This story, Killer Bears of Alaska, was initially printed within the March 1981 challenge of Outside Life.
Do grizzly bears maintain grudges? How harmful are grizzlies? Ask Al Thompson, a 44-year-old Division of Fish and Wildlife Safety officer (recreation warden) who patrols Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. He gained’t commit himself on the primary query, however he doesn’t mince phrases on the second.
Al and his spouse Joyce moved north from Casnovia, Michigan, in 1968, they usually went deep into the Alaska Vary to assert a mountain-backed, lakefront homestead. Their solely neighbors had been moose, caribou, wolves, and bears.
“There have been eight grizzlies dwelling close to,” he informed me. “We knew and named all of them.”
One night time a grizzly tore out the facet of the momentary cabin they slept in. They frightened it off. One other bear packed off an outboard motor and dumped it into the lake. Others chewed on their snow machines.
One night time their canine barked an alarm. Al picked up his fully-loaded .44 Magnum revolver, stepped out of the cabin, and located a giant grizzly standing on hind legs peering down at him. Al didn’t need to kill it, so he aimed fastidiously on the sky however close to to the bear’s head and fired. The magnum bucked 5 occasions, however the bear stood, weaving and threatening. Then Al heard Joyce and noticed her . 30/06 poke over his shoulder and level on the bear.
“It swayed a bit extra, then dropped to all fours and left,” Al mentioned.
That bear hung round for weeks, and it bought cranky when the Thompsons neared the alder patch it was in, warning them with growls. Rifle fireplace didn’t frighten it. A visiting hunter lastly killed the bear.
In 1971 Al and Dick Dykema, who is also a warden, hiked 15 miles into the Kenai Nationwide Moose Vary to bowhunt for moose. Al killed a bull with a 60-inch unfold, and Dick bought one with a 55-inch unfold.
In 1972 Al determined to hunt in the identical space to attempt to get a good bigger bull. This time Joyce went alongside. Al took his 65-pound bow and glass arrows and carried his .44 Magnum. Joyce took her .30/06. A buddy with horses was to come back after the meat; Moose Vary is closed to mechanized tools.
Earlier than the hunt Joyce made meat sacks, ironing them so they’d take much less area in packs. It was close to darkish when, after an 8 ½-hour uphill hike, they reached their campsite within the highlands between Skilak and Tustumena Lake.
Subsequent day they constructed a lean-to of poles and plastic, reduce firewood, and picked up scraps left by different campers. The next daybreak the Thompsons had been out stalking moose. They noticed two bulls, however they couldn’t get shut sufficient for a shot together with his bow. That night a full moon flooded the Kenai with gentle.
The Thompsons comply with a routine when tenting, as do most Alaskans who stay in bear nation. Al laid his revolver on a bit of yellow paper towel so he might see it at midnight. The flashlight went in a sure spot, as did the loaded rifle. That night time Al left his sleeping bag partly unzipped so he might attain the rifle or pistol shortly, if want be, however Joyce zipped hers shut. The campfire burned out, and the Thompsons slept till about 3:30 a.m.
Al and Joyce informed me what occurred after that as I sat within the pretty log cabin dwelling they’ve constructed overlooking the Kenai River. Al is a rugged 180-pounder, 5 toes 9 inches tall, broad shouldered, highly effective. Joyce is slender, tall, and athletic. A clean scar 4 or 5 inches lengthy runs from Al’s left eyebrow to the highest of his head. His left arm has nice puckers in it the place enormous tooth as soon as penetrated. His voice was sturdy, however there was a faint feeling of marvel in it as he talked, as if he nonetheless had difficulty believing what occurred.
“I got here awake, sensing one thing was flawed, a really feeling anybody can get who has spent a number of time within the woods,” he informed me. “I whispered to Joyce, ‘Don’t transfer, one thing’s on the market.’ My hand slid out for the rifle, then it was as if a mad bull had lunged into our lean-to. A bear got here proper via the highest, and in seconds the place was a shambles.”
“I attempted to raise up the rifle with my proper hand, but it surely flew off into the darkish. The bear was attempting to tear Joyce out of her sleeping bag. I reached over and grabbed fur, I feel across the ear, and hit as laborious as I might with my proper fist.”
“The bear instantly turned on me. I had no time to seize my .44 or the flashlight. The bear grabbed my left arm and tossed me into the nook of the lean-to. Earlier than I might transfer it leaped and grabbed my scalp with its tooth, then picked me up and bumped into the night time, clutching me with its proper entrance paw and shuffling sideways on hind toes. That’s when the claws ripped me, leaving an ideal Z-shaped wound, which is now a scar on the facet of my chest.”
“After shuffling on its hind toes for some time, the bear dropped down. Nonetheless holding me with its proper paw and nonetheless gripping my scalp with its tooth. Then my scalp tore away, and the bear dropped me onto a mossy hummock. By then it had carried me about 80 toes.”
“I knew my solely likelihood was to convince the bear I used to be lifeless, however I didn’t need my stomach up with my vitals uncovered .. With my proper arm — my left arm was ineffective — I held myself stomach down.”
“I held my breath till I nearly handed out, enjoying lifeless, whereas the bear chewed on my again and batted me on the facet of my head with its claws.”
“I feel it left as a result of I performed lifeless. I didn’t transfer till I couldn’t hear it.”
“Joyce might need spooked the bear off. She had white lengthy johns on and had crawled out of her sleeping bag. She was standing attempting to see the place I used to be. She was unharmed.”
“I staggered to my toes, questioning if Joyce was all proper. I went again to camp and Joyce. Blood poured down my face.”
“It was as much as Joyce then. She discovered the rifle and lit a hearth. She bandaged me with the meat cloths she had packed, bought me into the 2 sleeping luggage, and put me close to the hearth. She gave me aspirin and powerful tea with a number of sugar in it. It was three hours till daylight, and we needed to determine whether or not Joyce ought to depart me and go get a helicopter, or if I might make it out alone.”
“I didn’t need her to go together with that bear nonetheless round, so at daylight we began strolling. My head lay on my left shoulder as a result of I’d been harm on the suitable facet and it had weakened my neck. I carried my .44 and Joyce had the rifle. We half anticipated the bear to waylay us.”
“I didn’t dare cease. A few mile from the freeway I sat down, however I knew I’d by no means rise up once more if I didn’t go on. I completed mountain climbing these 15 miles, beating Joyce to the freeway. I finished the primary automobile and requested the driving force to name an ambulance.”
Three medical doctors labored for hours stitching collectively the nice gashes in Al’s physique. He wanted six pints of blood. For 2 days he hovered between life and loss of life, however on the third day Joyce noticed shade in his face and a glint in his eyes.
Al later heard {that a} celebration of non-resident hunters on horses had been in the identical space earlier. They had been attempting to get photos and had chased a brown bear sow with two huge cubs. One of many hunters wounded the sow.
That isn’t the tip of the story. On November 10, about six weeks after the September 23, 1972, assault on the Thompsons, and solely 10 miles away, hunter Leland C. Collins, of Anchorage, was after a moose when he got here throughout a brown bear sow with two huge cubs. The bear heard or noticed Collins, who later informed Al, “It got here bounding, searching for me.”
Collins shot, hitting the bear within the head, and momentarily drove it off. Then the bear got here again and Collins bought one other shot into it. He drove it off once more, however not earlier than the bear managed to slash his head and chest.
Al was nonetheless bandaged from his assault when he visited the just-hospitalized Collins.
“His wounds had been the identical as mine,” Al mentioned. ”The bear that chewed on me apparently had just one massive tooth-the higher proper canine. I had a giant groove from it within the bone of my arm the place it partly destroyed the primary nerves, and in my scalp. From the chew marks it regarded as if the opposite tooth had been worn or damaged off, and my arm particularly was mashed greater than punctured. The place the bear hit into my again there was one huge gap, after which different, a lot smaller, tooth marks. The marks on Collins had been comparable.”
Although his left arm was nonetheless nearly ineffective, and he was weak and bandaged, Al joined Dick Dykema and a state trooper in a seek for the bear that mauled Collins. They flew in by helicopter.
“I had a grudge in opposition to that bear,” Al mentioned. “I feel it was the identical one which bought me. I carried a slug-filled 12-gauge autoloader throughout the criminal of my bum left arm.
”We discovered tracks and a number of blood the place Collins had hit the bear. As soon as we went round a giant pile of brush. The bear got here out behind us, so we had been proper on prime of it. Different troopers had been within the noisy helicopter, flying close by to guard us. They weren’t woodsmen and didn’t perceive that within the woods you don’t need noise. The bear bought away.”
The following day Al, Dykema, and troopers once more looked for the bear. By this time Commissioner Chapple, Al’s boss, realized that the nonetheless shaky Thompson was on the revenge path, and he ordered him out of the woods. Dykema and others continued the hunt on horses. However the bear was by no means discovered.
Al doesn’t hunt with a bow now due to his bear-damaged left arm, however he nonetheless hunts with a rifle. Final yr he tracked and killed a crippled grizzly that threatened a fishery analysis crew. He has no concern of bears or hatred for them, however he has a number of respect. He now carries tremendous safety when he patrols in bear nation—a sawed-off double l0-gauge crammed with 935-grain handloads.
Al is scarred for all times. He’s bored with the eye he’s been given due to the assault, however he agreed to inform Outside Life about his expertise betrigger he feels it would assist others. Al is conscious that bear assaults are growing in Alaska. Motion by the Carter Administration, which establishes huge new parks, wildlife refuges, and wilderness areas in Alaska, most likely will entice extra guests, and bear assaults will enhance.
If a woodswise, skilled, and armed hunter with Al Thompson’s savvy can get mauled, what likelihood has an unarmed and inexperienced individual when a bear assaults? Virtually none.
My incomplete Alaska bear recordsdata embody particulars about six human deaths from bear assaults and 10 extreme maulings since 1972. Most assaults concerned brown/grizzly bears (scientists consider Alaska’s coastal brown bear and the inside grizzly as a single extremely variready species). Previous to about 1970 Alaskans might count on a mean of 1 extreme mauling by a grizzly annually. Some victims died, some didn’t.
Bears assault people for a number of causes: They’re hungry; they’re professionaltecting a kill {that a} human has blundered upon; they’re defending cubs; they’re shocked and act defensively. Some bears maintain a grudge for a previous wounding, as within the Al Thompson mauling. A bear that loses a combat with one other bear could assault a human to bolster injured delight. Bears have nice dignity and delight. As with different animals, together with man, some bears are most likely pure soreheads and assault only for the hell of it.
The spectacular nature of bear assaults and the ensuing publicity may give the impression that Alaska is crammed with bears simply ready to maul guests. Not so. The prospect of a bear attacking a fairly prudent backpacker is slight. Bears are naturally shy, and most flee on the sight of man, particularly in areas the place they’re hunted. The Mount McKinley Nationwide Park statistics ought to be reassuring: 1.4 million vacationers (together with about 200,000 who hiked off the highway system and camped no less than in a single day) visited between 1971 and 1980, and in that point there have been no deaths attributable to mauling and solely 9 reported maulings.
You’ll be able to enhance the chances by following Al Thompson’s primary guidelines: no meals in camp and a clear camp space; a firearm and flashlight in a useful place when sleeping. Keep away from tenting in a go that bears and different recreation generally use, or on main trails. Make loads of noise when touring in brushy or timbered bear nation so that you don’t shock a grizzly (many hikers put on a small bell or place rocks in a tin-can rattler).
Don’t crowd a bear to get close-up pictures. My information present that the majority of those that survive bear assaults have performed lifeless, as did Al Thompson. An assaulting bear will often chew and claw as long as its sufferer struggles. When the sufferer lies nonetheless, most bears depart. Typically a bear stands and watches his sufferer, ready for motion. It would resume biting on the slightest transfer, as many victims have realized.
Grizzlies can climb timber, although most gained’t, and a perch in a stout tree has saved many lives. Sadly there are sometimes no climbable timber the place it’s possible you’ll encounter a grizzly. Additionally don’t run from a bear, until there’s a close by tree or different shelter. Bears are tempted to chase fleeing prey.
Learn Subsequent: These Alaskans Stopped a Charging Grizzly at 5 Yards with Their 10mm Pistols
When in bear nation pack a rifle with the wallop of a . 30/06 or higher. Be ready to make use of it day and night time. You would possibly pack a rifle for a lifetime and use it simply as soon as, however that one time might justify all these years of packing.
Until you’re a gilt-edged professional at utilizing it, neglect that .44 Magnum. It’s good solely when the bear is true on prime of you, and by you then’ve waited too lengthy. The .44 could save your life, however the possibilities of being mauled by a determined grizzly are good if that’s your solely safety.
If you happen to do the whole lot it’s best to, as Al and Joyce Thompson did, and a bear nonetheless mauls you, what then? Right here’s Al Thompson’s recommendation: “By no means surrender, regardless of how a lot a bear has chewed in your physique or how a lot you harm.”
