Polar Bear Attack Stopped with a .44 Magnum in Alaska

Polar Bear Attack in Norway Stopped with Revolver, iStock-627066956
Polar Bear Attack Stopped with a .44 Magnum in Alaska, iStock-627066956

U.S.A. – Arey Island is a seven-mile-long barrier island in the Southern Beaufort Sea off the coast of the north slope of Alaska. It is a flat, barren island that is mostly privately owned.

During August of 2014 two United States Fish and Wildlife personnel were on duty on the west end of Arey Island, recorded as off the mouth of the Hula Hula and Okpilak Rivers, 8.5 miles WSW of Kaktovik. 70 deg 05’23.67″ N, 144 deg. 00’43.12″W. One of them defended themselves against a polar bear on August 16, at about 9 a.m. The incident was recorded as number 549 in the Freedom of information act (FOIA) response AmmoLand received. 

What happened is reconstructed from the sparse reporting in the FOIA response. 

The Fish and Wildlife personnel did not have any dogs with them. Their food was in a bear-resistant container outside of the tent. The Fish and Wildlife pair did not have bear spray with them. In Kaktovik, the temperature was recorded as 39 degrees F, with a 20 mph wind from the East. Earlier, at 5 am, the wind had been 30 mph. For those of you who have not slept in a tent, 20 to 30 mph winds are significant. A tent has to be strong and well anchored to remain in place with a 30 mph wind. If the wind was averaging 20 mph, there were almost certainly gusts to 30 mph. When the wind was averaging 30 mph, there were almost certainly gusts to 45 mph.

One of the Fish and Wildlife personnel was sleeping in a tent. They had a .44 magnum. A fat and healthy boar polar bear arrived on the scene and attempted to enter the tent. The sleeper woke up, detected the polar bear, and shot and killed the polar bear with the .44 magnum. The shooter was not injured, except perhaps, for some lost hearing ability. 

Some people might believe the boar polar bear was just looking for a little interspecies companionship in the bleak landscape. Polar bears are, most of the time, at the top of the food chain. They are opportunistic hunters. They live by killing and eating other living things. It seems unlikely the bear was there to cuddle.

Even at the relatively warm temperature of 39 degrees, shelter is essential to survival in a place such as Arey Island. With Kaktovik only 8.5 miles away, a healthy person could probably find shelter there. There is not much to make shelter from on a windswept barrier island such as Arey Island. If a polar bear forces its way into your tent, there may not be much tent left over.

In the reporting recovered in the FOIA, a person reviewing the incident made this comment:

Fat, curious  bear. If had had bear spray, this would have been a good time to use it. The individual did not carry ANY deterrents. Only a .44.

This reporter suspects the after-the-fact commentator did not bother to consider what the weather was when the incident happened. The weather was not mentioned in the abbreviated facts given in the information from the FOIA request. As a meteorologist in a previous career, this correspondent only took a few keystrokes to determine what the weather was on that day and time, from a reporting station in Kaktovik, only a few miles away. 

Bear spray with a 20 mph wind is useless. Even a slight breeze has major effects on bear spray. Bear spray inside a tent is more likely to debilitate a person in the tent than a bear outside of it. Waiting for a bear to enter the tent with you, in order to spray it, is not a wise option. How much damage the tent sustained in the fight for survival with a healthy polar bear, was not mentioned. The bear was killed.

The incident was recorded as a Defense of Life and Property report (DLP) in Alaska. 


About Dean Weingarten:

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. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

Dean Weingarten

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Rob

I live in rural Virginia and, after reading all these man-bear articles festooning Ammoland, have started taking a Marlin 45-70 with me whenever I take the trash and recycle up to the street. My neighbors have begun giving me strange looks recently, but with all the bear sightings in the area I figured being prepared was a good thing.

CaptainKerosene

A large caliber handgun is easier to carry than any 45/70 carbine. Hope your neighbor never needs you to save them.

Wild Bill

Hmmm, a carbine or rifle is pretty handy when it is in your hand; more effective than a pistol (assuming same cartridge); and, I think that is why the Army issues rifles to most of the troops rather than pistols to everyone. I could be wrong.

TGP389

You’ll be surprised how the situation will change if someone gets attacked. Good on you, as they say in Oz.

Duane

Handguns and ammo are very weather resistant

CaptainKerosene

I like eggs with lots of pepper. I imagine bears like pepper seasoning too.

TGP389

The reviwer who commented on their lack of bear spray was a typical arm chair general. He’d probably never seen a polar bear unless it was in a zoo or from the safety of a car or cruise ship.

I would shoot a racoon trying to get in my tent, much less a polar bear. Anything wild trying to get in where you ate means mischief, even if it’s “just” rabid.

Bigfootbob

Thanks Dean, I appreciate your articles detailing Man/Bear encounters. Thankfully you used your brain to write this and didn’t get lazy like many content producers here and use AI to write portions/all of the story. I refuse to read any articles where the content producer admits to using the AI.

Last edited 10 months ago by Bigfootbob
Montgomery

Bear spray through the walls of a tent is also useless. All the F&W person would have accomplished is to gas (or season) himself.

BigRed

Good bear story. Pepper spray is good for a neighborhood dog that is getting feisty… Not a predator that is the size of a bull buffalo that is starving hungry or trying to desparately defend it’s cubs from a percieved threat… If you don’t carry a gun in bear country you’re taking chances with your life… It’s just sensless, i went backpacking, etc for many years without a gun, and then one day, while out bowhunting elk without a sidearm, i had an extremely nerve racking and dnagerously close experience with a black bear and cubs… Since then i carry… Read more »