In fact, a .22 LRbullet is easily capable of killing or injuring humans. Grizzly bears are long-lived mammals, generally living into their mid to late 20s, although some wild bears have lived for over 35 years. And they tracked it down, you know, where they saw the bear and they went after it. Perhaps someone in Alberta has access to records that give us more definitive information. In the book, Bella is surprised by the bear that suddenly rises above them in the bush, arms raised high. The first pictures I saw were of two huge black bears from about 12:30 that morning. That obviously would not have been a good choice ! The bear dropped, kicked and then lay still. The two bodies were found side by side. In the spring of 2012, Alaska Fish and Game announced that hunting grizzlies over bait would be legal the following year in the game unit we hunt. Such a shot resulted in instantaneous, humane death. Grizzly Bear Yellowstone is home to both grizzly bears (above) and black bears. A source on the net says the picture is in the book, Bruno Engler Photography by Vera Matrasova-Engler. Theyll gut you, quarter you and the coyotes are the only ones that will ever see you again. She paid the insurance. Dont assume a large animal is dead. It appears to be an inexpensive "boys". Arizona -(Ammoland.com)-In this famous photograph by Bruno Engler, Bella Twin is shown with the hide from the world record grizzly bear that she shot in 1953 with a single shot .22 rifle. The holes in the Skull verify that it was a .22. The Bear was reported to be shot with a .22 Long. I read from a seemingly knowledgeable source that it was a .22 long cartridge, which is different than long rifle, lr much less powerful, closer to a short (Ive read 10% more than a short). Reinhold Eben-Ebenau had a reason. 145. May 10, 1957, she killed a massive grizzly bear with her Cooey Ace #1 .22. This closeup shows the penciled score. You can see from the picture that the bullets entered the skull at very close to a right angle. The photos became an internet sensation and soon, stories appeared along with the images. C.I.L. I was hunting two locations, and after spending a fruitless night in one stand that had just been hit by two nice bears, I headed downriver to check the other bait. May 10, 1957, she killed a massive grizzly bear with her Cooey Ace #1 .22. Here are Five reasons to own a .22 rifle). The account of the incident appeared in a popular book, "Book of a Hundred Bears" published in 1909 by F.D. Author Larry Loyie, Bellas grandson, was proud of his grandmother. One study found that the average weight for a coastal male was around 408 kg (899 lb), and . It always amazes me how an animal so big and powerful can appear and disappear like a ghost. I now am into powerful high end air guns. Bear killed the brown with a recurve and cedar arrows tipped with his signature broadheads. For me, this story started at the Royal Museum of Alberta in downtown Edmonton where I was doing a piece on the value of firearms for the Canadian Firearms Journal. Blogs and websites claimed the Hinchinbrook Island bear stood 12 1/2 feet tall on it's hind legs. Bella was technically Larrys great aunt, Kokum to Larry. Note that a .22 long has about 10% more power than a .22 high velocity short, and a good bit less than a .22 long rifle cartridge. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. A current CCI Standard Velocity Long Rifle, at 1070 feet per second has 3 percent more energy than the 1953 High Velocity long. They do that before they kill you. They spend the hunting seasons along alder-, willow-, and brush-choked riversmosquito-infested waters with rarely more than 30 or 40 yards of visibility. It wouldnt be the first choice for hunting large game, but nevertheless the lowly .22 can be seriously deadly in the hands of a moderately good shot. The bear kept getting closer and closer. I quickly found out that this was anything but true. "the big brown bear came lolloping over the mountain", FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson. The bear was very close, only a few yards away. Bella made sure. Or nightmares, depending on your perspective. He told the story to illustrate that the 22 we were shooting with was not a toy and could be as lethal. Another story of a woman surviving a grizzly attack using a .22, this time with a Baretta .22 pistol. The skull, used as a measurement, is housed in a small museum on the Eben-Ebenau homestead. Twin was carrying her battered single-shot .22 when the two were approached by a gigantic grizzly. Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. A large hungry grizzly is not to be played with a .22lr. This lady is my grandmothers sister and I can assure you this story is true. I knew it was a trap question, but I answered anyway. He asked Dave Auger to go into the bush and bring back the skull, says son Roland. It was a big bear, no doubt. If she saw the bear on the cutline coming towards them, they wouldn't wait. And on butchering day, the tool used to euthanize a hog or steer was a .22 rifle. Somehow, more than I realized at the time, this giant of a grizzly bear had become a part of me. I was both ecstatic and nervous at hearing this, for the flats along the south side of the Tanana River that hold the Kantishna, Toklat, Teklanika, and Nenana tributaries are prime grizzly real estate. In her mind, she had a gun and felt she needed to defend herself. Every farmer who raise livestock will inevitably have to put down a large, injured animal. Anxiously, I scanned through the pictures, and suddenly, there he was. Read the whole Bella Twin grizzly story here. . That bear, killed in 1953, was the world-record grizzly for several years and is still high in the records today. This is no reflection on the .270. A .22 rifle can be an important part of any prepper/survival gear. Cant imagine that choice of need to shoot or not and ones survival counted on it. According to Wikepedia: Because a .22 LRbullet is lesspowerfulthan larger cartridges, its danger to humans is often underestimated. I knew that at any moment, the grizzly would jump up and charge after the approaching black bear, and I might not see him again. It was a shot to the big arteries out of the heart. The long would have fired a 29 grain bullet at 1240 feet per second. Bella Twin was a calm, quiet, clear-headed Cree woman with a trap line. But the grizzly came to close and Bella Twin shot the grizzly in the side of the head with a .22 Long cartridge. 203 1/8. The bear was just over one thousand six hundred pounds. Hard to get more Canadian than that. My tattoos include a map of Alaska, a Dall ram I shot set in a backdrop of a topographical map, a wolf trap and pack of wolves under the northern lights. YouTube - Store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen - 2. Another account says that the bear was dropped with one .22-long cartridge, but that another 7 or 8 shots were used to be sure that the bear stayed down. Learning about bears can help you avoid a confrontation. However, I knew everybody with a boat and a bag of dog food would be on the water as well. The largest Grizzly bear skull on record was not taken by a hunter, but was found dead near Lone Mountain, Alaska by Gordon Scott in 1976. Fern Spaulding Rivers did shoot a trophy Brown Bear but it was not a world record. Today, they are still among the biggest grizzlies to be recorded., The hole from the single-shot that dropped the grizzly is clearly seen in the skull, beside the right eye socket. He had been there for a couple of minutes when I heard another bear coming in. In the right hands the little cartridge can be deadly. But it was not 12 feet, 6 inches tall nor did it weigh 1,600 lbs. Reinhold, a well-known hunting guide, learned that he had shot the biggest grizzly in North America. "When grizzly bears attack, they . The bears have had plenty of time these 16 years to fill out to their maximum potential. The Argument Against the Argument Against Silencers, Jeff Knoxs Letter to the NRA Re: Rules Changes, Get Ready for the Invasion of Canadian Feral Super Pigs, NM Gov. Damn,she could be in age from a little girl to 67 years old ? In 1953, the likelihood of a trapper using Long Rifle .22 rimfire ammunition while trapping, was, well, lets say, unlikely. The wife he left behind when he died is Constance Brissenden. The giant bear weighed 966 kg (2,130 lb) when he died in June 1987 at the age of 22. Did I mention to you the grizzly bear held the Boone and Crocket world record at 26 5/16 inches? It's still a really interesting story. Copyright 2023 Leon Pantenburg, All Rights Reserved, Survival Common Sense Blog | Emergency Preparedness, World record grizzly killed with a .22 caliber rifle, https://survivalcommonsense.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Bella-Twin-is-shown-with-the-hide-from-the-world-record-grizzly-bear-312x400.jpg, https://survivalcommonsense.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/22-Long-Rifle-474x400.jpg. I remember the story about a girl berry hunting and shooting it in the ear.I can see a shot like that working. Grisham: Forest Service is Failing New Mexicans in Decision to Shoot Feral Cows in Gila Wilderness, Armed Self-Defense Chronicles: When a Detroit Doctor Defended Himself and His Family Against a Racist Mob. I was ecstatic to get my first big game animala bull moose with 60-inch-wide antlersbut I didnt truly appreciate how nice of a bull he was. He observed, Bella was a good hunter, he said. I recall buying longs in the middle 1960s from a gas station. Who could blame her?. It was all a blur, but I watched my arrow bury itself up to the vanes behind his shoulder, pushing the Grizzly single-bevel broadhead out in front of the opposite shoulder. The bear charged the worker, who shot it with the .22 revolver. This one taken by overjoyed muzzleloader Douglas Salomon is the largest recorded. See a cow or a hog being processed? They got gear that will handle the big stuff. More penetration than some common pistol rounds. There have been quite a few debates over this big bear takedown, from how many rounds it actually took to what kind of rifle she used. had a single shot .22 and a box of shorts. At that very moment, I began to understand Bella Twins amazing story. Too, I interviewed Roland Eben-Ebenau, the son of professional bear guide and world record holder on his own right. It was reported to be about 30 feet away and moving toward them, and apparently Twin thought she and Auger were in danger. I would love to see .22 Plinkster recreate that shot. I was told the Eskimos and native Indians use the single shot 22lr riffle to kill the big bears like this because of a natural trait the bears have of standing on their hind legs when they attack, growling and opening their mouths. The dark-chocolate boar dwarfed all of the other bears that had been hitting the bait, and was the biggest Id ever seen. And when he did, she put a bullet through the soft pallet of the roof of his mouth, into the brain, killing him instantly. 165. In the top picture by Engler, the rifle is missing the bolt. Review: Danner South Rim 600 Bronze perfect mix of comfort and foot support? The big grizzly dropped, kicked and then lay still. NPS / Jim Peaco Yellowstone is home to two species of bears: grizzly bears and black bears. That was seven years before my dad held me for the first time, a five-foot-nothing woman who lived on the land squeezed the trigger on her single-shot rabbit gun and put a .22 rimfire round through the eye of a grizzly bear at close distance. Grizzly 399 is the most famous brown bear mother in the world, with her own Facebook and Twitter accounts. My father and others observing the event said that at one point I could have patted the bear on the nose . As soon as I walked in to the bait site, I knew a big grizzly had been there, as the bait was scattered everywhere. Several accounts have been offered for what happened. Alaska Peninsula brown bears are among the largest types of brown bear in the world. Taking no chances, Bella went up close and fired all of the cartridges she had, seven or eight .22 Longs, into the bears head. I met up with my cousin Clint that afternoon, and we headed back out. It stands as the second-largest ever killed. I talked to Constance Brissenden, wife of Larry Loyie who was grandson of Bella Twin. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Installed by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. At 3:30 a.m. one morning, Jim Landess heard banging on his Sterling, Alaska, home. The __gads cookie, set by Google, is stored under DoubleClick domain and tracks the number of times users see an advert, measures the success of the campaign and calculates its revenue. At that point the hunter, at very close range, shoots the bear in the roof of the mouth and the bullet goes right into the brain and kills the bear instantly, they hope. I know of 10 other 45 acp grizzy DLP kills. Can you imagine devoting your entire professional life to pursuing big bears? A hunter in Alaska has been credited with killing a record grizzly bear, according to Boone and Crockett Club officials. That bear, killed in 1953, was the world-record grizzly for several years and is still high in the records today. The only gun they had was Bellas single-shot bolt-action .22 Rimfire rifle. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Google DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile. A recent one ended with both man and bear dead. posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its He enjoys sharing common sense tips for anyone to survive an urban or wilderness emergency, or natural disaster. It is recorded that Bella pumped several other shots into the grizzly after it fell. Bella taking no chances went up to it and fired the 7 cartridges that she had left into the grizzly's head. The big bear was still alive so the hunter reloaded and shot it several times in the head. Proving the old adage that shot placement is more important than caliber. The oldest known wild Kodiak bear was a 34-year-old sow. Processing an enormous bear is a lot of work, even for experienced hunters and trappers. H.V. Another version claimed that a park ranger shot the giant bear after it charged him from 50 yards away. This was the first time he had hit the bait, so I figured the chances were good that he would be back at least once more. The grizzlies, however, were not so cooperative. Officials who shot the . Let's take a little trip back in firearms history to 1953. Here is a close up of the rifle. She was probably under five feet tall. The bolt was so rusted the action wouldnt work. The oldest boar was 27. Brian Park took this number one SCI ranked common grizzly bear by a black powder hunter in August, 2005, while hunting Alaska's Game Management Unit 24. My speculation was that she was surprised. My Uncle Arthur, his Father also named Arthur. I could not forget this bear. So he (Larry Loyie) said it had to have surprised them. Authors Note: This story first published nine years ago in Outdoor Life magazine. As amazing as it may seem to kill a bear w/ .22, there is a story about an old indian gentleman that went on a buffalo hunt armed with a .22 rifle. If they ran, the bear would probably notice them and might chase, so they quietly sat down on a brush pile and hoped that the bear would pass by without trouble. A woman walking her two dogs in Colorado has been killed in a bear attack, park officials say. The man emptied his semi-automatic 7mm magnum rifle into the bear, killing it in the nick of time. Provenance means the history of an object and is tied up with the story that can be told about the object. In the top picture by Engler, the rifle is missing the bolt. Cant get anymore badazz than that! 170. She had been a trapper and a hunter for decades. The day was close to 16 hours long at Slave Lake on 10 May, 1953. This is an Alexa Analytics cookie that is used to track user behavior. My father gave me a Marlin 783 in.22wmr that will give anything breathing a bad dayhard to find rounds though. You know, I'm just carrying the torch really, when he always wanted the true story to come out. I live in Lesser Slave Lake and this is a story that can be confirmed by many townspeople that have lived here since before 1950. Today its stored at the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, too threadbare to be displayed. It is worth noting that grizzly bear populations in Alberta are well on their way to being recovered and at some point in the future, if we can sort the facts from the politics and emotion, we may well have a chance to hunt bears as big as Bella Twins. This is the case here. Subscribe to OL+ for our best feature stories and photography. While the bear was busy eating the bait the hunter would rise up and place a 22 against its head and the rest was history. Julien Gauthier, a 44-year-old musician, was surprised by the . document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Leon Pantenburg is a wilderness enthusiast and writer. Youtube - Track the views of embedded videos. From Grizzly Guns by H.V. Which only goes to show that in an emergency, strange things are possible, but who wants that kind of emergency? All accounts agree on that. This took place in 1953, was the world-record grizzly for several years. The Buffalo waited for him to come down. The Rifle used by Bella Twin is a Cooey Ace 1. The biggest interior grizzly bear ever killed by a bowhunter was shot in May 2009 by Pennsylvania hunter Rob Debias. I could feel my pulse in my neck. So that was one thing that annoyed Larry. (Elephant killing probe heats up, Bangkok Post, March 26, 2013, by TERRY FREDRICKSON). Ive observed that grizzlies behave completely differently around bait than black bears do. exemption for fair use of copyrighted works. We looked at each other, then another branch broke. A 63-year-old Cree grandmother and her partner were hunting small game near Florida Lake. About 200 brown-grizzly bars are killed on Kodiak each year, meaning more than 20 bears bigger than Fitzgerald's each year come from that area alone. Your email address will not be published. We could hear the grizzly breathing before we could see him, and by the time he walked into view, I felt like my heart was going to explode. Dang! A freakin 22: The 1953 World record grizzly killed by a woman with a .22 has been known for decades. Photos of a giant bear killed in Alaska first surfaced on a message board in 2004. Every big game animal in the United States has been killed with a .22. I totally understand your skepticism. the story went she calmly put a a 22 LR from a pistol while it was stuck in the window through its ear and it dropped. This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. This grizzly meant a lot to me at the time, but it means even more to me now. That bear was done in by what used to be known in some circles as a golden BB.. That was near Slave Lake, Alberta, and the bear Twin killed turned out to be a world record that stood for a good long time. My father taught me that when I was 13. He waited until the bull grazed to within 75 yards or less and dropped the 1 ton bull with one well placed shot to the brain. That cartridge has killed many grizzlies and browns. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. I'm also pretty sure the record brown bear fell to a 30/06.I guess these folks were not scared of bears like many internet posters.. Aggressive management action over decades focused on keeping bears out of trash, reducing deaths caused by humans, and doing everything possible to keep female bears of reproductive age with cubs . (Note: in Cree Culture your mothers sister or your great aunt is referred to as your Kokum (grandmother) too. I would not shoot a bear with a 22 because it might must make him mad and then what would I do? "Death in the Long Grass" author, Peter Hathaway Capstick, claimed he once killed an elephant on a bet with a .22 LR. A 700-pound black bear killed by bow on private land in Morris County, N.J., last year has set a world record for North American black bear, besting a mark set in 1993, according to the Pope and Young Club, a national bowhunting organization. Never used anything but a .22 on and butchered animal from a 200lb roasting pig to a 2500 +lb beef.One shot into the brain =goodnight, Very interesting story about shooting the bear. You are oh so right. He was working at the time as a Kenyan government hunter culling herds that were over-grazing and rampaging through villages. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. One charged him and he turned around to get his rifle from his trusty gun bearer only to find that the gun bearer was gone. Maybe NOT, POF 5PK MP5 The Budget Reverse-Stretch Semi Auto from Pakistan, Ammo InStock: PMC Bronze 223 Rem 55 Grain FMJ Ammo 1000 Rounds $397.00 FREE S&H, Survival Deal: Thyrosafe Potassium Radioactive Iodide Tablets $21.95 FREE S&H, Gun Deals: Beretta A300 Ultima Patrol 12 Gauge Shotgun $949.00 FREE S&H, Brownells Coupon Codes www.brownells.com Updated Monthly. I have a cousin in Canada that as a guide would secure a cow Moose for camp meat every year with .22 three shots pop pop pop behind the shoulder. My pulse quickened at the realization that I very well might be getting a chance at what I had come to think of as my bear. I have a friend that tells of dropping a bull moose with one shot from a .22 magnum from 100 yrds, right behind the front leg. By clicking Accept All, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. When standing fully upright on its hind legs, a large male could reach a height of 3 meters (9.8 feet). or Dominion brands of ammunition in Canada had near identical .22 Short, Long and Long Rifle listings as early as 1937 (the prices were lower then). Voss got off two shots with his .270 that proved fatal to the bear, but the grizzly bit Voss about the head - they usually go for the head - and killed him. My father owned a Cooey and, as I recall, his would not take a 22 long rifle. I told myself, Youve got to calm down, Tyler. It was taken in Unalakleet, Alaska in 2004 by Dennis Dunn. He never knew her and visited her once, for he was in an orphanage until he was 12 when he left. I knew he was huge, but I didnt realize how huge. Photos of Bella Twins Cooey Ace 1 currently at the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton Alberta that she used to kill that record setting Grizzly Bear in 1953. Over the past several years, the area where my hunting buddies and I bait black bears has become overrun with grizzlies. The bear's skull measured 27 6/16, making it the largest grizzly taken by a hunter ever recorded. They would run like hell. The following spring, I shot a black bear that I could tell was big, but even when we squared the hide at 8-feet even, I didnt know what I had. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. A Franco-Canadian man died after being attacked by a grizzly bear in a remote area of Canada last week, police announced on Monday. PRONGHORN ANTELOPE. YouTube - Store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. Ill add one more speculation. She and her grizzly will be talked about around campfires for many years to come. It is the largest grizzly bear ever recorded in the world. It took 60 rounds form a 22 to kill a black bear here in Colorado. Well I was expecting The Bella Twins from WWE , theyre hawt ! Even on a buff, the eyes are vulnerable to a .22. If all I had was a .22 up against a griz, Id need a box of shorts too Well, any thoughts a home invader might have of getting away from her house safely are pretty much slim and none.. Disclaimer: Rolf Voss of Surrey, British Columbia, had shot a caribou near Fort Nelson, in the north-central part of the province, and was carrying parts of the carcass back to his camp in wooded mountain country when a grizzly, perhaps smelling the meat, attacked him. Longs cost less than Long Rifle cartridges. While the grizzly was a world record the method of shooting Polar and Grizzly bears is not uncommon. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously. An estimated 3,500 bears live on Kodiak, which gives it a population density of 0.7 bears per square mile. Bella Twin was a calm, quiet, clear-headed Cree woman with a trap line. Bears have very thick skulls. This is just a bear. The biggest interior grizzly bear ever killed by a bowhunter was shot in May 2009 by Pennsylvania hunter Rob Debias. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. That may have happened here. The guy was in the tree all night. It moved on to the Reynolds Museum in Wetaskiwin, opened in 1955 by Stanley Reynolds. And, you know, it's walking or standing because if it saw them might have stood and then she wants it to look down so she can shoot it. Posted on 02/15/2012 8:43:55 AM PST by marktwain. People said two things. I believe this outcome must have been miraculous and that God was with her. Mr.Carr next time one of your friends asks you who your .22lr could possible hurt, ask them how much they would like to eat one inside 7 yards haha. I havent found any record of weight measurement or a measure of the hide. It was scored at 27 316 by Boone and Crockett measurers and stands as the largest hunter-killed grizzly ever taken by any method. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". A possible fatality supposedly occurred in 1907 when a man was attacked by a female grizzly bear after he prodded her cub with an umbrella. The guide located a qualifying bull at about 100 yards and pointed it out to the old gentleman. The photograph there might show better details, and the skull photograph may be in that book as well. Every time the Buffalo went by, he put a 22 into it. /S. Smith. They were longs not shorts and she changed them at least seven times . The elders also said that to run from a grizzly was certain death., When students asked him about the bear, Larry told them this was probably what took place. Rod Debias has dreamed of taking a grizzly with a bow since his father set him up with his first archery rig when he was 8-years-old. On 10 May, 1953, a front was passing through Slave Lake, a village on the South shore of Lesser Slave Lake in Alberta, Canada.