How it REALLY feels to be mauled by a bear: Leonardo DiCaprio is brutally savaged by a Grizzly in his new film The Revenant. But the fact is FAR more terrifying than fiction

By the end of April, spring is well under way in southern Alaska, and for 29-year-old Dale Bagley, the warm weather gave him an excellent opportunity to scout out the land for some moose hunting later in the year.

Like any hunter in such wild parts, Bagley was well aware his role could be reversed, and to protect himself he had brought a semi-automatic rifle and Magnum revolver. His biggest fear was being attacked by a black bear or a grizzly, but with these two powerful weapons, the young cafeteria manager felt safe.

After spending a few hours exploring along the Killey River, Bagley came across a group of fractious magpies and ravens. The hunter in him suspected the birds were fighting over a kill, and he decided to skirt the area, fearing the presence of a bear.

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Leonardo DiCaprio fights a grizzly bear in the recently released The Revenant, but the reality of such an attack is far more grizzly than the film depicts

As it happened, that sensible decision brought him close to the most gruesome and violent death imaginable.

After walking a few yards, Bagley came across a grizzly, which was having a doze not 60 yards away.

‘I woke it up,’ Bagley would later recall. ‘It sat up and turned its head and looked at me. That’s when I knew this wasn’t going to be good.’

Had it been a black bear, then he might well have shot it, as the black bears were in season. Unfortunately for Bagley, the grizzlies were out of season.

‘I couldn’t start shooting,’ he said. ‘He looked at me, and I looked at him. I really didn’t know what to do.’

All he could do was to yell, and so that’s what Bagley did — at the top of his voice. Sometimes a grizzly will be scared away, but not on this occasion. Instead, the bear just eyed up his potential lunch.

Bagley then fired a warning shot with his revolver. Again, this was intended to cause the grizzly to run away, but it had the opposite effect — the giant 800lb ursine juggernaut charged towards him.

With his revolver back in its holster, all Bagley could do was to blast away with his rifle. The round hit the grizzly, but only stopped him momentarily. Bagley squeezed the trigger again. The second round would surely do the job.

24-year-old Scottish climber Greg Boswell, was with climbing partner Nick Bullock, when he was attacked by a grizzly in the Canadian Rockies

The injury to mountaineer Greg Boswell's leg afer the attack while he was scaling 3,261ft Mount Wilson by a route known as Dirty Love in Canada

A click: the rifle misfired.

Bagley drew his revolver, and shot at the bear as it leaped at him. It seemed to make little difference, as the creature’s jaws clamped hard onto Bagley’s skull.

‘I could feel bones popping and breaking in my head, but I didn’t feel any pain,’ Bagley said.

The hunter, now very much the hunted, shot into the bear’s body, but the grizzly continued to attack him, breaking Bagley’s jaw.

It bit him again, crushing Bagley’s cheekbones, ripping out his entire top row of teeth from his head, and puncturing behind his right eye. Another bite pulled away at the top of Bagley’s skull, and wrenched his entire body upwards.

That gave Bagley just enough room to let off more shots, and mercifully, the bear ran off.

The whole attack had lasted just 15 seconds, and Bagley’s face, in the words of his father, ‘looked like a basketball, with just a little bit of nose sticking out’.

The first operation to stitch him back together lasted ten hours, and it took Bagley a full two years to recover. But unlike so many who are on the receiving end of a bear attack, Bagley could count himself lucky — he had survived.

Thanks to the gorily realistic film The Revenant, which has been shortlisted for a dozen Oscars, the terrifying reality of a bear attack seems to be uppermost in our collective minds.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and loosely based on the brutal experiences of a 19th-century fur trapper called Hugh Glass, the film has been hailed for its extraordinarily stomach-churning depiction of the most violent cruelties that can be afflicted on a man by his fellow man and Mother Nature.

Thanks to the gorily realistic film The Revenant (pictured), which has been shortlisted for a dozen Oscars, the terrifying reality of a bear attack seems to be uppermost in our collective minds

And of all the scenes in the film, it is the horror of the bear attack that has had movie-goers considering an alternative use for their popcorn buckets. Even those who find it hard to watch acknowledge the sequence is a phenomenal piece of film-making, capturing not only the strength, speed and ferocity of a bear, but also revealing the wounds a bear can inflict.

But among the cinema audiences all over the world, there will be some watching for whom such an experience was once all too frighteningly real. And they can answer a question that very few are alive to answer — just what is it like to be a victim?

Among the few who can do so is the 24-year-old Scottish climber Greg Boswell, who last November, along with his climbing partner Nick Bullock, was attacked by a grizzly in the Canadian Rockies.

The bear first went for Boswell’s left leg, tore into his boot and threw him into the air.

‘I only noticed the holes later, when blood started pouring out,’ Boswell said. ‘It grabbed my leg in its teeth, making this super-loud crunching sound and lifted me up so only my shoulders were on the ground. It was crazy how much strength it had.’

With almost unbelievable luck, the two men managed to escape, and when they posted their experiences on a blog, the post went viral and made headlines around the world.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and loosely based on the brutal experiences of a 19th-century fur trapper called Hugh Glass, the film has been hailed for its extraordinarily stomach-churning depiction of the most violent cruelties that can be afflicted on a man by his fellow man and Mother Nature

For those such as Bagley and Boswell, the attacks appear to have been mercifully quick. However, for Lindsay Jones, 25, and Nikki Latta, 23, they were unfortunate to be hunted by a bear for well over an hour in a wood near Kingston in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Wearing just flip-flops, the two women did their best to outrun a grizzly. ‘Every time we turned around, the bear was there, lumbering after us,’ Lindsay recalled to Salon magazine. ‘We ran so long and so hard that my lungs were on fire. I couldn’t go on any more.’

The two women got separated, but Lindsay managed to find an abandoned hunting lodge. In desperation, she broke a window and hauled herself inside over the broken shards of glass.

‘The shattered glass tore open my legs and I was certain the bear would smell my blood,’ said Lindsay, who by now suspected that Nikki had been killed. Miraculously, Nikki appeared at the window, and Lindsay pulled her through.

‘I fell onto the glass on the floor,’ said Nikki. ‘We heard the bear growling outside the door and trying to pry it open. Lindsay’s pupils were huge, and she was sweating. I picked up a frying pan, ready to whack him if he got in.’

Then, like something out a horror film, the bear switched its attack. It reached through the window, and grabbed and ate the curtains. While the women dialled the emergency services, the creature sniffed around the lodge, looking for a place to enter and make its kills.

And of all the scenes in the film, it is the horror of the bear attack that has had movie-goers considering an alternative use for their popcorn buckets

‘All I was thinking was, I’m 25 — this is how I’m going to die,’ said Lindsay. ‘This is how I’m going to leave my kids.’

After an hour, the police arrived, shot the bear, and rescued the two women. Their injuries may have been relatively slight, but their experience showed just how determined bears can be.

Particularly tenacious are sows guarding their young. A man who knows this all too well is Mark Matheny, who was hunting for elk in the Madison Range in Montana when he and his friend Fred Bahnson were attacked by a female grizzly and her four cubs.

Just like Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant, Matheny found himself on the ground, with the huge bear on top of him. The grizzly’s first bite was aimed at his throat, and in one motion Matheny’s saliva gland and part of his jaw was removed. The second bite tore a hole in his cheek.

And then came a bite that looked certain to kill him.

‘I had my head in her mouth and she was crushing my skull,’ Matheny recalled. ‘I made one last plea for my life. I yelled to Fred: “She’s got my head, she’s killing me!”’

Bahnson bravely attacked the bear with bear spray — similar to pepper spray used by the police —which only caused the grizzly to bite Bahnson’s right side and back, causing him to drop the spray and lose his glasses.

Now, the situation seemed hopeless, as the bear was deciding to make a meal of Matheny’s arm. According to most accounts, bears are very content to eat their prey while it is still alive and kicking. 

Even those who find it hard to watch acknowledge the sequence is a phenomenal piece of film-making, capturing not only the strength, speed and ferocity of a bear, but also revealing the wounds a bear can inflict.

Somehow, Bahnson managed to find the spray and unloaded it all into the bear’s face. Finally, the grizzly ran off, along with her cubs.

So what do you do if you find yourself in such a situation? A can of bear spray is certainly handy, as is a firearm — so long as it works.

When dealing with a grizzly bear, the best tactic is to climb up a tree, as grizzlies are unable to climb. If that is not possible, then curl up in the foetal position on the ground. Hopefully, the bear will think you are dead, paw you a little, and then leave you alone.

However, this method emphatically does not work with black bears, which will simply eat you. Also, black bears can climb trees. Your only real option is to kick and scream and fight back. The chances are you will lose, but you may as well die fighting.

Ultimately, when it comes to bears, you just have to show the same mettle as Hugh Glass and never give up.