FOREST AND STREAM 
His Surliness, The Brownie 
The Alaska Bear is not a Beast to Trifle with, as Experiences Set Forth in this Story go to Show 
By Chet Tolman 
ROM the viewpoint of natural 
history the liras Gyas of 
Alaska are very important, in¬ 
asmuch as they represent the 
fast disappearing species of the 
great American brown bear, 
whose intelligence and cunning 
are paramount. And it is prob¬ 
ably for this reason that a partially closed sea¬ 
son was declared on them, in order that they 
will not become extinct. 
But there is another side of the question, 
which, for the sake of humanity, should be con¬ 
sidered before the scientific side. I am referring 
to the number of people more or less severely 
mauled during the course of each year. 
From the number of cases known to the au¬ 
thorities it is evident that a conservative esti¬ 
mate could be placed at, at least, two per annum. 
Of course, however, very few fatalities result, 
which no doubt explains the Government’s atti¬ 
tude toward the appeals from the people for a 
continuous open season on these animals. 
I shall cite a few of the more recent cases 
which I can recall off-hand, and which, in the 
majority of cases, prove that the attacks were 
unwarranted, and one might almost say, pre¬ 
meditated. 
Two unarmed prospectors who were follow¬ 
ing a bear trail down the side of a mountain 
were suddenly confronted by three bears whose 
belligerent attitude could not be misinterpreted. 
The leading gentleman, who was in perfect con¬ 
cord with the old adage that discretion is the 
better part of valor, departed with great rapidity 
of reciprocating parts, leaving his companion to 
his own devices. Whether or not this man was 
frightened into motionlessness, or whether he 
was laboring under the delusion that if he re¬ 
mained perfectly still the bear would not mo¬ 
lest him, I do not know. But the fact remains 
that he did remain inert with the result that he 
was severely mauled by the male of the trio. 
His partner, hearing his shouts for assistance, 
came running up the trail beating a gold pan 
with a prospecting pick, thereby saving the life 
of the mauled one, who was on the verge of 
receiving a second attack. It appears that the 
bear, after having knocked the prospector down 
and chewing him about the legs and back, started 
to follow his affinities, only to return again when 
he heard his victim’s vociferous calls for assist¬ 
ance. Although badly injured, the railroad track 
was finally reached and medical assistance ob¬ 
tained. According to the story as told by the 
man after his recovery, the two female bears 
paid not the slightest attention to him, while the 
male did not hesitate a moment in dealing out 
=a right hook which, had it landed on a vital spot, 
would have spelled eternity to the recipient. 
Still another case where the attack Wias more 
unwarranted and vicious than the preceding one 
is the instance of a man who was returning one 
evening to his homestead, about three miles dis¬ 
tant from Seward. It was just growing dusk 
when he turned off the railroad track to traverse 
the short distance to his house, and as he neared 
a small creek a bear reared up but a few feet 
from him. Before he could recover from his 
surprise the animal was upon him, and he had 
only time to throw a sack of provisions at it 
before he went down before its onslaught. The 
unfortunate man was spared no mercy until he 
became quiet through insensibility. But when 
he became conscious again he managed to walk 
to the cabin of a neighbor, although he was 
forced to hold his head upright between his 
hands because of the severed cords in the back 
of his neck. His injuries, which totaled among 
others a severed ear, necessitated his remaining 
in the hospital for several weeks; but at the ex¬ 
piration of that time he emerged apparently none 
the worse for his encounter. So far no suffi¬ 
cient reason has been given for this outrage, 
although it is admitted as having been the work 
of ‘'Old Resurrection,” a bear of mammoth 
physique and unusual cunning. 
Chief among the tragedies which have recently 
come to light is that of a trapper who was found 
dead in a lonely cabin on the Chickaloon Flats. 
What agonies this man suffered from his wounds 
before he came to death by his own hand no one 
will ever know. It was apparent that he was 
taken unawares while after water, and not hav¬ 
ing any means of defense he was forced to un¬ 
dergo the frightful tortures of his wounds with¬ 
out hope of salvation nor alleviation from his 
pain. A short note, painfully written, tells 
graphically the cause of his horrible death. It 
read: “Been tore up by a brown bear.” 
The above is only a sample of what has been 
done on the Kenai Peninsula alone. I shall now 
shift the scene to the Alaska Peninsula where 
the bears are reputed to be still more vicious. 
Here is the case of a foolhardy young man 
who followed a perfectly healthy brown bear 
into the alders and almost paid the penalty of 
his folly with his life. As it happened, he 
sighted the animal just at dusk as it disappeared 
into a clump of alders, and instead of trying to 
locate its whereabouts he chose to follow it into 
the denseness of its retreat, without a thought 
of the personal risk that he was taking nor the 
odds which he was up against in case of a sud¬ 
den charge. 
Slowly working his way along, he finally at¬ 
tained a position within thirty feet of the prey, 
but the increasing darkness and the intervention 
of a small bush made the position of the animal’s 
body uncertain. So he decided to wait until a 
movement would betray the location of a vital 
spot. But he waited just a second too long; for 
without warning, without an action that would 
herald its attitude, the bear came straight for 
