The Brown Bear Hunters of Hokkaido Closely Observe the Tense Exchange of Lives

His job is to protect Hokkaido Electric Power Company workers who inspect power lines in the mountains and researchers who study the ecology of birds and animals from brown bears.

Nobuyuki Nonomura, 72, a resident of Obihiro City, Hokkaido, is a veteran hunter with 46 years of hunting experience. His area of responsibility is the Tokachi region. For the past 10 years, he has been asked by a company to play the role of a “bouncer,” so to speak, escorting clients in the mountains with a rifle in hand so that they can work safely.

The first priority is to protect the client’s life rather than to kill the brown bear, so when he encounters a brown bear, he first shouts loudly, and if the bear still approaches, he fires warning shots to scare it away. Fighting a brown bear is a last resort. It is a risky proposition.

“If they approach you, you have lost.”

Just recently, a brown bear attacked and severely injured a worker who was working on a lumbering operation to convert logged trees into lumber without an escort. Mr. Nonomura has already encountered five to six brown bears this year.

Because of the increased work in the mountains during the summer, Mr. Nonomura is asked to escort bears for about half of the month. What does he keep in mind when escorting bears?

 

“First of all, you have to understand the habits of bears. Even if you shoot a bear and think you have killed it, it may suddenly attack if you go near it too easily. Many hunters are caught off guard and attack a bear because they think, ‘It’s okay because the bullet hit the bear,’ You always have to fire another shot even if the bear is down. It is also important to be familiar with the mountain terrain. You also have to be strong on your feet and legs.”

Mr. Nonomura, who is hardly 72 years old, is able to climb the steep mountain with ease, keeping a sharp lookout for his surroundings.

What should he do if he is unlucky enough to encounter a bear without an escort?

“If we turn around and run away, it will attack us. If you don’t have anything to use as a weapon, you have to back away without looking away from the bear.”