Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode takes us to the interior of northern British Columbia, Canada, near a small town called Gitanyow. The mountains tower to above a mile high at their peaks, and the valleys between them are broad and heavily forested. In most of these broad valleys, tangles of willow, alder and tall grasses screen deer, elk, moose and woodland caribou. You may even see American Bison browsing on grasses munching their way across meadows. Predators including cougars, wolves, coyotes and black and brown bears stalk the riparian zones to surprise their prey. It is in this setting that our episode today takes place.

On June 26th of 2019, fifty four year old Alex Woods was walking alone near Gitxsan Village just a few miles from his village Gitanyow. He was a forest pathologist and was going to check tree roots for a disease known as Armillaria Root Disease in old growth stands of forest. Alex was a lean built man who wore his silver beard trimmed short.

He had the GPS coordinates all entered into his device, but was an old school type of guy, so he just took a heading and hiked in the general direction. He had spent the last few decades in the deep woods and routinely hunted and floated the rivers.

As he walked through the foliage he noticed a freshly broken stem of a fireweed plant. Knowing this doesn’t happen unless a large animal has passed by, he took mental note to pay attention to his surroundings. He began yelling “Yo Bear!” repeatedly to let anything that was around him know he was there. He didn’t want to end up in a close range standoff with a moose, let alone a surprised bear.

A few hundred yards into his journey, Alex came up on a steep slope covered in hemlock and balsam fir, burned from a wildfire a year or two before and was open consequently. The small creek at the bottom babbled refreshed plants and animals alike, along its banks. Given the noise from the creek, Alex decided to raise his while yelling “Yo, bear” as he descended the bank.

Just beyond half way down the slope, he saw some morel mushrooms and plucked a couple for his dinner later. After he picked up the mushrooms and stood, he noticed a black bear running directly at him. It wasn’t grunting or growling. The bear didn’t have drool dripping from its lips. It simply sped toward him as if it was going to run right past him. It closed from 100 feet, when he first saw it, and quickly climbed the steep slope toward him so fast Alex wasn’t sure what he could do.

Alex quickly maneuvered himself behind a small tree with a tree laying at its trunk and began yelling at the bear. He reached his hand into his vest and pulled out his bear spray figuring that one blast from it would probably send the bear scampering in the other direction. The cap on the bear spray was stuck and he fumbled with it, trying to get to function as the bear approached him.

The next thing Alex knew, he saw a huge bear head with its mouth wide open and ready to bite into his abdomen. One thing Alex had working for him was the steep slope he was climbing down. As the bear labored up the slope, its head happened to line up for a perfect defensive strike from Alex. He yelled again, then mustered his bravery and kicked the bear as hard as he could right in the jaw. Between Alex’s kick and the steepness of the slope, the bear slid back down the slope several feet. It then began to run around the tree to get at him.

As the bear approached again, Alex yelled louder and kicked in the head as hard as he could one more time. This really rattled the bear, as it ran to a nearby tree and climbed several feet up and stared at Alex. The man was hoping that this encounter was coming to an end after the brief struggle, but in the world of bears, struggle is always part of survival.

Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks. Thank you for helping us reach 70,000 subscribers! Today’s episode takes us to frozen north of Yukon Territory, Canada, near a small town called Mayo. It lies about 250 north of Whitehorse and is surrounded by wilderness as is the homerange of the native tribe known as the Big River People.

This area has a subarctic climate and temperatures range from -80 degrees fahrenheit in winter, which lasts about 6 months, to 97 degrees in the summer, with extremely short spring and fall seasons. This area receives about 12 inches of precipitation per year, but most of that falls in the winter season as snow. With some of the nation's highest mountains here in the Saint Elias Mountain Range, the peaks stay covered in snow year round. In the southern part of the territory Boreal forest gives way to tundra. Black Spruce, White Spruce, Quaking Aspens and Balsam Poplar provide a sheltering canopy for Caribou, Moose, Mule Deer and Elk to hide in. The predators of this area are plentiful and include wolves, Black, Brown and Polar Bears as well as cougars. It is in this setting that our story begins today.

Valerie Theoret and her companion, Gjermand Roesholt had just ten months prior, welcomed their first child, Adele into the world. She was originally from Quebec and moved here about ten years ago. She made fast friends and immersed herself in the Francophone community in the area.

Valerie was nearing the end of her maternity leave from her 6th grade teaching position, guiding children in French Immersion at Whitehorse Elementary school in Whitehorse, Yukon.

Gjermon was the owner operator of 37 years old and the owner operator of a company called Wild Tracks, which guided hunting, fishing and trapping expeditions. He was from Norway originally but blended in in the territory and its rigorous wilderness folk.

The family had purchased one of the 360 trap lines in the territory about three years ago and it was located near Einarson Lake. Here he harvested wolves, foxes, lynx and other furbearers, and she would design and sell trinkets from their fur. They would take their wares back to town and sell them at trade shows and events.

While visiting the cabin, the family would live off the land and enjoy their remote haven together. Their friends indicated that they were well aware of the dangerous animal life in the area and were very experienced outdoors people.

Running a trapline is a labor intensive and perilous pursuit. Gjermond would frequently have to leave Valerie and their daughter at the cabin while he ventured on foot or snowmobile along their trapline to harvest animals caught in them, then reset the traps to continue to catch more. This way of life was so important to them they had been discussing doing it full time and year round. Their friends described them as having the time of their lives doing what they loved together.

Given their experience, they knew they had to keep things clean around their cabin. They didn’t leave food scraps or waste around to attract unwanted visitors. However, in their shed they stored organs and entrails from animals to use in their traplines as bait. They never had a problem with animals invading it though, as would use it up as the winter passed.

On the morning of November 26th, the family ate breakfast together and enjoyed each other's company. Gjermon rounded up his trapline equipment and loaded it onto his snowmobile. The couple chatted as he got ready to do his trapline check for the day, and once he was ready, Gjermand headed, with his snowmobile leaving a distinct trail for him to follow to get back home.

Somewhere between 10 am and 3 pm, Theoret decided to take Adele for a walk and enjoy the scenery and solitude together. She bundled the baby up as well as herself, and placed the baby into the backpack carrier for the trip.

Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode takes us to Southern Siberia to a province in the Russian Federation called Tuva. This area is poverty stricken and is renown for its crime and drug abuse. The temperature here can drop to -80 degrees in the winter and over 100 degrees in the summer. The Siberian Larch, Laurel leaf Poplar and the Scots Pine are among the tallest trees here and Kites and Kestrels hunt the Chee and tufted hair grasses. A few of the common animals here are wolves, snow leopards, mountain sheep, antelope, reindeer and brown bears. It is in this wilderness setting that our episode takes place.

On June 1st of 2019, twenty nine year old Nikolay Irgit was headed out to the wilderness near his hometown of Khut, with several of his friends to gather horns and antlers that were shed by animals in the winter. Some of the animals that died in the winter would leave behind their horns that could be sold on the black market for money. This activity required a permit issued by the local government but Nokolay and his friends declined to purchase theirs as it bit into their profits.

In his everyday life, Nikolay was a school caretaker and happy father of two sons and one daughter he was raising with his twenty five year old wife, Aida. Given the condition of the local economy, Nikolay and his friends couldn’t afford firearms, nor bear spray. They didn’t even bother bringing knives along with them. They weren’t planning for any confrontations in which they may need them and wouldn’t be long in the woods. They had planned a quick trip and to return to their families by nightfall with their haul.

Shortly after arriving at the area they planned to search in, they began to spread out and looked in their own spots for antlers and horns. As Nikolay walked around for a few hours he began to push his way through some dense brush. He emerged on the far side of the bushes and glanced up. His eyes widened as a massive brown bear filled his vision, glaring at him. The bear was just a few yards away and Nikolay had walked nearly right up beside the giant bear, which was estimated to weigh around 1,000 pounds.

As soon as their eyes met, the bear flung itself toward the man letting out an ear shattering roar as it came. Nikolay clenched his fists and yelled at the bear as it advanced, hoping the bear would bluff charge him, then run away. But, if bears operated on our hopes or expectations of them, we would all be safe when we encountered them. The bear didn’t bluff charge him but opened its mouth wide and reached out for his arm. Nikolay instinctively punched the bear in the head but this didn’t even make the bear flinch, as it immediately bit onto his forearm and lept on top of him.

The bear immediately bit into his abdomen and tore at his flesh, then moved up to his chest and ripped flesh there. He was careful to point out whenever he relayed his story that the bear never clawed him, but exclusively used its powerful jaws. It apparently wanted to devour him immediately.

While being savaged by the angry bear, Nikolay didn’t smell anything. He didn’t feel anything during the attack. He began to lose any regard for his own life but thoughts of his children and wife flashed through his mind. He loved them so much and didn’t want them to be without him.

After the bear bit at his chest, it changed its savage focus to his head. It clamped its massive jaws onto his skull and began tearing his scalp just above his left forehead. One of its canines punched into his left eye orbit tearing his flesh from the middle of his eyelid back a few inches toward his temple.

At that point, Nikolay opened his eyes and his entire visual field was filled with the enormous maw of the bear gleaming with huge teeth closing over the width of his face. As the bear bit into his face he felt enormous pain shoot through his body like electricity.

Thank you for watching Scary Bear Attacks. Today’s episode takes us to The Nalchin Public Use Area just northwest of Anchorage, Alaska. This part of the state consists of steep mountains covered in fir and pine stands and forests, as well as birch trees, alder and willow bushes crowding the valley floors. There are hillsides that are covered with shorter bushes as well, but most of the area is forest. The animals here are the typical Alaskan fauna, including moose, brown and black bear, as well as an abundance of fur bearers and birds.

I was hunting moose near Anchorage Alaska in the Nalchina Public Use Area, a huge tract of land dedicated to people to enjoy the woods. In Alaska, hunters are allowed to hunt moose for subsistence, that is, for food. The requirements to harvest are that the moose must be a bull of a specific size or larger. I had been hunting in my secret spot for about 8 years and it had been a reliable place to find bull moose that met the subsistence hunting minimum size requirements for each of the last 8 years. This is no small feat in moose hunting and this place is what hunters call a “honey hole”. That means that is a sweet spot to harvest the target animals.

In the fall of 2011 I was doing my normal yearly preparation before heading to my honey hole by float plane. I took careful inventory of my necessities and tracked their weight as I would only have 180 pounds of cargo load to carry on my Dehaviland Beaver before passing the weight limit. I grabbed the usual equipment, my tent, sleeping bag, guns, ammo and distinctly recall carefully examining my moose call and being excited about how much meat it had helped me put in the freezer.

The next morning I arrived at the small private airport and eagerly walked toward my small plane in the dark. My gear was already loaded the prior day and all I had to do was buckle up and prepare for take off. I cracked the engine after completing my pre-flight review and then taxied down the short runway. As I gained speed and approached the end of the runway, my Dehaviland Beaver lifted off gracefully and away I went.

I flew for a little over under an hour and saw the Talkeetna River come into view. In stretches of the river it is a steep canyon which can make for very frightening and riveting wind patterns at times. I followed the river to the point at which it turns west and I went east, gently landing at remote Stephan Lake. The lake is surrounded by a mix of tundra, bush and small patches of Sitka Spruce. Now Sitka Spruce are a particular species of Spruce tree which are adapted to the arctic and subarctic climate and grow in muskeg areas and don’t usually pass about 5 to 7 feet in height. This area offered tremendous views to observe for my moose. As I unpacked my float plane and tethered it to the shore, I paused to take in the cool October air and the freedom and loneliness that Stephan Lake always gave me. It centered me in many ways, and helped me keep perspective on life when I visited it.

I set up my tent and laid out my bed and sleeping bag and prepared my dinner. After eating dinner and briefly reading my Bible I decided to get to bed. I was too excited to go to sleep right away and tentatively planned out my hunt the next day. Uneventfully, consciousness faded and I fell asleep.

My alarm startled me awake at 7:30 AM. It was cold outside of my sleeping bag and I hurriedly got dressed and put on my stalking cap. I warmed up some oatmeal and sipped my coffee quickly so I could get on the trail as quickly as possible, then I remembered, it wouldn’t even get light for another hour. I decided to take advantage of having the time to start hiking toward a meadow that had often had bull moose and many other game animals there in the past. Utilizing my headlamp to light my way,

Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode takes us to the Two Oceans Pass area located in the Teton Wilderness area just south of Yellowstone park near Cody, Wyoming. This area features majestic granite peaks biting into the sky above lush forest of fir and pine. It receives a lot of snowfall each winter which keeps the undergrowth thick to hide the elk, deer and moose that tiptoe along the meadows and streams in the valleys. Cougars, wolves and black and brown bears round out the dominant predators that stalk the hillsides. Drawing skiers, horseback riders, trail hikers and sightseers, this area is a sportsman's paradise and it is dotted with expensive cabins here and there.

On September 27th, 2021 licensed Wyoming hunting guide Tyler Barnard was leading his clients, who were father, whom we will call Dave, and son, whom we will call Juston on an elk hunt. The party was pursuing a large bull elk which to them was a satisfactory specimen. Rifle season for elk had just started about a week before and the country was rough hiking, wild and rigorous.

On the 27th the party had found and shot at the bull they had their eyes on. The shot seemed like a good hit and they followed the ample blood trail for a good mile or so before the blood trail dwindled, limiting their ability to follow it any further. Recognizing their dilemma and limited abilities due to sunset, the men called it a day and agreed to return first thing in the morning to follow up on the bull and hopefully reclaim its carcass and antlers as best they could.

They resumed the search on the 28th to no avail. They returned for one last good look as ethics require hunters to do. It was 85 degrees out that day so they knew they would have to find it as soon as possible, fairly confident that the meat they wanted was bone soured if not completely rotten by now. Even if they did lose the meat the Wyoming game laws required them to do every reasonable thing to recover the carcass and salvage it if possible.

The morning of September 29th, the trio head out to find another bull, as they were convinced the bull they shot a few days prior may have escaped and not died at all. At about 8 AM they were hiking up a trail in the same area they found the prior bull in, when they noticed a whiff of death in the air. Elk meat has its own distinct smell as do most species, so the men decided to investigate a little more. With fair certainty that the smell was coming from the bull they had previously wounded, the men left their rifles on their horses and began walking to the edge of a small ridge that the smell seemed to be coming from.

As they crested the ridge they could see small pines protruding from numerous larger trees now dead and blown down by winds and decay. Because the pines were young the visibility was limited by their low canopies. Visual lanes appeared but mostly were limited to about 25 yards at most vantage points.

The men briefly discussed how they had to go about the act of recovery. They agreed to look for the bull and then locate the carcass with a pin on their GPS. Next, they would have a recovery team come in and reclaim the carcass and the antlers after they had tagged it. Edible or not, the hunters had an ethical duty to tag the elk and they were dedicated to the ethical practice.

Now, these men were no dummies. They came in loaded for bear, literally. Tyler carried a 10MM model 20 Glock loaded with Buffalo Bore 190 grain hard cast bullets. This is a powerful pistol but is obviously nowhere near as powerful as even a smaller caliber hunting rifle. Justin was also packing a 45ACP with a red dot sight and a 15 round magazine. He loaded it with Hollowpoint +P self defense ammunition. Dave wasn’t carrying a sidearm, but did bring along his can of bear spray just in case. It turned out they would need every bit of the firepower they brought with them on this day.

Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode takes us to the hot and dry mountains around Caliente, California. The arid climate features mountains and hills sparsely covered in dry grasses, low growing desert bushes like Big Berry and Common Manzanita, Fremont Cottonwood and the Blue Oak tree. The ground cover is seasonally adorned with California Fuchsia, Western Columbine and Deer Grass plus many more. The animals of the area include the coyotes, jackrabbits, cottontail rabbits, mule deer and bobcats. The more dangerous inhabitants of this area include black bears. On the higher slopes of the desert mountains, forests of various kinds of Oak, Willow, Mesquite and Sycamore dominate the skyline and provide shade for all passersby.

On July 22nd of 2018, Allena Hansen was enjoying the freedom and space of her sprawling 70 acre ranchette. She always had chores to do to maintain the property but the 56 year old single mother embraced the hard work required. On this day she was focused on fixing a water line for a new vineyard she was planning on constructing in the near future. The spring fed into a concrete box with a flood gate and the spring had started to decrease in its flow. To Allena that meant she would have to dig out any obstructions to keep the water flowing in order to execute her plan. She hiked up the box canyon where the spring was located with her two trusty ranch hands, Deke, who was a huge English Mastiff, and Archimedes, a very large Irish Wolfhound. Her dogs were her best friends in many ways, and today’s events would once again confirm that fact to Allena.

There was nothing alarming about the day and she felt no strange or foreboding feelings as she worked. In fact, Deke and Archimedes had wandered off a short distance and found some shade to take a nap.

The tough rancher entered her irrigation box and began clearing mud and gravel from the mouth of the spring that fed it. As she worked in the summer heat, she could see the spring begin to produce a greater flow of water. She had to stop periodically to wipe her brow and rest. As she worked she drew the attention of a particularly predatory visitor who had somehow managed to slip past the sleeping dogs and approached to within ten feet of Allena.

After digging around a bit more, Allena stood up to recompose herself. This time she was not refreshed by rest, instead she was alarmed by a rather small black bear only a few feet from her. She noticed the bear had been simply standing there barely hidden by a small willow patch, as if it was waiting for her to notice it. As soon as their eyes met the angry black bear pounced on Allena.

She quickly tried to fold herself into the fetal position in the west sand to protect her head and neck as best she could. The bear immediately clamped its jaws onto her head and bit and pulled at her ears. As it pulled her by her head, it managed to bite onto her face. It immediately began to tear skin and tissues from her face as it bit. It used its mass of only about 150 pounds to pin her to the ground by sitting on her. Allena is only around 100 pounds so she wasn’t much of a challenge to control for the powerful bear. Even a small bear is much stronger than a very large man and quicker by far than any human.

As the bear pressed Allena into the sand it focused its attack on her head and face. It was clearly trying to rip her head off and possibly crush her skull. The terror that filled her mind was paralyzing, but somehow she fought as hard as she could.

The black bear sank its large canine teeth into Allena’s right eye socket and ripped small pieces of flesh from that area. She reported hearing her tissues being ripped and the chomping sound the bear's jaw made as it meted out its destruction on her.

It next focused on destroying her nose and mouth. Its jaws crushed and sliced the skin and tissues of her nose and rendered it into crushed and mutilated meat.

Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode takes us to The wilderness just north of Columbia Falls, Montana. The terrain of this area features valleys at around 3500 feet in elevation with nearby hills reaching near the mile high mark of 4500 to 5000 feet. The Trumbull Canyon Road is an excellent jumping off spot for anyone wanting to get into the more remote areas for hunting, hiking or general adventuring. In this area there are nearly uninterrupted forests of pine and fir trees that stretch for miles. Along the creek bottoms willow and alder bushes screen and shelter the whitetail deer, elk and moose that sneak amongst them. The berries offering up their fruit to human and animal visitors include Huckleberry, Thimbleberry, Chokecherry and Gooseberry. Patches of Stinging Nettle, Nodding Onion and Mountain Sorrel decorate the ground with their beautiful flowers and add variety to the visual cornucopia. The dominant predators of the area include cougars, wolves, coyotes and black bears but the topic of our episode today is the powerful brown bears of the area.

On the morning of November 11th, 2018 Anders Broste was teaching a friend, Dan Hansen to hunt elk and deer. The men had pushed their way through a few inches of snow early in the morning when they approached a very thick, tangled stand of brush. The branches of the leafless underbrush tugged at Anders clothes and his rifle as he fought his way through it. His visibility was very limited and he couldn’t do anything about the noise of the bushes rustling against his clothes and other branches as we forced his way through. Hansen was about 150 yards away from him filming as Anders navigated his route.

As he parted the brush with effort, he looked up and noticed a big bear head rising up before him from behind a log. He immediately recognized the dish faced profile of a grizzly bear and he was filled with terror as he realized he had its focused attention. The bear was a mere 15 yards from him and spun quickly to face this surprise interuption to its slumber.

Thirty six year old Anders moved to his home he shared with his wife, Anaka, on Trumbull Canyon Road after the two had wed and he accepted a job at Applied Materials selling specialized bikes around the world. He has always been drawn to the mountains and even rearranged his life so that he could be where he loved to adventure and be active. Anaka was from the area and knew her husband would love doing what he enjoyed there.

Anders loved being outside. From skiing, biking, hiking, rafting, fishing and hunting, he is described as spending more time outside than inside.

As the bear streaked toward him, parting brush and branch as it clearly drove itself toward a confrontation with the hunter, Anders began stumbling backward trying to increase the distance between him and the enraged bear. He struggled to pull his rifle from his shoulder but his efforts were hindered by the interference from the brush. His mind raced for a solution as the reality of the situation ran through his mind. He was in a dangerous situation and could do nothing about it. The only thing he could do was brace for impact and desperately hope the attack would be brief.

As the bear rapidly approached, Anders quickly untangled his rifle and managed to push it between the bear and himself. The rifle barrel grazed the bear's shoulder and did nothing to slow down the bear's advance. He couldn’t click off his safety and didn’t even have time to put his finger in the trigger guard before the bear impacted him as he toppled to his back.

The bear was on top of him before he could process it and put the 1200 pounds of force per square inch bite force to use. It sank its teeth into his right arm and shook its head back and forth forcefully like a dog with a toy. It twisted its head as it shook and Anders heard his arm bones pop under the force of the bear's jaws.

Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode takes us to the wild northern Rockies near Cariboo in British Columbia, Canada. The granite mountains soar above the valley floor, which is around 3700 feet in elevation. The mountain ranges here form a barrier that traps incoming moisture from the Pacific Ocean. In this area fog and snow are common for much of the year. Because of the geography, the valleys between the mountains are lush and green. A ground level canopy of alder, berry bushes and wildflowers like yellow glacier lily and fireweed decorate the scenery. Pine and fir trees tower in the upper canopy and provide shade and shelter from the wind. The larger mammals of the area are black and brown bears, elk, moose, deer, cougar and wolves. Mountain sheep and goats balance on the rugged Rocky Mountain slopes as they seek out meager forage.

On August 4th 1984, eccentric inventor and adventurer, Troy Hurtubise was enjoying his time in the back country of central Canada. Troy trekked through the backwoods trying to carry his camp goods to a different trail which led to another location. The last few days he had felt an ominous presence watching him from the woods, but knew that he couldn’t let it paralyze him. He spent a lot of time in the wild and this sense of impending doom was something he knew he couldn’t ignore.

As he slowly stumbled across the ground under the heavy burden of his backpack, he carried his portable sluice in his right hand and his 22 caliber rifle in his left. Over his head he had drapped his inflatable raft. Under this heavy burden and with his vision nearly completely blocked by the raft, that familiar sense of foreboding filled Troy once again, as he emerged from the trees into a small meadow. This time the feeling of impending doom was overpowering. He could feel the climax of terror that had haunted him over prior days.

Troy couldn’t stand it any longer and suddenly dumped the raft from his head and quickly glanced around. He searched to see the source of the ominous feelings he had felt. As he looked to his left he saw an enormous grizzly bear leaning over a stump just like a man leaning on a bar at a pub. The bear had a gray beard like an old man and it had its elbows on top of the stump as it leaned over it, glaring at Troy. Now, Troy was a bit of a throwback. He knew better than to carry a high powered rifle. He felt they were unreliable in that they may misfire or you could run out of bullets. He packed a knife known as an Arkansas Toothpick. To people who know anything about knives they would attest to the fact that it has a giant, sharp double edge blade that widens about two inches toward its handle. Anything with an Arkansas Toothpick plunged into it wouldn’t stand a chance at survival. Troy carried two of these for his personal defense against bears.

Troy was about 5’8’ tall and on all fours the bear was nearly as tall as Troy at its shoulder. As the Old Man streaked toward him, he lost control of his bladder and his sphincter. He peed and crapped himself in terror. About twenty feet from Troy, the giant bear slammed on the brakes and slid to within just a few feet from him and stared him in the eyes for a second.The bear found the answers he was searching for in Troy's eyes, and he quickly snapped his jaws out toward the man's chest. Troys flew through the air several feet and landed on his back pack. Visions of the bear's next actions raced through his mind. He imagined the bear pouncing on him and slashing his flesh with enormous claws, rendering his flesh tattered, but knew it would not be a fast death. But. the savage slashing attack never happened.

His sluice box and rifle flew out of his reach to either side as he landed on his back. The bear huffed and pawed the ground in a furious demonstration of Troy’s trespass on his territory.