“The northern limit of the brown bear’s habitat is as yet undetermined, but I have seen them in the interior of Alaska as far as latitude sixty-seven degrees, and they probably range still farther,” said Uncle John, when the boys had asked him for some points about these beasts. “My first encounter with one of these animals was a startling experience for me, and, I have always thought, equally so for the bear.
“We have been working up against the strong current of the Koowak River all day, and toward nightfall pitched our tent at the base of a high bluff forming the right bank of the stream.
“While supper was being prepared, I climbed the bluff to get a look at the country, and was walking leisurely along, with my gun carelessly held in my left hand. The top of the bluff was densely covered almost to the edge with spruces and alders, and the undergrowth was so thick that it was impossible to see more than a few feet through it. Ahead of me a cluster of rocks offered a temporary place to sit down and enjoy the view, and I made for it.
“Just as I reached the nearest rock, a tremendous shaggy animal rose apparently from under my feet, and[Pg 53] I immediately recognized in him the brown bear, of whose fierceness the natives had been telling me for weeks.
“My first instinct was to shoot, and I probably would have done so had my gun been in my right hand; but at the first motion I made, the bear reared on his haunches and was so formidable looking that I concluded to wait and see what he intended doing. After a moment’s hesitation, he dropped on all fours, and, with wonderful quickness, turned and sprang out of sight in the dense undergrowth.
“When I returned to camp and related my experience, Tah-rok, my native guide, assured me that the bear must have recently concluded a heavy meal, as otherwise he would have most certainly attacked me.”
Some officers from one of the vessels of the Bering Sea fleet went ashore at Herendeen Bay during the summer on a deer hunt, and one of the party saw a bear about one hundred yards distant, eating berries.
Without a thought of the consequences, he raised his gun and fired at the animal. The shot went wide of the mark, but at the report of the gun the bear started for the hunter on the dead run. His charge was met by a shower of bullets from the officer’s repeater. Although badly wounded, the infuriated brute did not hesitate an instant, but rushed straight at his enemy.
When within about ten feet of the hunter, the bear rose on his haunches and prepared to close. Blood was pouring in streams down his body. One bullet had shattered his upper jaw, but he was still so full of fight that the outcome of the struggle would have been extremely doubtful had not another of the party arrived and ended the fight by shooting the brute through the brain.
An examination of the bear’s body showed that it had been struck six times. Three of the shots were in parts of the body ordinarily considered vital, and would doubtless have ultimately caused death, but the vitality of these animals is almost incredible, instances having been cited of their running over one hundred yards after being shot through the heart.