alaska bear prom

This spring on prom Saturday, most kids were having pre-event dinners and get-togethers with family and friends. But 15-year-old Cassidy Kramer of Kotzebue had different plans. Led by her father, Lance, Cassidy and her 10-year-old brother hopped on snow machines and went bear hunting in the mountains along the Noatak River.

Lance told KTUU Anchorage Channel 2 that predator control is important to local families, with moose populations declining in the area’s Game Management Unit 23. “It’s important to go out and get bears in the springtime,” Lance said. “We always try to get a spring bear every year.”

Two hours or so into the hunt, Cassidy got her chance. She took aim, fired and hit a bear. When it stopped rolling down a mountainside, she finished it with a kill shot.

After dressing and skinning the bear, Cassidy roared home on her machine, took a quick shower, slipped into her pink dress and made the party with time to spare.

“It was her first bear and her first prom,” Cassidy’s mother said.

Final note: Cassidy’s father says that in accordance with Eskimo custom, Cassidy plans to donate her first bear to someone who needs its meat and hide. “She’s going to give it to her grandmother,” Lance said.

Only in the great state of Alaska.

(Source: KTUU Anchorage Channel 2)