Giant Alaskan Bear

The hide measures 10-feet, 6-inches from nose to tail. While it is impossible to know exactly how much the bear weighed, master guide Want has measured and weighed dozens of Kodiak brown bears over the years. Based on the measurements and information he got from Winnen, he suspects the bear weighed between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds.

By any standards, that's a world-class brown bear

www.adn.com...

The same photos are propogating in emails, claiming to be over 12 feet in height, and at least one attached photo indicated it had eaten a person.

According to (snopes I think it was) this is a hoax. Yes, the bear in this photo is legit, it was NOT a record (just under a record, but still not there), and there is no evidence that it killed any humans.

Also, according to the email, the hunter was charged and shot it numerous times with a 7mm Rem Mag semi auto, but it survived, so he had to reload and shoot it in the head to finish it off.

The true story is that the hunter heard him coming (was upwind of the bear), and got a clear shot at him with a .338 Win Mag bolt action, and took him with one clear shot.

What a magnificent creature: one almost feels sorry that it ahd to be killed.
For bear-fans "ursus" is a recommended site:
www.ursusinternational.org...
and some intelligent discussion of what we mean by "biggest" and is it the Kodiak or the Polar?

to the non-American, it may come as something of a surprise that these beasties can be shot as trophies.
'Tis so.
Check out one of my favourite "if it moves, kill it" sites:
www.hunts.net...

"90% of the outfitter's hunters going home with a bear that squares at least nine feet, and you never know what might be hiding behind the next clump of alders. "

Whoo boy, that's scary, makes you want to carry around an arsenal that would make Joe Arpaio go, "Damn!"

But seriously, it is sad to see such a creature become a trophie. Although I would hate to get in a fish fight with something like that, it would have been nice if it was alive in the forest and not dead on some guy's wall, posed in a stance more fierce then when it was killed.

But I used to live in Kodiak Alaska!

In the Coast Guard commissary, there was a stuffed one, which was about 12' tall if I remember correctly (was standing up of course). I've seen (and petted their cubs) Kodiak Brown Bears first hand, and they are one big bear. By the way, I've also seen then simply flinch when shot by a rifle (someone else shot at it, not me...I did have it in my scope though, as we wanted it to leave, but the idiot missed, and saw the hit). Unless it's a well-placed shot, it will shrug off quite a bit...

On average, Kodiaks are bigger, and I've seen stuffed ones as tall as 15'...so my bet is on the Kodiak....

Hey I don't know but this might be forced perspective in the depth of field of this picture.

Incidentally, I used to live in a Coast Guard compound a little outside of the town (not really a city) of Kodiak. The view of Mt. Barometer pretty much took up most of the sky (we were right near the base of it)....

Hehe, I was pretty young at the time, didn't realize the island was really this big, lol!!! (only after seeing the map)

[Edited on 22-5-2003 by Gazrok]

its a shame that such a beautiful creature had to die.

You got a scale for that map Gazrok? I couldn't seem to find one. If not, could you just tell us how wide the island is at its widest point?

(going diagonally) and about 3600 square miles....

I was mostly only around the town of Kodiak, and the surrounding area's beaches and mountains. Incidentally, the beaches are of black gravel. The weird thing is, there's all kinds of colored glass on the beach (at least where I was), that've been smoothed by the waters, almost looking like jewels on the beach. Most are the color of beer bottles of course, but there were always some of other colors as well...just rarer.

It's a bigfoot...

tear Bigfoot a new one....

dude, that thing looks bigger than 10 ft!

dragon is close,
now here is the true story, last year a hunter was walking through the woods up by Swanson River about 30 miles from here as the crow flies, he was on his way in to bait a black bear trap[they do that for black bear around here in spring, I don't like it, its cheating] any way this guy heard something behind him and spun and barely had time to get off and empty his weapon and the freak'in bear dropped at his feet, he was very lucky and he new it, it was a rouge bear that had a bunch of buckshot in his butt from some other idiot and it hated humans, and that is the real story,
if I have time I will locate the original article and post

tut tut

Author: Jon Little
Anchorage Daily News

Staff
Date: April 24, 2002
Publication: Anchorage Daily News (AK)
Page: A1
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Sig Casiano relied on gut instinct as a brown mass buzz-sawed toward him through the dense spruce thicket, tossing branches and trees into the air.

He lowered his .300-caliber Winchester Magnum rifle to his hip, pointed and pulled the trigger as the animal closed to within eight feet.

The last-second shot may have been blind, but Casiano's 220-grain bullet pierced the hide of what turned out to be a mammoth brown bear. It was charging nose-down. The shot penetrated behind the [Read article (fee)]
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actually there are 1000 s upon 1000's of bear stories up here and they are all true

tut tut

Kodiaks aren't usually aggressive like that without some kind of provacation... Perhaps it had young nearby, or the hunters were in the bear's berry patch, etc. They're usually pretty good about letting you know it's time to go. They rear up, roar, and then make sure you turn and leave (but you better not run....) If the idiot ran instead...then it would charge him (and they move a LOT faster than you would think...I know, as I saw one chase another bear out of his territory, and I had a newfound respect for them....

It really sickens me to see people hunting animals for trophies!! The only time you should kill an animal is to feed your family, or to protect yourself. Trophy hunters should be skinned alive and hung on someone's wall. People on welfare and Native Americans should have first crack on buying hunting licenses, after they have filled their quota, then, if any are left, they should be sold to the rest of the public. It is against the law in most states to hunt animals for trophies. You kill it, you eat it. Killing trophies does not serve the purpose of conservation as it does not get rid of the sick and weak.

Yes I know that this particular kill was in self defense.