The 30 Best Outdoor Life Bear Attack Covers of All Time
With bear attacks on the rise, it's time to take a look back at some of our best bruin coverage.
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September 1963
“I turned to shoot but my safety was on. Before I could flick it off, he hit me. He knocked me flat, grabbed my leg, and sank his teeth into it. I tried to shoot him in the head, but held off for fear of hitting my leg.”
November 1961
“He took his only chance, and gave us no warning. He came out of the opening with a mighty surge, heading straight at us.”
January 1980
“The bear came at me with no warning. Ears flattened, neck hairs stiffly erect, it growled fiercely as it charged, full bore right at me. I saw its flashing teeth as it came, and I knew in an instant it was a grizzly, although I’d never seen one in the wild before.”
March 1943
“No sooner had he started to climb than the dogs grabbed him by the legs and pulled him down in a shower of bark. The side of the mountain here was steep. Dogs and bear rolled together down the slope and into the river. The uproar was terrific.”
February 1956
“I’ve seen fear in grizzlies even as they’ve charged. But that doesn’t stop them. They quit when they die.”
August 1968
“That’s the last time I’ll walk up to a bear just because it looks dead without chucking a rock first just to make sure.”
August 1976
“Alex dropped Rex’s leash and reached for his revolver. The bear came on at full speed to within seven yards and reared up on hind legs to tower over man and dog while moving forward. Rex launched himself at the bear’s throat before Alex’s gun was out of the holster.”
January 1978
“I broke the rules and now I was going to pay for it, I knew the grizzly wouldn’t stop his ravaging attack until I was dead.”
November 1980
“I stood up and waved my hat and yelled at the bear, but he kept on coming. Up until then he’d been silent, but now he began growling and popping his teeth. I was breaking out in a cold sweat by the time he was 30 yards away.”
September 1960
“I hope that some day a great-grandson of mine will be able to match wits with a grand animal that can fight back. He’ll experience the call and thrill of holding his life in his own hands, and he’ll learn something important about living.”
February 1974
“A wild bear has great native intelligence and the bigger they get, the smarter they get. Once a black bear outsmarts a pack of dogs, he’ll never forget how.”
August 1964
“It reared up on its hind legs to face him, surly and growling. Holding his flashlight in one hand and the rifle in the other, Tom slammed his one bullet into its middle, clearly hearing the plunk as it hit. The bear dropped to all fours and ran into the timber.”
April 1908
“We both took aim and at a given signal, the two reports ringing out as one. The bear straightened out, clawing blindly and viciously at an unseen foe; the great body retched out and quivered and then lay still – bruin’s life was ended.”
February 1957
“From a position about halfway across the flat they opened up simultaneously, and two of the bears went down. One stayed down but the other was up immediately and headed downhill toward them. Bill and Jay took a dim view of this and both fired again. The bear went down for keeps.”
January 1938
“Anyone who thinks bears are slow-moving should have seen him then. With flashing sweeps of his paws, he seemed to fill the air with flying dogs. Three were killed in less than that many seconds.”
September 1959
“In a rage, the huge sow made for us. I maneuvered desperately to let my wife get away first. My horse panicked and almost threw me as the bear took a vicious swipe at him.”
September 1962
“Eyes blazing, and swinging his great blocky head from side to side, he lunged from the brush with a low growl. A giant bear out of a long-past age, he was now the hunter, I the hunted.”
August 1966
“The infuriated bear smashed dogs all around him. I was 25 feet away and I knew he’d charge, but I had to shoot.”
September 1967
“The bear didn’t move a muscle. He just kept his eyes riveted on me as though trying to figure out what I was. Or maybe he knew, and tried to stare me down. Except for his head and round ears, he looked like a low-slung black bull, and he was so big he stunned me.”
December 1967
“He had no gun, and when the silver-tip charged him with her mouth open, he shoved his binoculars down her throat.”
January 1988
“When a rifle fires, these bears come running. They want venison, and they’re willing to kill for it.”
February 1931
“It looks that way now because the bears have long been taught that they are safe along these stretches in the summer. Start shooting at them and they would soon be as wild and as hard to see as they are in the spring and fall high up in the hills.”
August 1973
“The sight of the bear lifting the cow was too much for my hunter. Moments went by before he recovered and got off a shot.”
February 1973
“After about 40 yards of this futility, the bear paused for a moment, spotted another fish, and then lunged at it, biting the salmon behind its head.”
January 1975
“As Bob and the guide topped the ridge, the bear let out a blood-thinning bawl and came at them in an angry, headlong charge. A bear may look clumsy when he’s going about his everyday affairs, but once rage explodes in him, there is nothing clumsy about the way he moves.”
January 1966
“He drove his best shot at the shoulder, but the bear whirled and ran as nothing had happened. The second shot pulled the bear over. He couldn’t get back on his feet, but he could still crawl and bawl and bellow, and he did all three.”
November 1988
“Someone has now got within 60 or 90 feet of the bear, with his ears laid back, and his hair erect, with the dogs formed in a semicircle around him; the most courageous have approached within a few feet – when, with a bound or two he makes them all give back; and, having made the dogs stand back a little, he makes a stand, when he receives a shot; but the shot has not been fatal, and the bear starts off at the top of his speed, with the whole pack in hot pursuit.”
November 1978
“The caribou was on a gravel bar in the river, and the sow charged through the shallows, her cubs close behind. The bull had been wounded by wolves and seemed to know he couldn’t run from the bear. He fended off her charges, and when the bear got a neck hold, he forced her into the water. Then the bull fell on his side, and the bear went for his throat. The bone-crusher jaws severed the bull’s jugular vein, and the fight was over.”
November 1969
“When a bear whose presence you were unaware of suddenly rushes at your from cover, that kind of charge is a traumatic experience, whether you are physically injured or not.”
November 1939
“Another bullet spanged into him and he dropped again, but he was up in a moment, eyes flashing and paws waving as he loudly roared his furious challenge.” VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE COVER IN THE COMMENTS SECTION
With bear attacks on the rise it’s time to take a look back at some of our best bear coverage. We rank the 30 best bear attack covers of all time.
