The Grizzly that nearly ate Ol' Hogsanta !

This little story will be posted over a couple of weeks on Thursday since it is a bit long.

Part 1 of four !

How Fast Can A (Wounded) Bear Run

Or

The Grizzly who nearly ate Ol' Hogsanta

Or

Women in the Wilderness

Back in my younger Air Force days in Alaska, I was not known by my present Nome de Plume of  Hog Santa, or Bay Bob. In those days I was know as Bear Bob. Some credit the moniker to my enthusiasm for bears and bear hunting, and others because they say that I was "bearly believable". At any rate there was some truth to the statement that I loved bears, and bear hunting. I even loved the country where bears and wolves thrived. Somehow I liked knowing that in these places without modern firearms you were no longer on the top of the food chain. I will admit that when sleeping in a tent I rested much better with my .44 Magnum Redhawk, loaded with super hot handloads, under my inflatable pillow.

One of my favorite places in Alaska is the area surrounding Upper Russian Lake. It is accessible by any of three trails or floatplane. The trails, although long, gave economical access to the area for scouting in advance of chartering an expensive floatplane for the logistical operation that most hunts in Alaska require. Two of the trails,  The Russian River Trail, and the Resurrection River Trail are part of the old miners trail that ran from Seward on the coast to the Crow Creek Minefields south of Anchorage. This trail was the only access to interior Alaska at the time.  The thoughts of the thousands of miners who had hiked it a hundred years ago added to the special aura of the place. The area is pleasant mix of river bottom, avalanche created meadows, mountainside, forest, and of course Upper Russian Lake with its forearm sized Rainbow Trout. The Russian River, which drains the lake, is a great salmon fishery for the many fish that spawn in both Upper and Lower Russian Lake. There is a comfortable cabin on the North shore of the lake maintained by the U.S. Forest Service.

There is a nice aluminum skiff kept at the cabin, which in conjunction with the lake gives you access to a large part of the area. It is very handy for fishing the large lake, and hauling equipment, moose meat, and bear hides to a spot for floatplane pickup.

Which brings us to the bears! The area is one where Black Bear and Grizzly Bear habitat overlap. The Grizzly biologists call it a "Spring Time Intensive Use Area". I call it a breeding ground. Many sows spend the winter with cubs denned in the surrounding mountains. Typically a sow will spend two winters with her cubs in the den, and run them off in the spring of the second year. The old boars know this and are waiting to make a little "bear magic" when the mood strikes the sow.

The physical power of these bears is amazing. We once watched (through a spotting scope) a sow with young of the year as she descended from her denning area. She would walk up to boulders and casually roll them over looking for grubs. We later back trailed her to locate her den. I was planning on having a date with her the following spring when she exited her den. She was an older bear and very large probably 10 ft plus and past her prime. If I was sure she had no young cubs I felt no compunction in making her into a rug. But I digress! When we were back trailing her we saw some of the boulder she had casually rolled over with one paw. My partner and I, two large strong men, could not budge any of the larger of these boulders. What Power!

More to come !