Father and daughter's hike ended suddenly by grizzly

Seattle Post-intelligencer via HoustonChronicle.com ^ | Sept. 10, 2005 | CAROL SMITH

[Archidamus]

•As he's mauled by the bear, the marathoner can think only of his youngster's safety

In the split second before he saw the grizzly's fangs, Johan Otter heard his daughter Jenna's startled voice.

"Oh NO!" Jenna Otter, 18, had been hiking just ahead of her dad as they zigzagged up the steep switchbacks of the Grinnell Glacier Trail at Glacier National Park on Aug. 25. As she turned a blind corner just above the tree line, she stumbled into the path of a sow with two cubs.

The mother bear surged straight for the man. Her teeth sank into his right thigh, and her long claws raked his face, shattering his right eye socket.

In the surreal moments that followed, he tried to keep the bear focused on himself.

"Stay with me," he remembers thinking. "Just don't go to Jenna."

And so the bear, and the 43-year-old hospital administrator from Scripps Memorial Hospital, locked in an ancient battle hardwired into each of their genes: Protect your young at all costs. Even your life.

Otter, a marathoner, threw himself 30 feet down an embankment with the bear in pursuit to try to get further away from his daughter. The bear, estimated at about 400 pounds, landed on top of his back.

She had an "out of this world strength," said Otter. "I was like a rag doll, and I weigh 185 pounds." She flung him back and forth. By then, he could feel his spine had fractured. (Doctors would later find five breaks.)

Frantic, he tried to cover his head with his arms, as hikers are warned to do by park rangers.

"I felt her tooth go into my scalp," he said. Then he felt his scalp rip clean away.

Otter recounted his ordeal last week from Harborview Medical Center where surgeons bolted his battered body back together.

With his head clamped in the bear's jaws, he could hear his skull crack. And just as suddenly, he felt the bear release him.

He lay wedged into a stream, on a small embankment 50 feet below the trail. He couldn't move. What he couldn't see was his daughter curled into a fetal position, on a ledge 20-feet above him, her eyes wide open, facing the bear. The bear clamped down — biting first Jenna's face, then her shoulder.

Jenna didn't flinch, her father recounted later. "That's courage."

The bear, finally spent, left the two alone.

The pair, bleeding and shaken, yelled for help and within half an hour, four hikers discovered them.

Jenna Otter was treated at Kalispell Regional Medical Center in Montana, and released in good condition.

Johan Otter was airlifted to Harborview. Despite arriving with his skull exposed and having lost half his blood, he was conscious.

Doctors stabilized him until Dr. Nicholas Vedder and a team of plastic surgeons could transplant a square-foot of thin sheet muscle from his right side to make a new scalp.

Otter was released from Harborview. Doctors have said they're not sure yet how much of his eye function he'll recover, but he can already wiggle his toes, so they're optimistic about his recovery of movement.

The only thing he won't get back, for sure, is hair.

That doesn't matter to Otter. "I'm so lucky," he said.

[Wycowboy]

I think the park service rules are like military regulations - for the guidance of the wise and the strict adherence of fools. When hiking in Glacier, Yellowstone etc, a good concealed handgun could be a very good friend.

If it is concealed it will be difficult to deploy in a hurry. Also, if you do shoot and injure or kill a bear in a national park, you would need a hell of a good lawyer and some deep pockets, the feds would go after you like you were a child molester. Don't think they would have pity on you because your life was in jeopardy.....they would not.

[Last Dakotan]

A better choice would be a couple of cans of pepper spray.

Q: What's pepper spray to a grizzly?

A: Seasoning.

[U S Army EOD]

Probably a bobcat. I saw one a few months ago that came up to my knee. Very big cat. It was solid colored but still had a bobed tail.

[Sparticus]

The best thing of all to have with you would be a large dog. While the bear and dog were going at it, you would have more time. Plus the dog would normally smell the bear. That would be your best of all insurance.

This would definately depend on the dog! Not too many Irish Setters or Black Labs are going to tackle a big bear. They don't have the temperment for that and are more likely to lead a bear back to you with its tail between its legs looking for you to protect it! If I have to take snap shots at a bear, I don't want to do it with Fido trying to cower between my legs.

On the other hand, a pair of Rodesian Ridgebacks would be handy to have around in a tight situation with mama bear grizzley!

[U S Army EOD]

The reason for the dog is, you can continue to shoot the bear while the bear is busy with the dog.

[Colorado Doug]

A better choice would be a couple of cans of pepper spray.

Why take condiments? May as well bring along some A-1 steak sauce.

LOL Thanks for the laugh

[Last Dakotan]

...before bear left with a 300.

What's a 300? Could this bear count that high?

[Colorado Doug]

Dang! I'll bet that has a kick to it

[BadAndy]

"Any informed opinions as to adequacy of the .357 would be appreciated"

The 357 is marginal for black bears so shot placement is critical. YOu want maximum penetration so use very hard cast semi wadcutter bullets of at least 158 gr. No hollow points. In a defense situation aim between the eyes for a brain shot. Anything else is too slow and you will be a chew toy. Eastern Black bears are not very aggressive and there have been only a few reports of attacks from them. I have run into eastern black bears twice while hunting. The first time I was carrying a .44 mag. The second time a .22. Both times they ran off as soon as they saw me.

[U S Army EOD]

I had a neighbor in Mississippi that had a Rodesian Ridgeback. My cat used to sleep on its head. The full cat could sleep on that monsters head with nothing hanging off. Somehow that cat could get along with almost any dog. The cat hated other cats but just loved dogs.

[Jack Black]

You wrote: Remember - a 44 magnum pistol only has a fraction of the power of a 30-30, which few would choose to hunt bears with.

Here is a paste from Remington's online ammo catalog. As you can see the 'energy' of a .30-30 and .44 mag, particularly at the muzzle (where self protection shootings take place) are pretty close. Of couser you specified power and there is not an agreed upon 'power' formula for bullets.

One of the oldest and frequently cited is the Taylor Knock Out Factor, which Mr. Taylor a professional hunter created to mirror his observations of different bullets on charging African game.

TKO is calculated by multiplying bullet weight in grains X muzzle velocity X caliber divided by 7000. Using this formula the .44 Mag has a TKO of 24 to the .30-30's value of 14.

Note: the muzzle velocity for the .44's here are high because it's for rifle length barrels like the many lever actions chambered in this round.

In summary I think you can make a pretty good case that the .44 mag is a better bear stopper than a .30-30, in similar guns, and maybe the equal in the guns more typical for each (ie: revolver vs. lever gun )

30-30 Win.

44 Remington Magnum

Index No. Cartridge Type Wt. (grs) Bullet Style Primer No. Ballistic Coefficient

R30302 Remington Express 170 Soft Point Core-Lokt® 9 1/2 0.254

R44MG3 Remington Express 240 Semi-Jacketed Hollow Point 2 1/2 0.166

VELOCITY (ft/sec)

Cartridge Type Bullet Muzzle 100 200 300 400 500

Remington Express 170 SP CL 2200 1895 1619 1381 1191 1061

Remington Express 240 SJ HP 1760 1380 1114 970 878 806

ENERGY (ft-lbs)

Cartridge Type Bullet Muzzle 100 200 300 400 500

Remington Express 170 SP CL 1827 1355 989 720 535 425

Remington Express 240 SJ HP 1650 1015 661 501 411 346

[ScreamingFist]

Actually, unless I was hunting the bear, I would carry something like a .44 Mag Carbine.

Good choice, the.44mag out of an 18 inch barrel has excellent knockdown.

[dljordan]

"Angry bears are a lot like humans on PCP or other such drugs - you can actually cause enough damage for them to die but they keep going until their brains shut down for lack of oxygen."

I was reading a book about a British Army officer who was hunting in Ceylon in the 1800's. He shot a rouge elephant with a large bore black powder rifle, the round went through the elephants heart (they found out later) but he still turned, ran a hundred yards and wiped out the beaters then fell over dead.

[Wycowboy]

Q: What's pepper spray to a grizzly? A: Seasoning.

Har Har. I live on Alaska's Kenai Penninsula, and I work in an area that is swarming with bears. The best non-lethal defense against bears, is bear spray. Most people are totally unprepared to place a killing or disabling shot into a bear that is a few feet or yards away, and is closing on them at full speed. They would barely have time to fill their drawers and squeal.

[Alright_on_the_LeftCoast]

Actually, the Mountain Lion problem has been exacerbated due to so many states outlawing the use of dogs to hunt them and keep their numbers down and away from populated areas...pretty damn hard to track and kill a mountain lion without the use of dogs...another one to thank the genious lib politicians for..!

[JasonC]

.357 magnum has far more muzzle energy and penetration than 45 ACP. A .44 mag is better sure. A 45 is only going to equal a .357 if you load +P ammo. As for where to shoot, center of mass. Heart or lung hits will stop them, lung hits being the most common effective hits. A 30-06 is better than any pistol of course, and is what you'd use if you were being deliberate about it.

As for the story, they are both lucky to be alive, and the girl did exactly the wrong thing. You are much better off fighting like the dickens than lying still and hoping they will go away. If you aren't armed and are attacked, throw things (pain caused from farther away is much more likely to trigger "flight"), and hit it on the nose or in the eyes with a club if it gets close.

[U S Army EOD]

I remember an article in Sport Afield back in the early 60's where a guy was hunting gorillas with one. A large gorilla and a bear would be close in weight. The .44 Mag Ruger Deerstalker was very impressive.

[dr_who_2]

Oh, gotcha. Then you can shoot the dog.

[Colorado Doug]

Supplementing your gun with a dog sounds like the best idea. A big, nasty Bullmastiff or something like that.

My gun is easier to clean up after though.

[U S Army EOD]

Do you want to hear the joke about, "shoot the dog, shoot the dog".