Believe it or Not! – This ain’t Yogi Bear
This ain’t Yogi Bear!
The “story” that accompanied these photos sent via email was titled “Unbelievable,” but the pictures are too good not to share regardless. The widely-circulated email (via email and the internet) states: “These two gents were calling elk in the Saddle Hills south of Woking, Alberta when this big guy slipped in on the caller. The Shooter spotted the bear about 8 yards from the caller and dropped him with 5 shots out of his 338 Win Mag. Farmers in the area knew about the bear but weren’t able to track after it had killed 3 horses, 5 cows, 13 sheep and a pen full of chickens on several different homesteads in the area. Fish and wildlife had bear traps set up in the area but noticed on surveillance video that whenever a he would enter a trap, his hump would hit the top of the culvert trap slowing him enough that the trap door would wack him on the head before he was all the way in the rear. Check out the scar tissue on his face….. Bear weighed in just under 1300 pounds and would have stood 11 3⁄4 feet tall on its hind legs.”
Actually, the photos are of a Kodiak brown bear shot on a guided hunt out of Afognak Wilderness Lodge in Kodiak, Alaska several years ago. The 9’9” Brown Bear is featured on the website for Afognak Wilderness Lodge, located at Seal Bay in Kodiak, Alaska. The website states, “Kodiak brown bear are the world’s largest carnivore due to the almost unlimited volume of salmon to feed on and have long had the respect of seasoned international hunters. There are high volumes of large Kodiak Brown Bear throughout Afognak Island’s lush habitat. “Fair Chase” is the hunting-style throughout Alaska so hunters need to be in good shape for a confident advantage. We do use warm comfortable cabin-cruisers to spot a large portion of the wildlife so those hunters who aren’t as rugged as they once were also do very well on our hunts. This adds to the adventure as much more wildlife (including assorted marine-mammals) is seen, compared to sitting/glassing/hiking on a grassy hillside much of a day. By law, all bear hunters must be guided. We take no more than 2 bear hunters at once, each with a separate guide & cabin-cruiser. There are 4 Spring & 3 Fall 10-day guided hunts. Also, by law, no flying & hunting are allowed on same day so you must arrive one day prior to your first hunting day. 10 Day Guided Hunts: For these 10 day guided hunts, we take only 1 or 2 hunters at a time, each with their own guide and cabin-cruiser.”