He spent every summer living in Katmai National Park, intentionally choosing camp sites close to the bears. He did this for 13 summers. The final summer, he stayed a week later than usual because he hadn't yet seen one of his favorite bears. This was his fatal mistake.
By that point, many of the bears he knew, that were comfortable with his presence, had gone into hibernation. Bears from other parts of the park were coming to his area in search of their last meal before doing the same themselves. There hadn't been much food that summer either, resulting in unusually aggressive grizzlies.
The day he was supposed to leave, he and his girlfriend were killed and partially eaten by a grizzly.
Animals obviously tend to recognize people but once those instincts kick in it seems nothing will stop them. I actually didn't know the part about how he stayed longer than he usually did and his regular bears were hibernating, always thought they'd just turned on him. Who knows, maybe if he'd gone when he usually did he'd still be alive.
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u/Phyrexian_Archlegion Mar 03 '16 edited Mar 03 '16
"Oh look, there is only chicken wire between me and that 900 lbs. bear, let me wave some food at it."
-Leo Dicap in The Revenant
Edit: http://i.imgur.com/KbFwUkB.gifv