The Wrangell sentinel. (Wrangell, Alaska) 1909-current, 1933-02-24

| carried their rifles.
Bears Turn Cannibal
Bear attacks often occur during
the mating season when the male is
pretty scrappy also when the female
has young cubs. The rarest situation
is the winter bear which only the
| trappers know about and now and
then run into. The summertime
| naturalist does not seen to know
anything about them. I'll bet he
cant tell why they are out long
after other bear have holed up, or
why this bear refuses to hibernate
and continues to linger on into the
winter until he dies of starvation.
He is desperate animal that will
attack anything on sight. He will
even turn cannibal in situations
like this.
In the month of December l have
found the remains of one brown
bear killed by another, all that was
left were the larger bones and skull.
The torn hide lay twisted and rolled
up in frozen heap. A recent trag-
edy occurred in the upper Yukon
country when winter bear killed
man and almost completely ate
his body. And that's the way 1t goes
throughout the bear country. Each
district from the Alaska Peninsula
to Southeastern Alaska has had its
Instances of authentic cases of I'M
provoked bear attacks. Here in
southeastern Alaska men have been
killed and mauled by brown bear.
The most recent attack happened
iast fall to man without a rifle.
A Real Thrill
We know of the interest the out
side hunter takes in this animal
as sporting proposition, and that
he spends considerable money here
ton. In fact, he is the only animal
up here you can get a real thrill
from in hunting. Our game laws
give him plenty of protection and
the outlook for the brown bear ls
lar brighter than that of any other
OF our game animals. He has no
natural enemies to prey upon him,
and his flesh is not fit for human
consumption; very few Alaskans
hunt them and Alaskans cannot sell
or ship outside for sale a brown
bear skin. In the summer the pros
prospector sees dozens OF bear during
the season but he doesn't waste ex-
penslve ammunition ON q worthless
pear, unless he has to shoot for pro-
lection. Only small number of out
side hunters come up each year to
hunt brown bear. So it is easily
seen how little the bear is actually
hunted.
Covers Vast Range
The brown bear covers far-reach-
ing range, practically all along the
southwestern coast out to the tip
of the Alaska Peninsula and inland
you will find him as far up the
river as the salmon run. l have
found brown bear 100 miles inland
ON the Skwentna, Yentna, Susitna,
Talkeetna and Copper rivers. and
the rest Of the mountain country
of Alaska is the range Of a smaller
grizzly.
There are certain areas through
out the brown bear range that are
man proof and make a perfect bear
sanctuary. These areas are steep
and rugged, covered with a heavy
growth of alder brush that has been
crushed down by heavy winter
SHOWS until it is interlaced and you
can't even get through on level
ground. The brown bear Is also
found off the mainland on the is
lands of Unimak, Kodiak, Afognak,
Montague, Hinchinbrook, Chicagof,
admiralty and Baranof. Three of
these islands each have an overall
length OF one hundred miles and
two smaller islands of sixty and
seventy miles.
Sportsmen Welcomed
For the information of outside
sportsmen, l will state that in my
opinion the brown bear Is In no
danger of determination or in need
of any more reservations or sane
tuaries. l hope more bear hunters
will come up. Alaskans always well
come them. But remember: Don't
even go trout fishing in brown bear
country without your rifle!