In the spring of 1909, we shot a bear in the mountains up Lonkan in the Kanstad Fjord. It was a male bear. In the autumn of the same year, a binne (binne) with young was on the move in the Erikstadfjord. There it struck a goat and mutilated a lamb. On Sneisholmen, it was down between the houses in the middle of the day and took a lamb.
We went after it for three weeks, but only saw the dangers after it. Thursday 14. May 1910, my friend and I geared up and went to the Erikstadfjord. There was still a lot of snow, but on the slopes to the south it was green and the grass was 3-4 inches long, all the way up to the high mountains.
Beyond dinner we were in place, and sat down with the binoculars. The sunshine fell at an angle towards the mountain. And there, over two patches of snow, we saw clear traces of animals. It had to be a bear that had set them. Needless to say, we got excited, and we stared through the binoculars so “the eye got big and wet”.
We made coffee, but kept a constant lookout for life. There was nothing to see, and we went a little further in and closer to the place where we thought the bear lived. We sat and kept watch all night alternately while the other got a little nap, but it was freezing and there was no greater sleep. In the morning at 7-8 o’clock we went to the boat and rowed a bit out into the fjord. Here we landed and went to sleep on a sunny hill. I woke up with spices in my clothes, but it was just ants.
Over dinner, we went a little further inland and went to bed. My friend was lying and watching, and suddenly he said; “There I see him! There are two, there are three!” “Now you lied”, I said. “There one more, it’s four,” he said. “Here, take your binoculars and look at the crags over the hillside there”.
And there really came four bears strollingdown the hillsides and headed for the grasshill. We couldn’t see that it was a bin with three kids, we thought it was a family. This was almost too exciting. We did not feel fear, we were good shooters and we had good rifles, but the position was not so easy. It was hard enough to get in on a single animal, but getting in on four is much worse. The old people said that there was a heaviness with the bear and while we lay there I fell asleep, only for a little while, but still.
They then came in orderdown to the uppermost grassy slope and there the largest began to eat at a pace as if it had not tasted food for years. The other three began to play with each other and did not smell the grass once. We then understood that it was a bingsa with three kids. It was approx. 3 km between them and us.
We then got closer until we were about 1 km away. Between us was a small valley depression, then a forest slope and then a plain grassy slope. Through the forest we could not go without being seen. But from there until the bears were too far to shoot and the terrain was flat and open.
There we sat in the sun and discussed how to get there.The kids craved food and the mother had to lie down nicely like a pig sow. After dinner they became even livelier, ran and played last, took a back hold and rolled downwards, and ran about. But then the game ended.
Bingsa stood still and began to be in all directions. We feared that it had the flair of us. Then it took the young up a bit and hid them behind a rock and came running down. One of the kids peered out over the stone. The stallion turned around and gave the chick a strong overhaul, then it came down again. The back hairs stood like a comb on it, and then we understood that an angry bear has respect with it. Yes, I can admit that I shuddered.
Now we saw that another bear, the fifth, came out of the forest.Bingsa came to the new one and ran on it. However, there was no fight. The new one did not accept, it sat upright and parried. Bingsa stopped beating, and then they sat there right next to each other. So they sat quietly, I think for close to half an hour.
Then the bin went up through the hillside, stopped and looked back and began to dig in the earth so that the spray stood between its hind legs, threw itself around and then downwards, jumped upwards and started digging again. Coming up to the kids, it calmed down. But it was angry, it was easy to see.
Now good advice was expensive for us.We could probably get the new one on hold, but then we scared the others. If we got too close to the new one, it might be able to warn the others. So the evening went. We could make coffee, because the wind was blowing from the bear, but the wait was long. At 9 o’clock the bin went up towards the rock outcrops and up there it settled on a protruding rock. The kids lay down behind it well hidden.
At 11 o’clock we started walking towards them.There was good cover through the forest, but we had to be careful not to make noise, break twigs or support the barbed poles against stones. When the forest ended, it got worse. We had to cross a stone clock of 150 meters, and over it the bear had a clear view. At short intervals it raised its head and looked around and the weather. Then we had to lie dead still. When it lay down, we crawled forward on all fours.
I tore a hole in a new wadmel sweater, both shirts and some blood also came out of my right elbow. I got to see that when we came down. We came over the scree and covered by a mountain ridge. We managed and staked our way further up until we were at the height of the bears.
Then we crept forward in a willow thicket side by side and there lay the bin with her skull and neck facing us. We did not have animal quakes, and without a signal we both shot at the same time. The bear lay motionless. I asked my friend; “Did you shoot??” And he asked; “Did you shoot??”
And there we were.But then one of the kids came up to the mother and stood and watched the weather. Then we shot it, and it stayed on the mother. Then we understood that it was “dead bulk” the bingsa had got. Then it was to get hold of the other two kids. First we had to go down a bit, then up a stream until we came up for the bears that we thought would escape to the high mountains.
And sure enough, there they came crawling towards us. They raised their hairs and grappled their teeth against us. We each skated and they fell and rolled down the crags and down the hillside. We went down to the bin and the kid. They were lying on the same spot. Then we congratulated each other. It was half past five in the morning. For almost six hours we had been waiting for them.
It took a long time to get them down to the boat.We carried, rolled and left. When we had them down, we made coffee and had food. It was then 11 o’clock in the morning. It took six hours to get them down. Then it was good to eat and relax. It had been 12 hours since we last ate. A few hours later we were home. It was Pentecost Eve and the weekend.
Picture:The two hunters Ole Andreas Andersen, Lødingen (1880 – 1960) and Martin Olai Steen, Ballangen (1880 – 1964) with the 4 bears, shot on 15. May 1910.
Text: Ole Andreas Andersen and Martin Olai Steen, published in 1960 in Lofotposten.
Photo: Hans M. Kanstad
