Alaska has a total population of ~ 700,000. Well less than 1 million. We have multiple bear attacks every season the bears are out of hibernation.
Sometimes bear attacks have occured mid-winter. I remember at least 3 incidents where bears were disturbed in their dens. Accidentally disturbed twice. The one was purposeful harassment of the bear.
The last incident was only ~3yrs ago. Two guys playing on snow machines on the Kenai Peninsula disturbed a boar in mid-winter. The bear came out after them. He was easy to spot against 3 foot of snow. They escaped on their snow machines. Brown bear season was open year round. So they retrieved rifles, licenses, and brown bear tags, and returned to go bear hunting. No big surprise the boar comes after them again. This time they were prepared and killed it.
The one incident where a big brown bear was harassed in its den by a group of oilfield contract workers resulted in the death of a Mexican. It was a siesmograph team setting off explosive charges and collecting readings. Some of the workers had noticed a bear den and threw snowballs at the den. They contined on and the last guy comes past the den was the Mexican worker. I don't think he even knew the den was there. Just plodding along catching up to his co-workers. The boar comes out of its den, crushes the man's shull with one bite (instant kill), then flattens his body into the snow by pouncing on him repetitively with front paws. The workers that threw the snowballs were some distance up ahead, but close enough to hear the screams just before the bear killed their co-worker. They turned in time to watch the bear kill. They quickly climbed up in some nearby trees and stayed put until well after the bear left. Bad deal for the man pulling up the end of the line.
For general knowledge, bears aren't true hibernators. They go into a slumber but can wake and kill as necessary. Especially brown/grizzly bears. Black bears are way less apt to come to life in kill mode. They go into a real slumber in their dens. Brown bear - not so much.
