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

They spotted a parent and child brown bear crossing a forest road, and fired at it as it ran up the mountainside. The cub collapsed on the spot, and the parent bear, shot in the stomach, ran up the mountain.

He said, “Climb to the top of the mountain first, and then look for the bear as you go down. Never lower yourself below the bear.”

Under Mr. Kurokawa’s direction, a young hunter with a gun at his hip climbed up the slope of the mountain. Mr. Kurokawa also climbed the mountain from another direction. Even though he was wounded, the thought of a brown bear lurking somewhere made him tremble with fear.

 

I ran toward the voice and found a large black brown bear lying on the side of the mountain. As I approached it cautiously, I saw that it was still breathing and moving its arms and legs violently. When it sensed a human approaching, it flailed its arms and legs even more, making a last stand. Even after a bullet was fired into the bear’s head, a vital spot, the bear’s arms and legs still moved, indicating the strength of its life force.

I put the knife into the young female bear, which was about 1m50cm long and weighed about 130kg. Her body was covered in thick fat. I ripped open the belly and removed the internal organs, revealing a stomach the size of a watermelon. Inside the stomach was a sizzling mass of freshly eaten wild grapes. I shuddered to think what would have happened if I had been attacked by its sharp fangs and huge claws on its front legs.

Two days after we killed the brown bear, a group of fellow hunters got together to cook and eat the bear, a 50 cm back loin marinated in thyme, rosemary, and garlic. It was placed on a pan with a simple seasoning of rock salt and black pepper, and the surface was sautéed in butter. Then it is roasted over time in a wood-burning stove. After about 20 minutes, the meat is removed from the stove, allowed to rest, and is ready to eat. Bear meat has a fishy smell, but after the bear is killed and properly treated, such as by removing the blood, it has no odor at all and tastes just like Iberico pork.

What I witnessed during my visit was the fierce “exchange of life” between humans and brown bears. The role of hunters continues to grow in importance in order to maintain balance with the master of the mountain.