU as it's focus of attention?

While deer hunting on Kodiak Island with a friend. We came up within two brown bears less than twenty feet away. I never actually saw fur through the alders but I could see the bushes being flattened in a commotion that sounded like a freight train.

I had a 300 win mag with a 165 seirra boattail chambered and three 200 grain noslers in the mag.

In an instant I had the thought of ejecting the chambered round and cycling a nosler. But my next instantaneous thought was "NO WAY! The only way any bullets are leaving this gun is through the barrel!

I never did have any concern about a puny gun though.

We also came across a juvinile bear at 30 yards that started bouncing on its front feet and doing what sounded like hissing noises at us. I thought for sure that he was going to charge. He would have had to go through 10 yards of alders and 20 yards of open ground to get to us. I remember telling myself to pick a spot when he clears the brush. He finally turned around and left.

Deer hunting in Alaska can be exciting.