Let’s hear some bear stories if you have any.
I don’t have any personal experience with them but I’ll share a shortened version told to me by a man who knows how fortunate he is to be alive.
We”ll just call him Sam. Sam had moved alone from South Dakota to Alaska for an oil company position. He was young and unmarried. After several months of life in Alaska he had a chance to return home to visit family and friends. Upon seeing one of his high school buddies at the parents’ house, the younger sister of the friend was home from college. We’ll call her Jennifer. She and Sam talked about his experiences in Alaska and what a change it was to live there. They had known each other before through her brother. Well, Sam had to head back to Alaska for work after a few days of catching up with family and friends. He left Jennifer his phone number and said goodbye.
A few months go by and one day Jennifer calls Sam and mentions that she wants to see Alaska. The wilderness and unspoiled opportunities described by Sam was what she wanted and needed to see up close. She hopped on a flight to come visit this great state she’d heard so much about. It was everything and more he’d described. Jennifer later decides that she wants to live there near Sam. He agrees to help her make the move. Eventually the two of them become an item and they get married. There would be many adventures together exploring the wilderness in Alaska. This life together began in the 1960’s. They fished together, hunted, went boating, and hiking. Life there afforded them a lot of outdoor fun and memories.
Sam knew all too well the dangers that exist in Alaska and almost always was prepared for them. One day he drove out alone to an area to take photographs with a camera mounted on a tripod. His vehicle was parked alongside a gravel road. Sam walked up a hill to get some good nature shots. I don’t recall exactly what it was that attracted him to that hillside. He suddenly spots a large bear searching for food in the distance. In a short time the bear spots him as well and begins heading his direction. It was at that moment Sam realized two things. One, his large bore rifle was down below in his vehicle and two, the bear was not acting like bears usually do. The bear was completely focused on him and closing the distance fast.
It was all too obvious there was zero bluff with that huge, male bear. He’d lived there long enough and been close to many bears before. This one had Sam on the menu that day. It was at that point there was no other option but to run away as fast as possible and try to get to his vehicle in time. The chances of pulling this off would be slim to none. Sam ran with all his might and prayed that he didn’t trip or fall on the way down. In the midst of running, Sam turned back to see where the bear was at. Surprisingly, the bear was so hungry that it briefly got distracted by a butterfly that had flown in front of it. He hoped it would remain preoccupied long enough for him to get away. Nope, just as soon as the bear caught and ate the butterfly, Sam was back on the menu. Bears and especially hungry, determined bears can run extremely fast.
Sam had made it to the dry creek bed and was still a good 200 yards from his vehicle. That bear had closed the distance in a remarkably short amount of time and was less than a hundred yards away from him by then. There was no way he could get to the road in time but he was still running just as hard as his two legs would carry him. Whether it was God’s intervention or maybe it just wasn’t Sam’s time to leave this life, a school bus appeared on the road right then. There were some bad washboards that form on gravel roads. As the bus drove down the road over those washboards, it made enough noise to startle the bear. It was just enough to allow Sam to reach his vehicle and get inside. He said that was by far the closest he’d ever come to being eaten alive. If it hadn’t been for that school bus arriving at just the right time and making that rattle noise, he would’nt have lived another day.
I don’t have any personal experience with them but I’ll share a shortened version told to me by a man who knows how fortunate he is to be alive.
We”ll just call him Sam. Sam had moved alone from South Dakota to Alaska for an oil company position. He was young and unmarried. After several months of life in Alaska he had a chance to return home to visit family and friends. Upon seeing one of his high school buddies at the parents’ house, the younger sister of the friend was home from college. We’ll call her Jennifer. She and Sam talked about his experiences in Alaska and what a change it was to live there. They had known each other before through her brother. Well, Sam had to head back to Alaska for work after a few days of catching up with family and friends. He left Jennifer his phone number and said goodbye.
A few months go by and one day Jennifer calls Sam and mentions that she wants to see Alaska. The wilderness and unspoiled opportunities described by Sam was what she wanted and needed to see up close. She hopped on a flight to come visit this great state she’d heard so much about. It was everything and more he’d described. Jennifer later decides that she wants to live there near Sam. He agrees to help her make the move. Eventually the two of them become an item and they get married. There would be many adventures together exploring the wilderness in Alaska. This life together began in the 1960’s. They fished together, hunted, went boating, and hiking. Life there afforded them a lot of outdoor fun and memories.
Sam knew all too well the dangers that exist in Alaska and almost always was prepared for them. One day he drove out alone to an area to take photographs with a camera mounted on a tripod. His vehicle was parked alongside a gravel road. Sam walked up a hill to get some good nature shots. I don’t recall exactly what it was that attracted him to that hillside. He suddenly spots a large bear searching for food in the distance. In a short time the bear spots him as well and begins heading his direction. It was at that moment Sam realized two things. One, his large bore rifle was down below in his vehicle and two, the bear was not acting like bears usually do. The bear was completely focused on him and closing the distance fast.
It was all too obvious there was zero bluff with that huge, male bear. He’d lived there long enough and been close to many bears before. This one had Sam on the menu that day. It was at that point there was no other option but to run away as fast as possible and try to get to his vehicle in time. The chances of pulling this off would be slim to none. Sam ran with all his might and prayed that he didn’t trip or fall on the way down. In the midst of running, Sam turned back to see where the bear was at. Surprisingly, the bear was so hungry that it briefly got distracted by a butterfly that had flown in front of it. He hoped it would remain preoccupied long enough for him to get away. Nope, just as soon as the bear caught and ate the butterfly, Sam was back on the menu. Bears and especially hungry, determined bears can run extremely fast.
Sam had made it to the dry creek bed and was still a good 200 yards from his vehicle. That bear had closed the distance in a remarkably short amount of time and was less than a hundred yards away from him by then. There was no way he could get to the road in time but he was still running just as hard as his two legs would carry him. Whether it was God’s intervention or maybe it just wasn’t Sam’s time to leave this life, a school bus appeared on the road right then. There were some bad washboards that form on gravel roads. As the bus drove down the road over those washboards, it made enough noise to startle the bear. It was just enough to allow Sam to reach his vehicle and get inside. He said that was by far the closest he’d ever come to being eaten alive. If it hadn’t been for that school bus arriving at just the right time and making that rattle noise, he would’nt have lived another day.