SO YOU WANT A PICTURE OF A BEAR EH?!!

<a href="http://www.backcountrypilot.org/gallery/displayimage.php?album=159&pos=1" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.backcountrypilot.org/gallery/albums/userpics/10234/normal_alaska3.jpg" align="left"></a>There’s been a lot of talk on this web site about bears lately, so I decided to share a story about one of my Alaskan bear adventures. First of all, I don’t claim to be a bear expert but as a guide flying into outpost camps in Bristol Bay Alaska for three seasons, I have a few memorable close encounters.

It all started as a typical breakfast with a new group that had just come to the outpost camp. The usual discussion started about the fishing, how big and how many? Fishing was OK but nothing to get excited about. It was between runs and increasingly hard to find fish, at least ones that weren’t half dead! I was interrupted in mid sentence when one member of the party, Tom, declared "fishing, Great…but I want a picture of a bear." Tom had been coming to Alaska for twenty years and caught a lot of fish, but this year he was armed with a fancy new camera (without a zoom lens) and was determined to get a close photo of a bear.. He said he would make it worth my while if I got him a one of a kind close up!

As customer service is my No. 1 priority I had to try and oblige. He asked if I'd seen any bears and I said I knew a spot up river that was claimed by a large Brown bear, affectionately named Goldilocks. I explained that I had seen him in the area many times and he appeared to be pretty laid back and how I had once nearly run him over on a switchback turn. The river was only about thirty feet wide and he was in the very middle of the damn river fishing. I had the choice of: 1) running him over, 2) going left, or 3) going right. My choice was number three and needless to say I missed the turn and my two guests and I ended up high and dry in the brush. We all scrambled to our feet and turned in the direction we last saw the bear but he was nowhere in sight. At the recount of this story, my bear photographer exclaimed, "That’s exactly the picture I’m looking for, lets get going!"

I decided we would start fishing our way upriver where a lot of salmon were holding a week or so ago, and then go after Tom’s one of a kind bear photo. After breakfast we loaded the boat with our gear and headed north for a twelve mile trek up river. We fished for five to six hours crawling from deep hole to deep hole towards the area the "Brownie" was known to fish. About a mile from our objective we got into a bunch of fish and after an hour or so, with tired arms hanging limp at our sides (from catching salmon), we decided we'd had enough fun fishing. I asked, "Well what do you guys think? Should we try and get a bear picture?"

Everyone nodded their heads YES! So we ate our sandwiches and then headed up river. We loaded in the boat with our camera guy in the bow. I felt a little nervous for some reason, and checked my 12 ga. shotgun several times to make sure it was loaded. Satisfied all was in order with the Remington, I slid the gun between the seat braces with the butt of the weapon within easy reach.

<a href="http://www.backcountrypilot.org/gallery/displayimage.php?album=159&pos=0" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.backcountrypilot.org/gallery/albums/userpics/10234/normal_alaska1.jpg" align="right"></a>Cruising along in our Jet drive 16 ft. aluminum boat, the passengers were seated one in the bow, one in the middle, and I was standing in the back with the steering handle extension in my hand. The river was winding and narrow and I aimed for the outside bends where the water was deepest. Maneuvering the boat was like skiing down a steep slope and I had to lean into the corners and stay on step, especially in the shallow areas. If you had to stop for some reason you would have to push the boat to deeper water so you could get going again. Needless to say you had to go pretty fast in a stream that in places was only 10 ft. wide and less than one foot deep.

Rounding a corner I saw a bear I thought was our photo target, and I said "Tom, get your camera ready he’s up ahead about 300 yards."

We rounded a bend where the river was barely 20 feet wide and to my right was a bear, with hair standing up on its back and a bared mouth full of teeth, coming straight for us. I thought "Holy shit it's going to run right into the boat."

I swerved left in an attempt to miss it and at the same time turn the boat around. There wasn't enough room for the maneuver and we hit the opposite bank in a turn. The boat beached its self, throwing people and gear into the brush. I landed on the side of a beaver house, which broke my fall. Scrambling on all fours to get back to the boat and retrieve the shotgun, I was aware of the splashing of the beast bearing down behind me. I was sure at any moment I would feel teeth and claws tearing into me.

Reaching for the gun, grateful it was still there, I flicked off the safety and spun around. Lucky for us the bear had dropped into a deep hole, and instead of sprinting towards us he was swimming. When he got about 30 yards from us I fired a shot under his nose. The water erupted a few feet away from him and he made a left turn, exited the river and disappeared into a thicket.

I yelled to the guys to get the damn boat in the water and start back downstream. I would keep watch; you don’t turn your back on a mad bear!

<a href="http://www.backcountrypilot.org/gallery/displayimage.php?album=159&pos=2" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.backcountrypilot.org/gallery/albums/userpics/10234/normal_alaska2.jpg" align="left"></a>Seconds later the bear erupted from the brush heading right for me. Again I fired into the water with the same result; he spun around and disappeared into the thick brush. I turned around to see how the guys were making out and they were nowhere to be seen. Summoning Herculean strength they drug the boat to the water and were a good 100 yards down river.

Damn it. Three rounds left, my ammo in the boat, and I knew the animal was still close. With thoughts of "this can't be happening" and "why me" running through my mind, I waded to the bank furthest from the "Brownie" and started after my freaked out companions. The bear charged again, and I knew this time I would have to shoot him. Thankfully, he stopped in the middle of the stream, turned, and ran in the opposite direction.

On the boat one of the guys was trying to start the motor and I figured once it started I would be left behind. I took off in a dead run and covered the 75 yards or so like a bolt of lightning. Jumping in I gave the pull starter a good yank and the motor came to life. Within seconds we were rocketing as fast as that 40 horse Evinrude would go. We rounded a bend and looked back expecting to see the bear right behind us, keeping pace, but it wasn't in sight. Off to the right a hint of movement caught my eye and there he was heading the other way over a hill, and trailing behind were two small cubs. Our bear was a she and it all came to light, she was protecting her cubs.

We stopped the boat a little ways down stream to take inventory of the gear we involuntarily donated, and settle our nerves. Thankfully my survival pack was still in the boat. A month earlier one of my clients, Hobbie, a movie director in Hollywood, had given me a Cuban cigar and a pint of JD whiskey with my promise to save it for a special occasion. I decided that now was the special occasion and the bottle and the cigar was passed around the group from shaking hand to shaking hand.

"Well Tom, what do you think", I said with a stupid adrenalin soaked grin, "did you get that close up?"

Tom said "Hell no!! I was too busy pissing my pants, it happened so fast I didn't have time, and I don't think I will be going after anymore bear pictures!"

Needless to say the drinks and stories flowed freely that night.

Sounds like you were inches away from being able to change your username from MaulManiac to Mauledmaniac.

Great story..and glad you're here to tell about it...
JH

Ya me too!! MM

Great story. It's no laughing matter , but I couldn't hold it . That sounds like a great area to go.

John

There is another gerat bear story on the Maulemods forum.

I had a similar experience on American Creek in Katmai, Alaska. We were in a 16 foot jet drive boat when we came around a 90 degree bend where a big male Coastal bear laid in the middle taking a nap or hot tub. The creek was only about 30 feet wide but the guide steered the boat right along side of the bear without getting hung up on the sand bar. I was sitting in the front of the boat and could smell this beast when all in a split second he jump straight up and away from the boat. He could of swatted me easily if he knew who we were but was as scarred as the rest of us. Two weeks later, not far from the American Creek, Timothy Treadwell and his girl friend were killed and eaten by a big male Coastal bear. We were lucky!....Garv

Damn Marty, any closer or if you were a step slower, we may have had to hear the story from one of your customers instead of you.

Thanks for sharing...

Mark

Jeesh. Nothing like two dominant species trying to occupy the same territory!
I figured that if we had ditched out in that wilderness, the Bears would be a main concern, while bumming 'round S.E. Alaska, Yukon, and Western B.C. this summer.

At home here in California, I've come real close to our "Black" bears many times, and have never felt in immanent danger. They tend to high tail it when they see me. (One even emitted a gasp when we came within a dozen feet of each other on a bend of an old roadbed at dusk.)

Another time, my sweetie ran out from the house to scare a bear off the deck one evening. It took off over the edge, busting through the sharp edged manzanita like it was cobwebs. But then again, when she comes out yelling at me, I tend to take off pretty quickly, too. Good survival instinct, that bear.
Enjoy, Berk

P.S. They say you can drive 'em off by smearing peanut butter all over an aerosol can of starting fluid, and leave it near the place where you want them to stay away from. They bite into the pressurized can, and then get a face full of ether, which they find obnoxious.

Nice story! I really enjoyed reading it.

I run a guide business in Seldovia,AK. I had a group in the back of the bay fishing and hikeing in Aug., we had seen 7 blk bears in 3 hours and all was going as normal. When we started out as not to get caught by the tide we saw a large bear come out of the wood on the far side of the bay and start in our direction. This bear just didn't feel right from first sight, it was angleing in our direction of travel and coming straight as an arrow. He swam across the river and came about a 1/4 mile across the tidial flats. I stood on the shore and waved my arms w/ my 45/70 over my head when he got about 200 yards and he stopped for a few seconds and started coming again. Then at about 100 yards I walked a few yard towards him and he stopped again and just stared at me. I fired a short behind him(5') the bullet skipped thru the mud kicking up water and mud and the sound of the shot ehcoed off the mountains. The bear just stood there and loked at me and my group. After about a 1/2 min he troted out in front of us 70 yards and came ashore and turned and faced us. I had resolved that if he took one step in our direction I would shoot him. He stood his ground while he scented us and thought it over. Then he started for the woods and stopped and looked at us again, then gave up the idea of a quick lunch and went in the woods. We had to walk past the spot where he went in the woods so I gave him a few mins. and watch the tree line close as we got out of there. I had been told many times by experienced guides that I would see a thousand bears and when you see one with ill intent you would know, they were right!

Ooooh, bear stories!

A friend and I flew down to visit my brother who works out of King Salmon. Part of what my brother does is to fly guests to Brooks falls. Well, my friend and I thought we'd spend some time at Brooks doing some fishing and looking at the bears. If you're not familiar with brooks, there are bears all over and several viewing platforms. Victor and I were fishing near one of the platforms and every so often we'd get a "bear warning" and we'd reel in and walk over to the relative safety of the platform. Well, this one time we got a bear warning a bit too late and a woman up on the platform got a picture of the results...I'm just ahead of victor out of the picture. The bear in this area are accustom to seeing people but they are wild.

Saw on the TV news today where a tiger got loose at a big city zoo somewhere and killed someone. That's what comes to mind when I see that last bear pic, and read Eddie's story. Bears-- thanks but no thanks. Love to look at them, but prefer it to be from the safety of my lazyboy. I can't think of anyone I'd wanna go into the wilderness with who doesn't run faster than me, so up close and personal is definitely out!

Eric

Today's sound bite made it sound as though they suspect the tiger had a little help getting out of the cage. Hard to believe, but in this day & age you sure can't rule it out. Damn people anyways....

I can tell bear stories for days But here's one on the lighter side.
Last year I took my 12 yr old step son on a Moose hunt. Luckily it was no where near Haines and Toedraggin Bill Anyhow being the typical 12 yr old he don't sit still very well. We were glassing and spotting about 200 yards from the tent when he got bored and said he was going back to sit around the campfire. About 30 minutes later I spotted a Nice big Black Bear. I've taken plenty of bear, so I thought I would let the youngster take this one. I went back to camp and got him and we started to put the sneak on the bear. The closest I could get him was 180 yards. Now I've seen this kid shoot and I swear he is Olympic material. He can hit anything. Well anything not black with lots of teeth I guess. He rested on a tree and fired. The bear looked our way raised up a bit and sniffed and than hi tailed it outta there. We went over and looked for blood just in case, but I was positive it was a clean miss.
So.....we go to sleep that night. I have a Cap light I keep right next to my cot in case I need it in a hurry. About 2Am I hear this thrashing and screaming coming from his cot. Sure sounded like a bear in the tent to me! I grabbed my light in one hand and .480 Ruger in the other and flicked on the light. There he is sitting up in his mummy bag yelling, looking all around. When I realized it was just a nightmare, I yelled his name and he gave me a blank stare, than spun around and looked at the tent wall, than back at me. I said, Was a bear gettin ya?? He said yea. I told him it was OK, just a night mare go back to sleep.
Than happened last year. This year we had a Griz in camp and he didn't have any nightmares this year. But I still won't let him sleep with a gun