Oop!

LCH

LCH

Very Active Member
Jun 28, 2015
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Southern Indiana
I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often. I've killed one elk, it was standing still, and at the shot it jumped and spun to get back into the thicket it had emerged from. The hoof tracks from the landing were a good 15 feet from stationary takeoff. They "got ups."
 
Winchester

Winchester

Veteran member
Mar 27, 2014
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Woodland Park, Colorado
When I was flying helicopters (Hueys) for the Army in Alaska we assisted the Fish and Game folks who were doing a study on Grizzlies. One of their wardens would put on a harness and lean out of the cabin door in the back with a tranquillizer gun. Our rotor wash would affect the trajectory of the tranquillizer so we had to fly very low and basically put the toe of the skid right beside the running bear's butt. As you know bears can run fast and change course quickly, which they'd do whenever we got that close. It made for some challenging and exciting fly and we help them dart and then check quite a few Grizz. Never had one try to jump up at my helicopter though.
 
A

AKaviator

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Jul 26, 2012
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I had a Warden friend that had a very close call with a bear trying to take him down. He had landed to check on a bear he thought was dead; it wasn't! He was flying an R-22, which is not excessively powerful. He barely got off the ground and just high enough when the bear lunged at him.
My friend wrote a magazine article about the incident but I can't seem to find it anywhere and he has passed away.

That must have been exciting flying, Winchester! I've done some of that but not as the pilot in the Helo! You have to have good situational awareness!
 
Winchester

Winchester

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Mar 27, 2014
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Woodland Park, Colorado
Yeah, it was crazy flying. First we had to kinda herd the Grizz out of any trees onto the open flats ... then the chase was on. But with the rolling terrain and still an occasional tree it was very important to have good SA as you say.

On time we found a big sow with 3 cubs. The sow had been tagged previously and was so afraid of the helicopter see actually took off too fast for her cubs to keep up. After she ran over a ridge we circled back and darted each cub. The Warden wanted me to shut down the helo and help since he had 3 cubs to process but I would not. I told him I figured the sound of the helo was the only thing keeping that sow away and I didn't want us standing around if/when she came back to find us messing around with her cubs!
 
A

AKaviator

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Jul 26, 2012
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Sound logic! (no pun intended)

I was involved in chasing a big brown bear with an R-44. We were trying to locate a bear that had killed a guy and had been wounded. I was acting as a door-gunner and the pilot was darn near landing on the bear. We needed to ascertain if it was the right bear. Bear, as you said, have better brakes than us, would stop in his tracks and duck down and we'd fly right by. He'd run off in a different direction, plowing thru alder thickets.
One thicket had a young cow moose in it and that bear ran right by the moose, maybe 2' away. I can still see the terrified little dance/jig the cow did as the bear went by, then we went by! She's probably still in therapy!

Turned out to be the wrong bear and we never did locate the killer bear.
 
Winchester

Winchester

Veteran member
Mar 27, 2014
2,521
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Woodland Park, Colorado
Yeah, bears are fast and agile.
We really couldn't get right down on one for more half-a-second until we'd chased 'em for awhile and they just got too tired to keep juking. Once they got tired and began running more-or-less in a straight line we could get close enough to dart them.

I wonder if that moose was more afraid of the bear or your helicopter? :)
 
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