Father and Son Survive Grizzly Bear Attack in Alaska

On August 20, 2024, Tyler Johnson, 32, and his father, Chris, were backpacking and hunting on the Resurrection Trail in Alaska.  The trail is in the Chugach National Forest South of Anchorage, across the Turnagain arm of Cook’s Inlet. The north end is just South of Hope, Alaska.  The trail is about 38 miles long. On the first day, the Johnsons had hiked in about 15 miles. The weather was great; it was about 64 degrees, and it was mostly sunny. Both men were in excellent physical shape. Hiking 15 miles in the mountains with heavy packs in a day indicates they were in top form.

As shown in the video,  the father, Chris, had a rifle strapped to his pack. Chris carried a .40 caliber Glock in a chest rig. Tyler had a 10mm in a hip holster attached to his pack. At present, it is not certain what make or model the pistol was. Brief images in the YouTube video show a pistol alongside Tyler. At a best guess, it is a Springfield XD or a  S&W 2.0.

On the second day, they did some hunting. Father and son set out hunting again on the third day, enjoying the scenery and the weather, following an old trail. In many places, the brush was very thick and very difficult to get through. Tyler’s father, Chris Johnson, was in the lead. The track led across a small creek into a sort of funnel of brush, then opened out into a clear area. Tyler had taken about five steps into the clearing. The clearing was covered with knee-high grass.

Tyler explained what happened in more detail in a video interview with alaskasnewssource.com.

Two things happened at nearly the same time. Tyler’s Father yelled bear, bear, bear! and the grizzly bear let out a roar/growl as it charged at him. The father, Chris, turned slightly away to protect his head and neck as he continued to yell “hey, hey, hey!”. The bear momentarily braked, then veered toward Tyler. Tyler estimated it was four seconds from the time the bear roared until the bear hit him.

During this time, Tyler struggled to draw 10mm from the holster attached to his pack. A retired law enforcement firearms instructor told this correspondent he believed, from Tyler’s description of what happened, the holster was a high-level retention holster, probably a Safariland ALS retention level II. The holster requires two distinct motions to release the pistol; then, it can be drawn. Here is a transcription from Tyler :

“The bear put on the brakes and turned toward me.

I had my hand on my firearm at that moment. It was attached to my backpack.  I have an external frame that goes above the head. I don’t know if you have ever seen one of those.

It immediately turned toward me.

I tried to get my gun out of the holster.  My holster has a strap with a thumb. You press it, push the strap forward, then you can take the gun out of the holster. 

I failed attempt for a second.”

Two action retention holsters are very secure. They are designed to ensure suspects are not able to grab a pistol from a police officer. They take practice to be able to access a pistol in under 2 seconds. Without practice, it is easy to lock up the holster, keeping the pistol in the holster. This is what a high-level retention holster is designed to do. Here is a video showing the two motions required for a Safariland ALS retention level II. The first holster mentioned in the video fits Tyler’s description pretty well. Confirmation of this speculation will depend on Tyler.

The bear was rapidly approaching as Tyler struggled to unlock the holster and draw. Tyler cleared the 10mm from the holster just before the bear hit him and bowled him over. Tyler fired his first shot while falling backward. His legs were probably raised to fend off the bear.  The bullet intersected his quadriceps muscle, the big muscle on the front of the leg between the knee and the hip. The bullet entered, traveled under the skin for about three inches, and exited a relatively shallow wound. It may have continued on, penetrating the bear.

Tyler continued firing rapidly, with the bear on top of him. He fired seven more shots into the bear’s chest and head area. On the seventh shot, the bear stopped attacking and started to roll away; disabled, dead, or dying. When he fired his last shot, Tyler felt the bear slump. Tyler described the feeling:

 “When I felt him die on top of me and roll over, it was insane, like Gimlee and the Warg.” 

(Lord of the Rings reference. Gimlee is a warrior dwarf, a warg is a gigantic, aggressive wolf.)

Tyler dropped his pistol and crabbed away, backward, on his hands and butt, as his father closed in. Tyler’s father was not passive. He drew his .40 caliber Glock and moved to change the angle so he could shoot the bear without hitting Tyler. As Tyler separated himself from the bear, Chris Johnson closed the distance and fired several shots into the bear’s head, putting it down for good.

The Johnsons went into triage mode. They were prepared for wounds in the wild. Tyler was carrying a trauma kit with QuickClot and a tourniquet. Tyler applied QuickClot to his bullet wound. Tyler’s father, Chris, applied a tourniquet to Tyler’s right leg, which the bear had bitten and ripped as Tyler was shooting it.

The pair used an InReach satellite device to call for help. It took about an hour and a half for a helicopter to reach them, the first helicopter, from the Alaskan State Troopers, took Tyler to the hospital. According to the Alaska News Source interview, Tyler’s father, Chris, was picked up by a second helicopter. Tyler was released from the hospital the same day. He was discharged before midnight.

The two seasoned hunters and hikers survived the unprovoked bear attack fairly well. They were well prepared to treat significant injuries. If Tyler had been able to draw his 10mm even a second earlier, he might not have been injured at all. Fortunately, the gunshot wound was shallow. It may not have any significant lasting effects. Four seconds is a long time to draw a pistol. Two seconds to draw and fire two shots at close range is a common law enforcement standard, easily achieved with a couple of hours of training and practice. A two-step retention holster may be a good idea for open carry in an urban environment. The more complex the holster, the more practice is required.

At least one article reports a “cub” was later seen in the area. An official report should tell us if the bear was a sow and, if it was, whether it was lactating. Hyper-aggressive grizzly bear sows, which attack humans for merely existing, should be culled from the population.  Their numbers are a tiny minority of grizzly bear sows.  Most grizzly bear sows with cubs flee from humans.

A study of bear attacks in Alaska shows about seven overnight hospitalizations occur for every fatal attack. Because Tyler was not kept overnight, his attack would be classed as a less serious one, which did not require hospitalization overnight.

About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.