Politics

Is Alaska Rep Don Young The Most Badass Member Of Congress? Yes.

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Tim Pearce Energy Reporter
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Alaska Rep. Don Young has hunted hundreds of seals, killed caribou in the Alaskan wilds and narrowly escaped being mauled by a bear, the congressman revealed in an interview with E&E News published Tuesday.

The 84-year-old California native is in his 23rd term as Alaska’s lone representative in the House. Young is the longest serving sitting member of Congress, earning the title after Democrat Rep. John Conyers of Michigan resigned from office in the aftermath of numerous sexual harassment allegations.

Young keeps mementos of his life on display in his Washington office, many of them firearms and skins used or gained by hunting.

“I started hunting when I was 6 years old for the table,” Young told E&E News. “I know a lot of PETA people, Humane Society people who say, ‘It’s an awful thing, you kill those poor little animals.’ To me this is all meat.”

A 1,300-pound grizzly bear’s skin, courtesy of an animal the congressman shot himself, decorates a significant portion of Young’s office. It shares the space with a gun Young says he used to kill roughly 1,500 seals, selling them for “buck and a half a nose.”

The congressman’s near-death experience with another full-grown grizzly taught him a valuable lesson about hunting: do it sober.

After a few drinks, Young broke camp and shot and killed a caribou. Walking up to his prize, he noticed a grizzly bear walking up the mountain away from him. Fortified by the alcohol, Young decided to bag a grizzly as well. Aiming for the back of the head, Young took his shot.

“I shot and I hit him in the ass. And boy, he went ‘RAAAWWRRR,’ and he saw me and says like, ‘You son of a bitch’ and down he came, ‘RAAWWWRR,'” Young said. “Remember, I’ve been drinking. So I just [makes shooting sound] and he just slid right up to me, deader than a doornail.”

“If I hadn’t hit him, I wouldn’t be here,” Young added.

For an inside look at Young’s office, check out his appearance on Roll Call’s Office Space in 2016.

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