Free Republic

On 10 May, 1953, Bella Twin was hunting small game with her partner, Dave Auger, along an oil exploration cutline south of Slave Lake, in Alberta, Canada. She was 63 years old.They saw a large grizzly bear coming toward them. Wishing to avoid an encounter, they hid off the side of the cut.But the bear kept coming closer and closer.  The bear got so close that Bella Twin thought it less risky to shoot the bear than to not shoot it.  It was probably only a few yards away. Some accounts say 30 feet. Perhaps she saw it stop...

In this famous photograph by Bruno Engler, Bella Twin is shown with the hide from the world record grizzly bear that she shot in 1953 with a single shot .22 rifle.  The question is, what rifle is she holding?   It has been written that Jack O'Conner "heard" that it was an old Stevens single shot.   But as he only "heard" this, I do not think it is at all definitive.  This is said to be from page 304 of "The Hunting Rifle", published in 1953.   Given that the bear was shot in 1953, and the reference was near the...