Gary Boyd, left, a retired Army helicopter pilot, and his friend Dennis Hall spread out the hide of a brown bear Boyd shot with his 44-caliber handgun in defense of his life on the tank trails near his Muldoon home. (Photo by Bob Hallinen / Anchorage Daily News) Published: September 24, 2004
Boyd holds the paw of the brown bear that charged him on the Fort Richardson tank trail near Muldoon. (Photo by Bob Hallinen / Anchorage Daily News) Published: September 24, 2004
Pistol-packing hiker kills brown bear in sudden Chugach foothills attack
SELF-DEFENSE: Muldoon man credits reflexes, shooting practice with saving his life.
By DOUG O'HARRA
Anchorage Daily News
(Published: September 24, 2004)
Muldoon resident Gary Boyd was walking his boxer puppy Wednesday afternoon along the popular "tank" trail in the Chugach foothills north of Campbell Creek when he heard something big crashing through the brush behind him.
"I thought it was a moose, but then I saw it was too low for a moose," said Boyd, a former Army helicopter pilot and retired maintenance chief. "I just had time to pull my pistol and spin around."
A massive male brown bear erupted from the forest less than 20 feet away, claws tearing up hard-packed earth as it charged toward the 57-year-old .
The bear, later estimated at 750 pounds, had apparently been guarding the remains of a moose taken in a Fort Richardson bow hunt in the woods about 75 feet off the gravel track used by hikers, bikers and dog walkers.
"I fired the first shot, and I aimed at its shoulders," Boyd said. "When the first shot didn't faze it, I fired the second time, and it turned into the ditch, and I shot three more times, and it went down."
With one shot remaining in his .44-caliber Magnum revolver, Boyd called Anchorage police on his cell phone and walked out a trail to the end of Klutina Street to meet Alaska state trooper Kim Babcock. It was about 12:30 p.m.
Babcock and Boyd returned to the scene and found the bear still alive but unable to move. Babcock finished the animal with a shotgun slug to the heart, while Boyd shot it in the head.
The Alaska Bureau of Wildlife Enforcement trooper said she believed Boyd acted appropriately in defense of his life and was glad he had been armed and had the skill to hit the animal with so little time at such close range.
"He didn't have a choice," Babcock said.
JJ...you know where Ft Rich is. Folks, this is Anchorage!
