A Few Recent Bear Stories

Just spent a couple weeks on Kodiak where the weather was fantastic with clear blue skies and no rain for over a week! Now I did say this was a post of stories so you may choose to disbelieve the weather report, too! And as proof I was in Kodiak once for two weeks and it only rained twice... Once for five days and once for nine days!

Anyway, I was fishing a small stream right next to the airport, the Buskin River, with a friend when we were approached by a largish Kodiak sow. It is a bear I know well from years of fishing the same place and she has always been an easy bear to be around.

I moved to river right to give her room to go by as she was coming upstream river left. I called to my friend to let her pass. When she reached the pool I was fishing she did not just keep going, but rather dove into the pool no more than 20 yards from me. Looking back, the bank was a bit steep for a hasty retreat if needed so I moved downstream toward the bear and got out of the pool by an easy path.

The bear was easy to see from the higher bank and she ate a couple really "special" humpies which had not flushed out of the river due to the extremely low water. She was comfortable "fishing" right below me and I was watching closely.

Suddenly she started to growl way down deep and her hackles came up as she turned to look at me. The growls continued and suddenly her ears went back. I needed no more telling and I immediately went straight back to my van and jumped in. I was warning my buddy at the same time that the bear was uneasy and watch out!

He suddenly popped out of the trees lining the river downstream of where he had been and in an unusual spot... Then it hit me. Rather than return the same side, river right, he had gone down river left putting the bear right between us. It was an extrordinarily foolish thing and only the good nature of the bear allowed it to come off without any more incident than it did...

A few days later just upstream from the earlier incident I looked up to see the same sow headed down river right and no more than 25 yards from me. She looked uncomfortable about me being there, but I had just landed a silver salmon and was holding it under water while it expired. I did not want to give the fish to the bear and did not want to encourage the bear to ask for it, either.

She moved downstream, walking well out to the middle of the river before moving down and reducing the distance between us considerably. Suddenly she took off, running away, just as fast as a bear can move. She was in very shallow water and it was literally a rooster tail of rocks and water flying. I heard a splash close behind me about the time she started running and assumed it was a salmon jumping.

Turned out the jumping salmon was a very large boar that has never been comfortable around people and just pushed them off the stream anytime he felt like it. He had bluff charged me a couple times a few years ago and I always give him all the room he wants.

But he was "fishing" also and he "drank" the first humpie no more than 10 yards from me, holding it in both paws like a trough and slurping it out. He gave me a ridiculous grin/smile as he finished it like he was apologizing for running me off all those times before. Somehow I do not consider him a drinking buddy yet!

He dove in for another humpie and I backed out of the river as fast as I could, still holding my silver. He stayed in the pool looking for soupy humpies and the silver made it back to the van.

The next day I fished another hole on the Buskin and when a third bear, a young boar showed up it turned into a real circus with the fools fishing and trying to drive the bear off. A stringer with two silvers on it had been left in the river an dthe bear found them. He only ate the heads, guts, and skins (typical bear feeding) leaving the meat on the bank.

One fellow had a leashed pitbull and kept making statements about how he wanted the dog to get a chance at the bear... I was on the opposite side of the river and far enough away to just enjoy the show if it came to that. The bear proved extremely tolerant and did not flinch or worry even when people were directed to trails running just a few yards from the bear. Several people popped out of the bushes and found themselves so close they paniced and ran.

After a while the bear laid down and took a nap with about 10 people within 40 yards.

If that bear ever grows intolerant there will be some injured people...

In all there were over 20 unique bears on various rivers during the two weeks I was there and I saw them multiple times. Easily 100 bear sightings in the two weeks and probably closer to double the number of unique bears were seen. The population is increasing dramatically there and I expect issues soon... There was a poor (mostly late) series of salmon runs this year and a near total berry crop failure and those sorts of pressures will be hard on the bears.
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Cool stories, art. I have never seen a bear, fishing or hiking. I am not sure if I ever want to. On the one hand, they are beautiful creatures, but on the other, I am not sure that I would react correctly, which could end poorly. Again, cool stories!

Hap,

Thanks for sharing, I also enjoyed the stories. I've never fished Alaska and the only times I fished British Columbia, I was out in the ocean trolling for salmon. I think the part of the story that amazed me the most is the idiot with a pitbull wanting to send it in after the bear. I own pitbulls and have for over 25 years and one swipe from a bear would make short work of that dog. When I was a young man, I worked for the NH Fish and Game Department. One year we had a bumper crop of black bears feeding at a local dump and the tourists would go out and watch the bears. I was standing there with a Game Warden (I worked in fisheries) and one idiot told his 10 year old son to "Go over and stand next to that big one and I'll take your picture." The Game Warden stopped the boy and told the man that if he didn't leave the area now, that he (the Warden) was going to shoot the bear in the a$$ and toss the man in for the bear to play with. The guy took afront to the Warden's approach but he didn't want to find out if he was serious or not. It never ceases to amaze me how really stupid some people can be around wild animals.

Thanks for sharing your stories, they were fun to read.

Jim Smith

Cool stories Hap. They reminded me of the few encounters I have had in Alaska with bears. I was never really scared of the bears but always leary when they were present. Being in the company of experienced AK anglers who regularly see them I was given good direction on how to act which likely helped a lot. The only time I was truly scared fishing in Alaska was when a freind and I were fishing a small trib of Kenai Lake for rainbows and a big bull moose decided the small island we were on was his. Nothing like a moose chasing you to get the adrenaline flowing. Fortunately once he claimed the island as his he stopped his pursuit of us. Both of us had madly scrambled up the steep bank on the other side of the stream.

I also just returned from 2 weeks in Kodiak -- probably saw you just didn't know it. I Saw some bears on the Buskin but didn't spend any time fishing there. Didn't see 100 but more like 12 and most of those were the same bears seen on different days. Definitely saw them on the Buskin but also on the Olds, in the streams near Womens bay, as well as along the road while driving -- everywhere. Weather was too nice and with low water and fish not moving up - and warm weather, it may have brought the bears down. Still kind of cool to see them. They didn't cause any problems but we also kept a good distance.

Great stories and worthy of a featured spot in my opinion. Administrators have been calling for articles and believe this type would fit right in and be welcome there. Hate to miss something like this trying to catch things in the bulletin board. Keep them coming. Good stuff for those of us that will probably never experience it.

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Originally Posted by Orthoman

I also just returned from 2 weeks in Kodiak -- probably saw you just didn't know it. I Saw some bears on the Buskin but didn't spend any time fishing there. Didn't see 100 but more like 12 and most of those were the same bears seen on different days. Definitely saw them on the Buskin but also on the Olds, in the streams near Womens bay, as well as along the road while driving -- everywhere. Weather was too nice and with low water and fish not moving up - and warm weather, it may have brought the bears down. Still kind of cool to see them. They didn't cause any problems but we also kept a good distance.

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I am hard to miss on Kodiak; I drive a blue full size 4 wheel drive Chevy van there and it has no power steering... It is a challenge to maneuver. There was a sow with three cubs at the Russian River every time I stopped.

Did you see the Israeli photographer out at the Olds watching the bears? He was quite an interesting guy and I spent a few days showing him around and bringing him upclose to the sea lions. I learned quite a bit from him and was amazed at his pictures.

The bears are always in the rivers in September. When they start getting sick they move up to eat grass and drift between grass, berries, and fish for the balance of the season.

We were also driving a 12 seater big blue Chevy Van without power steering that didn't maneuver. We didn't get the 4WD but as it turned out we didn't need it. A convertible would have been fine as far as the weather goes. I did see someone taking photos on the Olds and it may have been him -- much too close to the bear I saw there although not a huge one. Probably the same one at the Russian River that I saw. Also a big Boar hanging around there also. The locals didn't seem too concerned about the bears. Maybe - because there are no native large game animals for the bears to prey on, they pretty much ignore the humans. On the mainland while we were there, a guy got attacked but not killed.

Kerry
Thanks!

Thinking moose cause more human injuries every year than bears... Bears have scared me more than just a few times. Years ago I stood guard over photographers around bears and had a few calls that were closer than I liked. After literally thousands of bear encounters with many in the "In your lap" category I think I have a small inkling what any given bear thinks of me. Unfortunately that does not include the bears that are hiding, or stumbled upon unexpectedly.
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forthebirds12
I have sent some stuff in here for posting and it was... This was a bit brief for the kind of feature pieces they are looking for... Just telling a few stories that just happened.

Have been thinking a realistic look at the dangers of bears while fishing would be a better piece... and more importantly the best way to deal with bad circumstances...
thanks
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Bucky
Just stay calm and you have most of the problem licked.
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Jim
Thanks for kind words.

Years ago (mid '60s) my father stopped a guy on the Denali Highway getting ready to hike out to a grizzly bear for photos. When told the bear might be unhappy seeing him the guy replied "It's just a Park bear!" In those days the bears were less accustomed to people and more inclined to bluff charge on principle. And sometimes they were not bluffing.
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