One Less Grizzly to Worry about in Alaska
By Rocky Thompson on June 1st, 2010
A hiker shot and killed a grizzly bear in Denali National Park that he said was charging towards his hiking companion. He drew a .45 semi-auto handgun and squeezed off 9 rounds in the general direction of the bear, which took the hint and turned around. The duo hiked out until they ran into a ranger who called in the accident. They immediately closed four trailheads and instructed bus drivers not to drop off day hikers since there was a wounded bear in the area. Later, they found the dead bear about 100 yards away from the shell casings.
While it’s now legal to carry guns in national parks, it’s still illegal to shoot guns in national parks. It would have been legal if this hiker had thrown his loaded gun at the bear and knocked it out. Or he could have used bear spray. The self-defense bear shooting is being investigated.
The grizzly population in the Alaska Range is around 300 - 350.
Right, because bear spray would have worked on a charging grizzly bear.
Well, at least they made a cool chair from the corpse. Very “Cold Splinters.” Nice.
Now here’s a little thought exercise. Picture yourself being the aforementioned “hiking companion” with said grizzly charging at you. Your partner has a .45 calibre handgun with 9 bullets and a can of capsaicin bear spray. Do you:
A.) Shout “spray him with the pepper spray!”
B.) Shout “throw the gun at him!”
or,
C.) Shout “shoot the effing bear already!”
The reason it’s legal to carry a firearm in a national park is just this: self defence. It’s legal to carry a gun in many states with a CCW permit, and there are countless cases where concealed firearms carried by responsible, licensed individuals have saved lives. I’m sure it was “illegal to shoot guns” in the various cities and towns where this has happened, to decry the use of a firearm against a charging bear is ludicrous.
I’m sorry the bear had to die, but props to the shooter for remaining calm and acting responsibly. Hopefully his buddy bought him a beer, I know I would’ve.
Wildlife experts posit that most bear deaths occur when hikers/hunters mistake a bluff for an honest-to-goodness charge. That said, they never give any information on how to tell the difference between the two, and personally I don’t have the nerve to study a charging bear for tells. “Oh look he just glanced to the right and scratched his ear; he’s definitely bluffing.”
Sucks they have such great poker faces. They’d clean up in Vegas.
uh rocky. i think the population is, uh, around 299-349 now in the alaska range.
svlocal = awesome!
There is way more bears then that, I used to be a guide in the Denali region and that figure is incorrect. Maybe add another “0″ to the end of those numbers and thats a true estimation of the brown bears in the alaska range
“very ‘cold splinters’” is awesome