BIG BEAR

This has got to be the biggest bear that I have ever seen. Thanks to Paul Halloran for the updated info on this bear. See the article below for details.

This article was published in the Anchorage Daily New (Sunday , December 16, 2001)

It was a big bear -- its front legs spanning 11 feet from claw tip to claw tip, its skull the size of a beer keg, its paws as big as a man’s chest. An Eielson Air Force Base airman (Theodore Winnen) shot the record-book grizzly during an October deer hunt in Prince William Sound.

 

Theodore Winnen , a 22-year-old crew member of the 18th fighter squadron at Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks ( Not Elmendorf  base in  Anchorage )  Bear was between 15 + 20 years old . Actual skull size was 28 8/16 ( length and width combined ) Green score , until skull dries to be measured for Boone and Crockett club . Note: The record Alaskan brown bear - killed on Kodiak Island in 1952- had a skull that scored 30 12/16. 

 

The fact that the bear was shot on Hinchinbrook Island in Prince William sound is remarkable ,It is double the size of average bear taken there . The biggest brown bears are found on Kodiak , Afognak , Unimak Islands and the  Alaska Peninsula.

 

Final note : Winnen and 3 other airmen had been dropped off on Hinchinbrook Island to hunt for Sitka blacktail deer . Winnen did pick up a permit to shoot a bear , just in case . Winnen shot the bear six times with a .338-caliber Winchester mag. on Oct. 15th , while the bear was looking for leftover Salmon in a stream .