Alaska State Troopers have identified the hunting guide involved in Thursday’s Admiralty Island bear mauling as 63-year-old LaVern Beier of Juneau.
Authorities say Beier, a big game hunting guide, was with client Douglas Adkins of Jenkins, Kentucky, on Thursday evening on Admiralty Island near Angoon. They startled a brown bear on the beach which led to a brief attack on Adkins, who the Coast Guard flew to Juneau early Friday for medical treatment for injuries that were not life-threatening.
Beier did not return messages left on Friday requesting comment.
In 2007, Alaska Department of Fish & Game information officer Riley Woodford profiled Beier in a department news magazine. At the time, Woodford identified Beier as a Fish & Game researcher who may have been “the most avid bear trapper in Alaska.” Woodford wrote he had handled almost 800 bears “after 35 years of snaring, darting and capturing bears” and survived four bear attacks.
The Alaska Department of Commerce lists Beier’s big game guiding license as under probation since 2013. State employee directories list Beier as current Fish & Game employee.
Jeremy Hsieh is the deputy managing editor of the KTOO newsroom in Juneau. He’s a podcast fiend who’s worked in journalism since high school as a reporter, editor and television producer. He ran Gavel Alaska for 360 North from 2011 to 2016, and is big on experimenting with novel tools and mediums (including the occasional animated gif) to tell stories and demystify the news. Jeremy’s an East Coast transplant who moved to Juneau in 2008.
