On-Site Look at Hunters’ Dangerous Encounter With a Large Hokkaidō Brown Bear

A brown bear lurking in the brush

A mother bear with cubs will attack humans without mercy! I encountered the site where a female over 100 kg was captured.

My heartbeat pounds violently. Missing even the slightest sign of something unusual could be fatal.

They must have known from the start that I had entered the mountain. From within the thick brush, they were surely watching my every move. Their sense of smell and hearing far surpass those of humans. Even as someone who has covered many battlefields—Ukraine, Afghanistan, and more—as a news cameraman, the extreme tension leaves my throat dry. And if there are relatively fresh droppings or footprints, the feeling intensifies all the more—.

It was in late October when I, who have held a hunting rifle and hunting license for 17 years, entered the mountains of Ashoro in the Tokachi region of Hokkaido in pursuit of brown bears. I relied on Mitsuo Kurokawa (70), a master hunter I respect as my hunting mentor, who has 49 years of hunting experience and once brought down two brown bears in a single day. Kurokawa explains:

“I can really feel that the number of brown bears is increasing year by year. Because acorns and other nuts that bears like were in poor supply due to the intense heat, they’re probably coming down from the mountains.”

According to the Ministry of the Environment, bear sightings in the first half of this fiscal year (April–September) totaled 20,792— the highest number in the past five years. There were 99 incidents resulting in 108 human victims, and more than 70% of those incidents between July and September occurred within human living areas. Bear control has become an urgent issue.

Let’s return to the scene mentioned at the start. The previous day, Kurokawa and I conducted car stalking, driving along forest roads to scout for animals. But on this day, what I accompanied was stealth hunting, in which we walk through the mountains to take down game. Because we were actually walking through bear territory, the tension was even greater. Arisa Itō (36), a young hunter who entered the mountain with us, had a terrifying experience the week before.

“A brown bear hiding in the brush growled at me. I couldn’t see it, but it was the first time I felt a bear’s presence so close, and my body trembled from fear.”

On the white birch trunks around us were claw marks left by bears, and on the ground were footprints and droppings. But in the end, we did not encounter a bear that day. I have gone hunting more than a hundred times, but I have never come face-to-face with a brown bear.

“Brown bears are extremely cautious and rarely attack humans. Even among hunters, some have never shot a bear. But a mother bear with cubs will attack without hesitation if she senses danger. You must always be careful—where there are cubs, the mother is always nearby,” said Kurokawa.

Playing dead to ambush even after a bullet hits, you can’t let your guard down!

In October 2023, two years ago, I encountered a brown bear culling site. It was deep in the mountains of Ashoro, Hokkaido. A fellow hunter who had entered the mountain contacted us, saying he had shot a mother bear weighing over 100 kg and her cub.

When we met up with the hunter, the cub was already dead, but the mother bear, even after taking one bullet, had run up the mountainside. We made a wide detour and headed toward the site on foot, descending from higher ground.

Approaching from lower ground would make it impossible to react to a bear moving quickly from above. At the scene, the mother bear was crouched on the slope. Kurokawa fired three to four shots to finish her. He explains:

“Even if you think you’ve brought it down, never let your guard down. If a bear is on its back, you’re safe. But if it’s lying face-down, it’s dangerous. Sometimes a bear will pretend to be dead, lying in wait for humans, and when you approach, it suddenly jumps up and attacks. You need to watch it for a while, and even if it doesn’t move, fire several more shots just to be sure. Last year in Hokkaido, a hunter suffered serious injuries after being counterattacked by a face-down bear.”

The culled brown bear was then butchered on the spot, divided into smaller pieces, and carried down the mountain. A whole bear is far too large and heavy to bring back intact. Kurokawa continues, “You must stay alert even during the butchering.”

“One of my disciples, a man in his 50s, was butchering an Ezo deer. A bear must have been hiding in the nearby bamboo grass. Drawn by the smell, it attacked from behind. His gun was leaning against a distant tree—out of reach. With no choice, he grabbed his butchering knife, spread his arms wide to make himself look as big as possible, and shouted ‘Waaah!!’ to intimidate it.

He’s a large man, about 180 cm tall. The bear, startled, retreated into the brush. But it must not have given up—it attacked again from behind, but was brought down after the disciple managed to retrieve his gun. The worst thing you can do when encountering a bear is turn your back and run. A bear full of momentum will attack from behind with its sharp claws.”

One mistake and you could be killed— The life-or-death struggle between giant brown bears and hunters continues.

It took four or five shots to finally kill it.

From the November 28 and December 5, 2025 issue of “FRIDAY”