Fisherman shoots, kills grizzly (with a 9mm pistol

Josey1

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Fisherman shoots, kills grizzly
BEAR! BEAR! Man plugs lunging bruin with 9 mm pistol on Russian River.


By Zaz Hollander
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: August 18, 2002)
A fisherman shot and killed a sow grizzly as she charged him in the early morning darkness Saturday on the banks of the Russian River.

The bear surprised Garen Brenner and two friends about 2:30 a.m. as they packed up their gear at one of the Kenai Peninsula's most popular fishing spots, said Larry Lewis, an Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife technician on the peninsula.

Brenner heard his friend yell "Bear! Bear!" and looked downriver to see the sow a few yards down the bank eyeing the friend. The bear lost interest in Brenner's friend after he backed into the water and threw his shotgun at her.

But then she turned, looked up at Brenner and lunged, said Lewis, who interviewed the three men Saturday.

Brenner fired at the center of the hulking shape closing to four or five feet away. He fired

twice. The sow, estimated at 400 to 450 pounds, went down. Then Brenner fired three more shots into her head.

He shot the bear with a 9 mm semiautomatic pistol. Lewis said such a low-caliber gun ordinarily doesn't pack enough punch to kill a bear. But Brenner loaded the pistol with full-metal-jacket bullets that penetrated to the bear's vital organs, he said.

"I think that's what saved his bacon," Lewis said.

The bear most likely was protecting her yearling cub, which waited well behind her above the steep bank, wildlife officials said.

After the shooting, the cub ran up and down the bank near its mother's body, bawling in distress. "It would stop and smell the bear, the sow, and then it would go into the water a ways, then it would come back," said Bill Shuster, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service.

Local fishing guide Brandon Maes ran into the cub as he fished the Upper Kenai River near its confluence with the Russian. The cub charged, and Maes waded across the swift, chest-deep river to an island. The bear backed off but not before charging the guide's buddies in a boat nearby.

Soon after, Lewis tranquilized the cub, tagged and collared her and moved her to the south side of Skilak Lake.

The encounter was the latest of several close calls between people and bears along Southcentral rivers and streams. The Russian is thick with spawned-out sockeye that draw bears.

Authorities are looking into whether the dead bear is the same sow that attacked a Soldotna mother and son hiking Resurrection Pass Trail on Friday afternoon about three miles from Cooper Landing.

That bear, also accompanied by a cub, raked the mother's face with her claws and bit the son.

Nonetheless, people going into Gwin's store expressed dismay Saturday that Brenner killed the brown bear, said Linda Krack, a Washington state resident working there on Saturday.

"I'm not from here, but locals were pretty angry," Krack said. "Rumor had it, it wasn't necessary, but I sure don't know. I wasn't there. I didn't have it charging after me."

Lewis, who interviewed the fishermen on Saturday, dismissed such criticism. "That's absolute nonsense," he said. "He got a hearty handshake and a 'job well done' for saving himself and his buddies."

Reporter Zaz Hollander can be reached at zhollander@adn.com or 907-257-4591.
http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/1618619p-1736211c.html


"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

Edited by - josey1 on 08/18/2002 22:17:05

Josey1

I guess it goes to show that caliber selection means didley as compared to shot placement in the age old bear gun dispute.

"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878

robsguns

Listen to these locals being idiots, incredible! Not required that he kill the bear? What kind of idiots are these people? If it wasnt required do you think he'd have taken on a bear with a stinking 9mm? No one is that stupid, at least no one I ever met. Talk about a lucky man.

SSgt Ryan E. Roberts, USMC

timberbeast

Damn lucky man. I only have Black Bears where I log, but I carry my '44 Mag just in case I get between a Mama and her babies by accident. I figure if I get one shot and live, I'm a very lucky man. I saw a Black Bear tear a baby Apple tree out of the ground after a two hits with a Rem. 870 with slugs...(poorly placed, we saw the wounds after my ole uncle took it out with a head shot with a .44 Mag Ruger.) The bear DID charge, and I'm just thankful that my uncle was there, as I was unarmed and just an observer. Two more 12-gauge slugs hit air or trees, or nothing after the bear charged us. 'Twas a kid on his first bear hunt, I actually wished that I had some 00 Buck, cuz it was awfully close to us, less than 20 ft.

doomsknight62

Alright, question. In the beginning of the article, it says that the friend " threw his shotgun at the animal. " I'm sorry, but if it were me, I would rather use the shotgun for what it was meant to be used for, like shooting the bear. It could have been unloaded, but why would he be out FISHING with an unloaded shotgun? You could throw once, or you could club it two or three times...of course, by then, it would probably be too late. I'm going to have to withhold judgment in the " who's the bigger idiot " part of this topic.

" God is in His Heaven, All is Right in the World. "

Iconoclast

doom, I also picked up on the thrown shotgun. Possibly it jammed. More likely the 'friend' - diplomatically - panicked and abandoned the other guy to his fate. Unlikely the shotgun thrower will be in the field with the other fellows again.