Wisconsin Hunter Bags Record-Breaking Grizzly

Brian van Lanen shot the giant bruin last fall near Norton Sound, Alaska. He knew after skinning out the head that it would be a top-10 giant, but after a 60-day drying period, the Boone and Crockett Club just confirmed that it’s the largest hunter-killed grizzly in the world.

MeatEater’s Randall Williams had the chance to see the skull in person at B&C’s 32nd Big Game Awards, and he says it caught his eye even before he knew it was a record-breaker.

“Before I even read any of the information about the skull, I walked right up to it and took a photo because it grabbed my attention from across the room. It just dwarfed the 8.5×11-inch piece of paper it was sitting on, and its teeth were worn down to nubs,” he said.

Van Lanen took the bear while hunting alongside Lance Kronberger of Freelance Outdoor Adventure, according to a Boone and Crockett press release. Van Lanen shot the bear along a river, but Kronberger got the first look at its massive head.

“When I kill something… I really try to slow down and enjoy the moment,” Van Lanen said. “Eventually, I got to the bear, and Lance said something I will never forget.”

“You have no idea what you’ve just killed,” Kronberger said.

Van Lanen had been hunting for a grizzly since the spring of 2024, but his tag was still good for that fall, so he had time to be selective. He saw some good bears that spring, but nothing truly exceptional.

That changed during his fall hunt when, late in the evening on the second day, he and Kronberger saw a bear that piqued their interest. It was browsing along an alder patch, but it was too late in the evening to put a stalk on it. Fortunately, when they got up the next morning, they saw a similarly sized bear working along a riverbank.

They decided to make a move, but as they were working down from their glassing knob, another grizzly appeared. Both boars were about the same size, and one started chasing the other.

They doubled their efforts to keep the bears in sight, and suddenly, one of the bears emerged about 400 yards away. Van Lanen hustled to get his .338 Lapua Magnum rifle in position.

“Hurry up, Brian, he’s getting away!” Kronberger said.

The hunter’s shot rolled the bear on its side, but it got up and headed towards a patch of alders. Van Lanen sent several followup shots downrange, but it wasn’t until they caught up to the bear near the riverbank that two final shots put the bear down for good.

The head of the massive boar was covered in scar tissue from years of fighting. Its bottom lip was split in half, and its teeth were worn to nubs. Kronberger estimated that it was 20-25 years old, which is the average age of most grizzlies in the wild.

But this one had grown to be especially large. Its official skull measurement of 27-9/16 inches makes it the largest grizz to be harvested by a hunter since the Boone and Crockett Club began recording skull measurements in the 1920s. The only larger skull in the B&C books was found by a hunter in 1976 and measures 27-13/16 inches.

The previous record for the biggest grizzly shot by a hunter was set by Brian Park in 2018 in Shorty Cove, Alaska. That bear measured 27 8/16 inches, which means Van Lanen beat the old record by 1/16th of an inch.

Van Lanene was quick to share credit with his guides for tagging the record-breaking bear.

“I’ve been hunting with Lance and those guys for several years now, and we’ve all become good friends,” he said. “It’s a special relationship—every one of them is more to me than just a guide; they’re my brothers. Killing that big grizzly was a lifetime achievement, and I feel blessed to have done it with them.”

The bear was scored in April by a panel of Boone and Crockett judges and will be on display until July 26th at the 32nd Big Game Awards Display at the Wonders of Wildlife Museum in Springfield, MO.