From my 1st hand source, this lady got it pretty bad [wife work as a nurse at the local hospital.] Makes me wonder what he was packin.' Looks like I'll be loading up my .375 this season for deer and leaving the .338 behind.
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Web posted September 4, 2005

Brown bear mauls woman in Hoonah
Unprovoked attack comes as Judy Oliver picks berries 7 miles out Water Dam Road

By TONY CARROLL
JUNEAU EMPIRE

A Hoonah woman was mauled Friday by a large brown bear in a popular berry-picking area near her Chichagof Island community, a nephew who was the first police officer on the scene reported.


Judy Oliver, a teacher and longtime Hoonah resident, was in intensive care late Saturday at Bartlett Regional Hospital, where she was flown to have surgery after the attack, officer Arlen Skaflestad said.

"It was completely unprovoked," Skaflestad said.

Oliver was picking blueberries shortly after 7 p.m. Friday off an old logging road, Forest Service Road 8503, also known in Hoonah as the Water Dam Road, about seven miles from town, Skaflestad said. Her husband, Carl Oliver, later said he thought it was their golden retriever he heard running through the woods.

Carl Oliver told him the bear was on his wife and the dog attacked the bear. He ended up shooting the bear three times with the rifle he had brought, Skaflestad said.

"He said the bear was very active," he added. "He was afraid he would hit Judy."

After the bear left, he gathered his wife, put her into the car and drove to the clinic, and from there she was flown to Juneau.

At the hospital in Juneau, Judy Oliver underwent surgery from about midnight to 9 or 10 a.m., Skaflestad said. Her injuries included a broken jaw and a broken clavicle.

Judy Oliver is well-known and respected in the community, Skaflestad said.

Searchers looked for the bear for several hours Saturday morning but couldn't find it, Skaflestad said.

He said the police can't stop people from going to the area. "That's one of the favorite spots for locals to pick berries. We're advising they use caution."

Friday's mauling scene was the first Skaflestad had seen, he said. "I pray that I don't see anything like it again."

While brown bears are common in the area, bear attacks are not, he said. "We had one a few years back when a young teen was attacked," he said.

"Most of the people here have a high respect for bears," Skaflestad said. "The bears were here long before we were."

sorry she was injured, glad she was not killed.

use enough gun....

Just load some .338-caliber 275 to 300-grain bullets. How about 300-grain Kodiak bullet at 2,450 fps, and 250-grainers (Nosler) at 2670 fps?

By the way, I heard of another woman being injured by a brown bear on her way to work. I heard the news Monday, I believe. She was walking to work, and a brown bear charged her. The bear toppled her, and she kicked it several times on the face. The bear bit her thigh and dragged her several feet, and then dropped her. She got a couple of wounds, including some scratches on her neck. I don't remember in what Alaska town this story took place.

My boss is the head EMT who was responsible for initial stabilization of the victim.

My understanding of the situation, which may be incorrect:

The gun was a 300 Win mag. I do not know what the load was.
A bigger gun would not have helped out in this situation.

The victim and her husband have lived in the community for many years, including a number of
years out at a remote cabin about 25-30 minutes boat ride from the town.

As told by the husband after the incident, they were finishing up picking berries right off one
of the main forest service roads. Time was about 700PM, and it is getting dark around 830 PM here I think.
They had separated slightly and their dog was also present.
The area was characterized by high brush, I got the idea it was waist height or taller huckleberry.

The bear approached her from behind and initially she though it was the dog, until the bear jumped
on her. It shook her and dropped her about 3 times. The dog threw itself on the bear, but obviously
had little effect.

She shouted out to her husband, he came over and could not see the bear over the top of the brush, until
it popped up. At this point he shot at the bear 3 times. He believes that he hit the
bear at least 2 times. The bear ended the attack and left the area.

Husband assumed bear would be back and took up guard station for an undetermined amount of time, after
which he helped his wife back to the car and they drove back to town.

LEOs including city and state police tracked the bear's blood trail for at least 1 mile after which they lost
the trail as it crossed the stream. I do not know quality or quantity of the trail. Adverse weather prevented
fly over of the area the next day, but 2 days later, an overflight failed to locate the bear.

Currently, the bear is AWOL.

My read on it was that this was one of those situations that you just cannot do much about,
unless you want to simply move out of Alaska or exterminate every last bear.

Last year, a guide out of Petersburg lost his foot after tangling with a wounded bear that one of his
clients had shot. I believe that the bear absorbed one or more rounds from a .416.

There are certain situations where you are going to get plastered, regardless of weather you are packing a
20mm Bofors or not.

BTW, if she dies, it'll probably be from infection.

She was very lucky in that the bear didn't disembowel her, cause nervous damage or slash any major blood vessels. She was lucid during
the patch over phase before she was airlifted out.

Thanks for the info.

Last July I made a couple of purse seine sets for salmon at Point Sophia, just outside of Hoonah, a couple of miles. A fairly good size brownie was on the rocky beach walking east as I cruised west to the spot where I turned the end skiff loose to tow and hold the seine close to the point, and as we passed he turned and aggressivly followed us down the shore until he came to a rock bluff he couldn't get around. He scracthed and scrabbled franticlly for a bit and then crawled up into the woods.

Very strange behavior. The skipper of one of the Hoonah Seiners that was there fishes before and after salmon season with my son-inlaw who is also a comedian, called me from the ocean off Yakutat the other night to tell me they were bucking a 25 knot westerly and heavy seas just in case I was setting at home and getting nostalgic about the good old longling halibut offshore days, he was in cell range and could describe it for me and I said no could I talk to Bill about brown bear. Bill tells me that some handtroller had been throwing fish up on the beach for the bear.

So it could be that that could have been part of the problem. The bear I seen was quite aggressive looking for his handout. Wayne