Gavin Haakenson was lucky to get away with only a claw scratch on his left shoulder and a shredded sleeve on his puffy coat after he blacked out when a brown bear charged him. The attack happened while Haakenson was moose hunting on September 2 on the Killey River near Soldotna, Alaska.
“Last thing I remember was trying to shoulder my rifle and the bear jumping at me,” Haakenson tells OL. “Then I don’t remember what happened. That’s when my black out started.”
Haakenson and his friend Ethan Yeager were scouting for moose after work. Haakenson, raised in Soldotna, has targeted a specific bull in the drainage for two years. He’s hoping it’s big enough to legally harvest this year. The pair hiked less than two miles of trail then cut through the bush to some swampy ponds. There, they called and waited, but saw nothing. They headed back to Yeager’s truck at dusk, cutting a different route through trees to get out. That’s when the bear attacked.
“I heard a noise to my right and looked over and there was a brown bear charging me at full speed,” Haakenson says. “It was super close, maybe 10 feet, when I saw it. It was growling extremely loud, a terrifying noise. I saw its face. Its teeth were out. It hit me in the shoulder and knocked me down.”
Yeager shot his pistol but not directly at the bear because he couldn’t see where Haakenson was — the bear was blocking his view.
Meanwhile, Haakenson was trapped on his back underneath the bruin. The bear rose after two shots and Yeager kept firing, possibly hitting the bear in the rump as it ran away.
“The whole thing happened in under 10 seconds,” Haakenson says. “Then we hiked back to the truck as fast as we could yelling, ‘hey bear’ with some fear in our voices.”
The hunting pair called for help. Medics checked Haakenson. X-rays show the bear’s impact didn’t break bones and its claw ripped fabric but didn’t sever skin, so Haakenson doesn’t need stitches. He’s bruised, sore, and needs six weeks of physical therapy for his shoulder. Other damage is minimal. His riflescope is dented, the stock on his gun is scratched, and much of his coat’s left sleeve is missing. Haakenson says that KUIU is replacing the tattered coat.
“I get restless just thinking about it,” he says. “I’m glad I blacked out and don’t remember the bear being on top of me. The thought of ‘what if’ is what keeps me up.”
U.S. Fish & Wildlife officers searched the scene after talking to the two men. They found newly dug pits and coat scraps. They didn’t find the bear. They suspect it’s a boar, based on the size of the digs and the description from the two hunters. Haakenson received directions via text from Dustin Martin, a USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge federal wildlife officer, that stated:
“He will be back if you guys didn’t kill him. If he was hit, it wasn’t bad. If you go back, be extra careful because that bear is going to be extra territorial.”
Dustin Martin, USFWS Kenai National Wildlife Refuge federal wildlife officer
“Worst thing we want is someone to walk up on an injured bear,” Martin tells OL. “We went back the next day and found some old caribou bones and dig sites, but no blood and no hair.”
Alaska Department of Fish and Game manages brown bears on Kenai Peninsula as a game species with a hunting season. The peninsula encompasses about 25,000 square miles, including Kenai National Wildlife Refuge where Haakenson and Yeager were scouting for moose. The peninsula’s most recent brown bear population estimate of 582 comes from a 2010 study. By comparison, the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem is about 34,000 square miles and hosts more than 1,000 grizzly bears in Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks plus portions of Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.
Within the peninsula, the Killey River is a salmon-rich tributary to the Kenai River and runs are happening now, which attract bears. Haakenson carries a tag for brown bear, black bear, and moose this time of year. When asked if he’s going back to Killey River this hunting season, he hesitated.
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“When you live in Alaska, you have to take the wild into account for everything you do just like you do the weather. And if you’re going to hunt in Alaska, you can expect to see bears, but I have a hard decision to make,” he says. “I’d like to go out and find this brown bear and shoot it, but how much do I want to make my mother worry? And, how angry will this brown bear be when it sees me?”
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