# Largest Bear on Record



## cummins_man (May 16, 2006)

_I thought I would share this story emailed to me. I think I've seen this before, but it's still cool._

*Subject: Largest bear on record*

The downloaded pictures are of a man who works for the US Forest Service
in Alaska and his trophy bear (killed in self defense). 

He was out deer hunting last week when a large grizzly bear charged him from about 50 yards away.? The guy emptied his 7mm Magnum semi-automatic rifle into the bear and it dropped a few feet from him.? The big bear
was still alive so he reloaded and shot it several times in the head.

The bear was just over one thousand six hundred pounds.? It stood 12'-6" high at the shoulder, 14' to the top of his head.? It's the largest grizzly bear ever recorded in the world. 

Of course, the Alaska Fish and Wildlife Commission did not let him keep it as a trophy, but the bear will be stuffed and mounted, and placed on display at the Anchorage airport to remind tourists of the risks involved when in the wild.

Based on the contents of the bears stomach, the Fish and Wildlife Commission established the bear had killed at least two humans in the past 72 hours including a missing hiker. 

The US Forest Service, backtracking from where the bear had originated, found the hiker's 38-caliber pistol emptied.? Not far from the pistol were the remains of the hiker.? The other body has not been found.

Although the hiker fired six shots and managed to hit the grizzly with four shots (the Service ultimately found four 38 caliber slugs along with twelve 7mm slugs inside the bear's dead body), it only wounded the bear and probably angered it immensely.

The bear killed the hiker an estimated two days prior to the bear's own death by the gun of the Forest Service worker.

Think about this:
If you are an average size man; You would be level with the bear's navel when he stood upright.? The bear would look you in the eye when it walked on all fours!? To give additional perspective, consider that this particular bear, standing on its hind legs, could walk up to an average single story house and look over the roof, or walk up to a two story house and look in the bedroom windows.


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## Bass911 (Jun 14, 2006)

WOW!!!!! That's a monster. Moral of the story........ never go into the Alaskan wilderness without a BIG gun. 

Seen a similar situation on a hunting show last week on OLN or one of those. Momma with cub. Shoot her about 8 yards out on a dead charge while hunting deer I believe it was.


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## liquidsoap (Oct 22, 2005)

HOLY CRAP!
"Commission established the bear had killed at least two humans in the past 72 hours including a missing hiker."
Talk about a hungy bear


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## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

Good greif, I though this story finally died a while ago. I think the only true part of that story is that it's a grizzly.


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## Alaskariverrat (Mar 13, 2006)

I think the size of the brown bear has stayed the same but the story has changed over time. Certainly a massive bear -- probably a coastal bear. The two hikers being eaten is a new addition from the previous stories about this bear. Rather rare (but not unknown) for a healthy brown bear to eat people. For example, Tim Treadwell "got away" with spending multiple summers with two ton coastal bears (who mostly eat salmon, eat some more salmon, fart, and lay around like a beached whale and not much else) before being eaten by a suspected hungry inland brown bear. Coastal bears are much bigger in comparison to the inland bears. Also, I suspect based on seeing bite markings on trees that there are bigger bears in the woods. 

I have seen lots of brown bears in the woods while hunting but have always passed them up. I have no intention of eating it and they are seen as useful for preventing game animals from getting/spreading diseases to each other.


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## wackyworm (May 1, 2004)

go to http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl-grizzlybear.htm to see all the variations of this story and be sure to get to the end for the truths.


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## Guest (Sep 15, 2006)

Last time I check snoops it was the 59 biggest bear.


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## Micro_Mini_Angler (Jun 15, 2006)

is that thing actually real. that thing looks like it came out of a hollywood horror film!!! u might need some heavy duty loads to kill that thing [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] !%


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## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

Micro_Mini_Angler said:


> is that thing actually real. that thing looks like it came out of a hollywood horror film!!! u might need some heavy duty loads to kill that thing [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] !%


 Read everyone else's reply here. This is an old hoax or extremely exaggerated story.


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## WISH IT WAS YOU (Jul 25, 2006)

holy crap that is huge man i would have pooped my self if i seen that even if i had a gun


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## buckeye024 (Apr 14, 2006)

Like the other posts said, the story is factually incorrect. Here's an article discussing the story: http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/bearhunt.asp

To summarize the inaccuracies:

*Ted Winnen, who shot the bear, was an Airman with the US Air Force, not a Forest Service employee.

*Ted Winnen was hunting Sitka Deer, but he also had a bear permit in case he had the opportunity to bag one.

*The hunters identified the bear wading in a creek looking for salmon and then proceeded to stalk the bear, halving the distance between them before momentarily losing sight of it.

*According to the two hunters, the bear may not have even been aware of their presence.

*The bear was large, but not a "world record 12 feet 6 inches high at the shoulder" and weighing "over one thousand six hundred pounds." The bear bagged by Ted Winnen measured 10 feet 6 inches from nose to tail and its weight was estimated at between 1,000 - 1,200 pounds. It was an extraordinarily large bear for the Prince William Sound area, but not a world record.

*Ted Winnen bagged the bear with a .338 Winchester Magnum, not a 7mm semi auto.

Here's another photo from this angle the bear doesn't look as large as the other pictures:










...Trust but verify...


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