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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1961)
Local Man Bads What May Be Largest Polar Bear Bering Strait Is Scene of Kill by Arthur R. Dubs ; ' By DICK JEWETT : Mail Tribune Slafi Writer When Arthur R. CArt) Dubs of, Medford flew out from Kotzebue, Alaska, last March 3 and winged out over the Bering strait, he was after a big polar bear - the largest that he, and guide Tommy Thompson of Anchorage, Alaska, could find. The 3).-year-olii home de- ; iigner and builder, however, had little idea that he would bag, as a trophy of his hunt ing, a 'bear that experts are saying is probably the biggest a .huntsman has even slain. And, Dubs still is finding it hard to believe, : !-. ' i Their, search for"; a polar bear . of trophy ' proportions took ' nimrod and guide : some 180 miles southwes tof Kotze bue. There, off Big and Little Diomede lslande in the waters separating one of the United States from Soviet. Siberia, they noted huge ' tracks of a mammoth artic animal. Then, they spotted the bear. ' On Ice Floe '.-' ! After a' long swim through jjpen water, , the wary quarry climbed onto an ice floe. That gave Dubs "his chance. The plane was landed on the ice by Thompson and the Med ford . builder,, armed with camera, ' as well as gun, brought down his prize in area of pressure ice. Dubs fired from 380 yards as . the bear was bagged right under the noses of Russian air pa- trols. , Observation from the ; air and subsequent, examination on the ground led Dubs and Thompson to realize that here was a likely record kill. And, their beliefs were, substan tiated , when they returned with skull and hide, to Kot zebue and Seattle, Wash., where they set big game au thorities astir with amaze ment. ' ' . .. ; .. r- Art and the experts are con fident from information since the hunt that here is a polar bear that will top the list in the North' America big game records of the Boone and Crockett club of New York. . 'Unsirelched on Floor Laid out .unstretched on the floor at Jonas Bros.,. Se ; attle, worldrfamed taxiderm ists and furriers, the bear's hide is 11 feet, 9 inches from paw to paw and 11 feet,. 4 inches from nose to tail. Preliminary - measurements of the skull by the Jonas Bros, firm exceed the world record bear skull. Records are determined by skull measurements for Boone and Crockett. Official measure ments are made in New York 60 days after a kill. This is what Bert Kline burger, president of Jonas Bros., had to say in a letter to Dubs last week: "The size of this animal has amazed us and this is rather unusual since, as you know, we have done .almost all the bears taken in Alaska and Canada in the last 20 years and do about 1400 bears a year. We also mounted the world record bear for , Mr. (Tom) Bolack and find jcour bear to be by far larger than his or any other polar bear we have ever mounted.. Exceed Record ' '''' "Also, the1' preliminary measurements (of the skull) exceed the record . . . and, after working on the mount, it appears that the head is actually small in proportion to its giant body. Naturally, ,ry f t V i iktfr s 4 . " 4 75,-. v t; 4 5 it BY CONST. CO. , -s, t s-; .1 -T-jrrf-r , WOTHtRN uiv. iv y- It WMF ARCTIC CIRCLE ARCHITEC-TURE-Arthur Dubs has been a home builder and. designer here for 11 years. When in Alaska last month for a polar bear hunt, he tried his hand at Eskimo-style architecture. Result was the structure above which two natives of the far north seem to enjoy. ft ) i - I A y'FZ J AstiiLtL- POSSIBLE RECORD POLAR BEAR Arthur Dubs. Med- seen. Head measurements of , the bear exceed the record ford, poses with his kill, shortly after bringing down this listed by the Boone and Crockett club of New York. Dubs huge polar bear on an ice floe in Bering strait off the Alaskan coast March 3. -Immense size of the animal is was flown out over the .strait by a guide from Anchorage, Alaska.-. r PAGES 1 to 8 TRIBUNE MEDFORD, OREGON, SUNDAY, APRIL 2, 1961 ? C:1 s: .4 Films on Alaska Slated This Week Films of pioneering in Alas ka will be shown Monday and Tuesday, April 3 and 4, start ing at 8 p.m. in the American Legion hall, 404. Walnut St., Medford. . ! ' Mr. and Mrs. Jim Clark, former Oregon residents, re cently returned from Alaska after living there since the summer of 1958. The couple have prepared a VA hour col or movie of their experiences including "shots" of moose, caribou, dall sheep, grizzly, fox, . ermine, lynx, beaver, black wolf, and wolverine. . On one occasion, Mrs. Clark is shown 40 feet from a 1,000 pound grizzly bear. Other pic tures snow a moose wiin more than a' six-foot horn spread ap proaching within 60 feet of the couple. . ENORMOUS PAW The size of the paws on the polar bear killed in Bering strait by Arthur Dubs is enormous. Here Dubs displays ope of the paws. : V . we had to make a special model for this giant. . . . We are always pleased to work on such a magnificent tro phy." An article, ' "Bears Facts and Fantasies," by, Grancel Fitz in Sports Illustrated mag-, azine, establishes Dubs' bear as an even more value prize. Declared Fitz, an expert n the subject of bears from long experience as a sportsman:-. Considered Biggest - ' . . "The polar bear has . . . unique quality which, as a trophy hunter, I find most fascinating of all. The biggest, found off Alaska; are longer and heavier than bears of any other kind in the world. I stirred up a mild tempest . . . when I first published my convictions on their superior size. . - .' .. "The Alaska brownies had always been considered the biggest in every way. But that claim seemed doubtful to me after; my first trip to the Alas kan arctic in 1949, and those doubts were confirmed ..when I returned in 1956 to collect my own polar bear trophy." Fitz said further that in the last couple of seasons a few hunters have . taken nose-to-tail measurements of unskin ned polars that were reported to be as long as 10 feet, 6 inches. Such field measure ments are not official, accord ing to Fitz, "but are interest ing when compared- to a 9 foot maximum for browns. : The big bears were not weighed, Fitz said in the magazine, but a Carnegie mu seum specimen, which now ranks 18th- on the basis of s k u 1 1 measurement, 'was weighed in pieces and totaled 1,728 pounds.- ! -. . Dubs' bear was a full 10 SL. : I life mi&m& 4 F y ""Sari 'h4 rt I si- R ft f 3 ' r " HIDE PORTRAYS SIZE OF BEAR Shown stretched on the floor of the taxidermist at Kotzebue, Alaska, is the hide of the mam-' shop at Seattle, the hide measured 11 feet, moth polar bear killed by Arthur Dubs, , 9 inches from paw to paw and 11 feet, 4 Medford, early last month In waters be- . inches from nose to tail. - ' -tween Alaska and Siberia. When laid un- - BEAR FROM AIR Colored movie and still shots from the air and while he stalked his polar bear for the kill are prized by Arthur Dubs, who last month bagged an animal of possi ble world record proportions off the coast of 'Alaska. Here, from the; air is shown the bear which was soon to become the trophy of his hunt. 44 Cases of Mumps Reported in County A total of 44 cases of mumps were reported to the Jackson county health department last week, according- ;tox Dr.-: A. Erin Merkel, r public ', health physician.,, , ' ., '.' , . In Jacksonville, 28 cases of mumps- were reported; others were in Talent 1, Medford 9, Ashland 4, . and Phoenix 2. Other diseases in Medford Included chicken pox, 3: im petigo, 1; measles, 7; gonor rhea, 1; infectious mononucle osis, 1; and influenza, 10. Ash land reported one case -each of infectious hepatitis,, pink eye, and measles. Central Point reported one case of gonorrhea, - .; STATE RESTRICTIONS New York-All but nine of the U.S. states have a ban on the sale and use of fireworks. inches longer from' nose to tail than those mentioned by Fitz.: No weight, of course, was taken of Dub's animal. But, pictures and the opinion oi the experts, although some are hesitant to be quoted, strongly support the prob ability that it is a world rec ord bear. . .' ' - Prized, too, are Dubs' pic tures of his hunt- the color stills arid movies of the actual stalk and kill in his adven ture in the north.- Said KHneburger; ". . . You can be complimented on get ting such outstanding stills and movies, as well as the trophy. It is unusual, indeed, for a hunter to get both a top trophy and pictures, too." According- to Klineburger, Dubs' i polar bear will be ready -i0r delivery to him in about three weeks. His prob lem, now, is where to put the most valued trophy of his collection. " - ' Ashland Station Joins MBS Network Ashland - Radio station KRVC, Ashland, has become affiliated with , the Mutual Broadcasting system, accord ing to General Manager Bill Henley. Declared the world's largest radio network, the MBS will offer programs and personal ities including the well-known commentator Fulton Lewis Jr., and Sportscsster Bill Stern. According to Henley, . radio KRVC will feature a "special" world and local news roundup at noon each day, with six different commentators and newscasters. MBS programming over KRVC (1350 k.c.) started yesterday. 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