Flathead Lake Lodge

This Grizzly was the largest recorded bear in Montana for several years.  The bear was hunted and the incident took place in the 1950’s when Grizzly bears were considered a nuisance and fair game to shoot. This bear had a history of causing trouble in Les Averill’s hunting camp over a period of years. The bear was known for raiding the tents and particularly liked the cook tent. The bear would arrive when nobody was in camp and rip through the tent and groceries leaving quite a mess. Les had a particular dislike for this bear. In one incident it totally destroyed all the tents in camp leaving the hunters exposed to the weather. Les made the decision to ride out 19 miles out of the wilderness with one of his guides to the trailhead, thn drive through the night to Missoula and purchase new tents and be back tomorrow. Les decided when in Missoula to rent a small plane and air drop the tents to his freezing hunters left in camp.

The tents were air dropped to the hunting camp and Les returned to the trailhead and rode 19 miles back into camp. A few days later, while guiding elk hunters with his brother in law Buster, they caught sight of the aggressive raiding Grizzly. The bear was spotted in a long opening in the timber. The bear stood on his hind legs at about 200 yards as it caught the hunter’s scent it dropped on all fours and charged the hunters closing the 200 years in seconds. At that moment, Les and Buster both shooting 270 Winchesters opened up as the bear approached at a breathtaking pace. They both emptied their guns, shooting a total of 8 shells. The bear stumbled at full speed at about 30’ and skidded in at their feet dead. It was a huge bear.

When they butchered the bear they noticed a bullet hole in the roof of the mouth. In exploring they found a bullet lodged in the brain. This could have only been the first shot, when the bear had its nose in the air. It still ran 200 yards with a bullet to the head. It hangs on the Lodge wall today.