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Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode takes us to the tundra strewn scrubland 40 miles away from Nome, Alaska. Nome first came to fame in the public eye in the early 1900’s due to a gold rush in the area. People flocked from around the world to try their luck at pulling gold from is desperate and hostile landscape. The city of Nome claims to have the largest gold pan in the world on display and its legacy as a gold rush town still dwells in the inhabitants here.
The climate here is a subarctic climate which means temperatures range dramatically from season to season. Since it is located near the sea, the humidity moderates these temperature swings, compared to more inland locations, but January still averages only five degrees fahrenheit and July averages at fifty two degrees fahrenheit. With just over seventeen inches of precipitation each year, this area sees a small amount of rain or snowfall on most days.
This land is rolling hills covered with Gray Willow interrupted by stands of Balsam Poplar and Black Crowberry trees. Bluejoint and Common Wood Rush are grass like plants that grow around every area with enough water to support them. Animals you might see if you visit Nome include Muskox, Moose and Caribou. The predators that prowl this area include Wolves, Wolverines and Brown Bear, but this is also the winter range for Polar Bears and their common companion, the Arctic Fox.
The Seward Peninsula has over 300 miles of gravel roads, which allows its visitors abundant access to remote locations, but some of these locations are so isolated that in the event of a problem, you may be on your own to solve it. The surf pounds the rocky shore which gives way to sandy beaches while glacial streams bubble up from subterranean aquifers providing the visitors, animals and plants pure and clean water for survival.
On July twelfth, twenty twenty one, Richard Jesse was heading out to his remote mining camp. He was approaching his sixth decade in life, and his values were changing. He didn’t mind being alone, in remote locations while he searched for gold and basked in the solitude of the area. He had brought his four wheeler in to help his search the area around his mining site and had a towable trailer he pulled behind it, to haul his gear. He did bring a cell phone but not an emergency beacon, as it seemed counter intuitive to the isolation and privacy the area offered him. If he needed help, he clearly understood that he would simply call for it on his cell phone. He also neglected to bring bear spray as he didn’t plan on having any problems with the bears in the area. They had never bothered him much before, so why would this trip be any different? The only self defense item Richard had brought with him was his pistol, though it isn’t clear what brand, make or caliber it was. He brought about a box of pistol ammo with him, just in case.
Before departure, Richard had made sure to tell his friends where he was going and what time he should be back. This is a basic responsibility of anyone going into the backcountry, but if something tragic happens before your return time, you may end up in a life and death struggle until your deadline arrives and searchers are notified and rounded up to find you.
Just after arrival, Richard hopped on his four wheeler and pulls his trailer a few hundred yards from his mining camp. He had been searching for gold in the creek that meanders through the willows around his camp, and had decided to pan in a spot he hadn’t searched before. As he drove along the creekbank his vision was filled with an angry brown bear closing in on him.
For a moment, Richard was unsure if the bear may simply run past him, but as it closed in, he could see its eyes focused on him and nothing else. It was clearly not trying to escape to safety, but to confront him with its teeth and claws.
The giant bear easily flipped over Richard’s fourwheeler and small utility trailer as if they were toy cars. In the blur of an attack, the brown bear knocked the man to the ground and clamped its jaws onto his ankle. It began dragging him toward the creek and he was certain it was taking him into the cover of the willows, where no one could intervene in the attack.
As the bear drug Richard across the rocks along the bank of the river, he managed to pull his pistol out. He fired once at the bear, which immediately released its grip on his ankle. Scrambling to his feet, Richard scampered through the willows and grass, back to the relative safety of his camp site and locked himself inside his make shift cabin.
This wasn’t the end of the confrontation for the bear. It could have easily licked any wounds it may have had from Richards pistol, if he even hit it, and went on its way. Instead the bear followed him back to his cabin.