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| There is simply nothing, in my experience, like a close run-in with something like a grizzly that will get the adrenalin going. The reverse is true too. When hunting, if a bear does not know that you are there, it is easy to kill. If the adrenalin gets going in the bear, it can be very very difficult. I gave a lot of thought to how to shoot a charging grizzly. The forehead is sloped such that (and I know this to be the case) a shot to the head can simply glance off the skull and go out the top. You need to pull to one side or the other and stop them. Another thing we noticed was that, when a person got real close to a big grizzly the first time, that person's reaction could be very unpredictable. They can easily panic. This, of course, is problematic when guiding. Often after the first time, either they do not want to experience it again, or, they think it through and understand the reaction and are much more in control the next time.
Talking about hair standing up - a dog saved our lives one time. A hunter had shot a big grizzly just at dusk, and he had not made a very good shot. Probably what I referred to above. After an hour or so, two other guides (it was unusual for more than one guide to be at one place) and I started tracking it in the snow. We were using flashlights, but in the snow it was easy tracking. One of the guys had a Dalmatian along, and it was a really good bear dog - it knew just when to quit chasing a bear, so it lived for a long time. We came to a steep bluff and started up, but the dog came back down and wouldn't let us go farther up. When we got the dog quieted down, we could hear the bear on top. In his anger, he was biting off little trees. We carefully retraced our steps and went back to camp. The next morning when we returned, the bear was dead - laying right on the top with his huge paws right on the edge of the bluff. He was waiting for us there, and if not for the dog, we most likely would have been dead that night.
Great times for a young, dumb guy. I remember my dad saying - more guts than good sense. I understand it now. . . . | |
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Pigpiggy - bears
