Worlds largest bear? Not quite.

So I was asked recently about an e-mail chain letter that has been circulating the internet since around 2001. The email shows what appears to be a very large grizzly bear and it's hunter sitting next to it. The animal is so large that it's paw is about the size of the man's chest. The accompanying text goes along something like this...

“The pictures are of a man who works for the US Forest Service in Alaska and his trophy bear.

He was out deer hunting last week when a large grizzly bear charged him from about 50 yards away. The guy emptied his 7mm Magnum semi-automatic rifle into the bear and it dropped a few feet from him. The big bear was still alive so he reloaded and shot it several times in the head.

The bear was just over one thousand six hundred pounds It stood 12′ 6″ high at the shoulder, 14′ to the top of his head. It’s the largest grizzly bear ever recorded in the world.

Of course, the Alaska Fish and Wildlife Commission did not let him keep it as a trophy, but the bear will be stuffed and mounted, and placed on display at the Anchorage airport to remind tourists of the risks involved when in the wild.

Based on the contents of the bears stomach, the Fish and Wildlife Commission established the bear had killed at least two humans in the past 72 hours including a missing hiker.

The US Forest Service, backtracking from where the bear had originated, found the hiker’s 38-caliber pistol emptied. Not far from the pistol was the remains of the hiker. The other body has not been found.

Although the hiker fired six shots and managed to hit the grizzly with four shots (the Service ultimately found four 38 caliber slugs along with twelve 7mm slugs inside the bear’s dead body), it only wounded the bear and probably angered it immensely. The bear killed the hiker an estimated two days prior to the bear’s own death by the gun of the Forest Service worker.

Think about this:

If you are an average size man; You would be level with the bear’s navel when he stood upright. The bear would look you in the eye when it walked on all fours! To give additional perspective, consider that this particular bear, standing on its hind legs, could walk up to an average single story house and look over the roof, or walk up to a two story house and look in the bedroom windows.”

So what Jack wanted to know is... is this real? Well, Jack, the answer is yes and no. Yes the picture is real, no, the text is not.

Actually about the only thing the story above gets right is that it took place in alaska. Prince William Sound, Alaska to be exact. The story also is correct that he was hunting deer.

The bear in reality was shot by Eielson Air Force Base airman Theodore Winnen, using a .338-caliber Winchester Magnum. It was smaller than described, being estimated at between 1,000- 1,200 lbs. The hide only measured 10' 6” from it's nose to it's tail.

The story also erroneous claims that the bear charged him. In reality,  Winnen states that the bear may not have even seen them, as it appeared to be unaware of their presence.  

The bear was also not the largest bear ever recorded. The Boone and Crockett Club, which keeps track of bear size via the size of a dried skull, gave the bear a score of 28 8/16'', a combination of the bear's 10 11/16'' width and 17 13/16” length. The largest bear on record was scored at 30 12/16'', shot by Roy Lindsley in 1952.

In fact, there have been 19 over 30'' bears taken since 1904, all of which would be larger than this particular bear.

There was also no evidence that the bear had attacked anyone. There were no .38 rounds found in the bear. In fact, the bear took 6 shots from Winnen's .338 before it dropped.

Finally, one last false truth, he was allowed to keep the bear. He had it made into a rug.

For more information, visit Alaska.com's story on the hunt.