Hunter's regret after giant kill

Bagdad shooter Kevin Rayner with the Alaskan grizzly bear he shot.

PHILIPPA DUNCAN

January 24, 2010 08:59am

TASMANIAN Kevin Rayner waited three days, eyes combing the Alaskan tundra, for this giant to wander into shot.

He was worth the 20-hours-a-day wait: the 2.7-metre bear is listed on the big-game website Safari Club International as the second-biggest grizzly ever shot.

"It's not a bad honour for a little Tasmanian boy," said Mr Rayner, of Bagdad.

"Safari Club is a club of billionaires, millionaires and aristocratic people you would hardly believe.

"They've got money to burn and go on the most expensive hunts."

The 67-year-old retired teacher was on his fourth hunting trip to Alaska when he saw his grizzly.

"I could see it was awfully big," he said.

He couldn't get near it so he shot a giant moose, left the backbone and frame as bait and waited.

Alaskan summer days are long 20 hours but nature put on quite a show.

"Before the bear came back a wolf pack came to the kill, walking around picking up any scraps they would find," Mr Rayner said.

"They seemed to float around like ghosts. They really are beautiful animals."

Then on the third day it came.

"One shot killed the bear instantly," Mr Rayner said.

"I could not believe how large the bear was. It was as big around the arm as I am around the chest.

"I felt pretty excited but to tell you the truth I will never shoot another bear.

"I have never felt guilty shooting an animal before, but when I shot the bear I did.

"I felt a bit sad for the bear, he was so regal, so beautiful, it had taken him so long to grow."

It weighed up to 600 kilos and was 26 years old.

"If it were to stand up it's higher than the ceiling of an ordinary room," he said.

It took three days to shoot, but three years to get the bear's tanned skin through Customs.

Mr Rayner spent tens of thousands hunting his trophy, and is up for thousands more to get it mounted by Longford taxidermist Simon Stone.

"It's an enormous waste of money I know," Mr Rayner said.

He also had to raise the roof of his trophy room to fit the grizzly alongside about 60 other animals he has shot. "When we have a dinner party we have it in there," he said.

"The guests either cope or they don't. There are a few people around who can't handle it."

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