This has got to be one of the most incredible collections of photos we’ve ever seen. In July, wildlife photographer Bob Chadwick documented a brown bear successfully hunting a moose in the middle of a river. The high-res images are so crisp, you can see the water and blood spraying from the epic battle between two Alaska heavyweights.
“A full-grown bear charged across shallow water and surprised this unsuspecting moose,” wrote Chadwick in an Instagram post. The images he captured speak for themselves. The first frame Chadwick shared shows the bear clinging to the neck of the cow moose with its paws, while blood dribbles from a wound on the moose’s shoulder.
The rest of the photos show the grisly scene that followed, including multiple anglers of the big bruin latching onto and struggling to incapacitate the bear. Eventually, Chadwick captured a photo showing the bear with the moose’s head in its jaws, the moose’s tongue hanging from the side of its mouth in the classic pose of a dead critter.
Chadwick wasn’t the only one to capture the shocking encounter on camera. Earlier this summer, Field & Stream reported on a video shared by fishing guide Sam Vassar showing what appears to be the entire wildlife interaction, though in less vivid detail than Chadwick’s spectacular photos. The video concludes with the bear standing over the massive carcass of its kill. See it for yourself below.
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According to the National Park Service, 95 percent of brown bears in the U.S. live in Alaska. Brown and grizzly bears are different names for the same species. The main distinction is that brown bears live in coastal areas, while grizzlies do not. Brown bears are known to reach weights of over 1,000 pounds. Meanwhile, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, the Last Frontier State is home to approximately 175,000 to 200,000 moose, which can weigh up to 1,600 pounds.
