Archive Story Please send us your Outooor Story
Grizzly Attack ! as submitted by Earl Shelsby of Linthicum, Maryland - Earl passed away in 2002 and will be sadly missed by the Outdoor Community. Year - early 1980's - on a hunting trip in Alaska I guess there are times when you're not sure why a bear attacks - maybe most of the time. I know that in my Brooks Range encounter with a grizz we didn't have a very coherent exchange of ideas. ****** I was in Alaska to hunt Doll sheep and caribou and got snowed in at the base camp for several days. After two or three days of laying around waiting for the weather to break so we could be flown to a spike camp, I decided to go out on the tundra looking for caribou that were due to migrate at any time. The snow was heavy, at times cutting visibility, but it was melting as soon as it hit the ground as it was near the end of August. I was making my way across the tundra with the snow blowing uphill to my right, when I spotted a grizzly coming in my direction - about two hundred yards uphill and into the wind. There was no place to conceal myself in any direction and I opted to just stand still in the hopes the bear would just pass me by. But as soon as the bear was directly upwind from me, it must have picked up my scent because it immediately charged downhill right towards me. When you see a critter this big eating up real estate as fast as this bear was, it gets your attention. The bear ended its charge about forty feet from where I was standing and stood there on all four feet swaying its head from side to side. My evaluation of the situation was that the bear was trying to pick up my scent and I was hoping it would just give up and go on its way. While I was thinking about this I had my rifle aimed at its throat and made the dicision that if it charged again, I would shoot. If it lost interest and continued on its way, I would not shoot. At that range and considering the speed of the animal charging, I decided that there would be time for only one shot. After a short period of time, the bear resumed its charge and I squeezed off the aimed round. On being hit, the bear stood up and filled the quiet tundra with a roar that would get anyone's attention, then dropped to all four feet and glared at me over its left shoulder. I moved my aim to the chest area, but did not shoot again as the bear began slowly moving off, but never taking its eyes off me. I probably should have shot again, but I didn't know how seriously the bear was wounded. It turned out to be fatally wounded as it moved off until it succumbed to internal bleeding. A roar that would get anyone's attention. I truly thought if I stood still he would walk by and I think he might have if he hadn't picked up my scent. I didn't think my scent would carry that far or that the bear's reaction would be to go to human scent. On pondering the situation later, I thought myself fortunate in that if this had happened in alder bushes or some other cover that I didn't see the bear until it was right on me, the story may have had a different ending. This was an anticlimatic conclusion to the event, but I'm glad I had a 30-06 rifle rather than a pepper bomb to stop that charging grizz. I doubt if I would be telling this story if I did. . . .   06/02/10