In Russia there were hunters which bagged bears with a spear (Russian word for the bear spear is "rogatina" and the hunter is called "rogatchik"). Different people of Russian society from the ordinary peasant up to the noble aristocrat were keen participants of this very dangerous method of hunting, with a few people being professionals.
They have to be a brave and strong person, and have to anticipate the unexpected bear behaviour. The great specialist of bear hunting was the main huntsman of the great duke Nikolay Romanov - Mihail Andrievskiy. In the magazine ("Nature and Hunting" 1894) he published a well known and very interesting article about bear hunting with "rogatina". He described every detail and all aspects of this hunting: bear behaviour, psychology and strategy fighting, construction of spear and so on. Vadim painted this picture according to this article and following some advice with bear specialist zoologists.