Alaskan Gal

This is a picture of the brown bear my granddaughter Ashia killed this morning. Her boyfriend Kole wanted her to get a bear before he left for college on Monday, so he outfitted her with some camouflage clothing and took her up the bay towards Humpback Creek. If I understood the story correctly, they weren't gone even an hour when they spotted it walking on the flats. She laid down on a rock and fired, hitting it in the head with the first shot and then striking it further back in the body with the second. It was pretty remarkable shooting, considering it was a .300 rifle made for a left handed person and she shot from a prone position. Somehow the head shot didn't kill it right away and it ran off into the woods, so they had to go in after it. It's always dangerous to go after a wounded Grizzly and especially in the woods. I believe Kole shot it once also, but I could be mistaken. In any event, he got it skinned out and and she packed it back to the boat and by early this afternoon it was tagged and stretched out in his grandfather's shop. Slam,bam, thankyou mam. I've been here thirty five years and never shot a brownie. Actually, I've never had a desire to hunt one, but that's beside the point. I've had several unpleasant encounters with them, but never had to shoot one. I probably should have shot one that came running after my friend Doug Courtney when we were duck hunting out at the farm many years ago, but I just stood there with my shotgun waving in the air like Old Glory until he reached me and the two of us ran across a slough like a couple of scared rabbits.My son Brian had a deer taken by one several years ago when we hunting at Hippoback. He had just gotten it gutted when he heard a noise and the bear showed up. He backed away and the bear took off with his deer. I heard him talking to himself all the way across the muskeg, he was pretty unhappy about the whole incident. I try not to hunt when the bears are out and around, but even when I think they should all be hibernating I've seen fresh tracks in the snow of brownies that just don't seem to realize they should be sleeping. The head is huge compared to the rest of the body and I don't doubt that in a few more years it would have been a real bruiser. I was told that it measures seven feet.It's a small bear, certainly not a trophy to many hunters, but for Ashia, it's her first and she's justifiably proud. She plans on having it tanned and made into a rug or wall mount. In the meantime I guess it will be in a  freezer somewhere. I don't care where she keeps it, so long as I don't reach for the frozen OJ some day and and end up with a hand full of Grizzly.