Great Forum!

[Little Hawk]

Howdy,

My name is Terry Anderson. I was born and raised in North Van and have lived in Victoria since 82'.

Don't know why I haven't heard about this forum sooner but just wanted to jump in and say that I think it's great!

It's a crying shame to have to wait an entire year till I get away for two measely weeks each fall, but hunting remains - bar none - my favorite thing to do.

I agree totally with all of you who realize the imperative of sticking together to defend our pastime, and work - really work - at new hunter recruitment.

Next to having sex... hunting is as human as it gets.

Cheers,
Terry

[Spuddge]

Welcome aboard Little Hawk.

[hunter1947]

Welcome aboard LH ,yes you are right this forum is the best thing goinghttp://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon12.gif .

[Steeleco]

Welcome, don't be bashful, we need more outspoken people on our side!!!

[Mr. Dean]

Belly on up and feel FREE to tell us a joke.
Some of us lead pitiful lives and need to be refreshed every once in a while. :smile:

Glad you're here and welcome to the show!

[Wolfman]

Welcome aboard

Wolfman

[whitetailsheds]

Next to having sex... hunting is as human as it gets.

Well, that certainly explains a bear hunting video from a couple years ago. A "randy" couple combined the two activities. What's the color of your hair Terry?

[waistdeep]

Hey, my name is Randy - oh right to think about it :razz:- that is all I think about - other than hunting and horses!

Welcome

[Archer]

Thanks for joining, Little Hawk. You'll like it here. :biggrin:

[johnes50]

Welcome Little Hawk. Remember that there are no dumb questions on HBC, just dumb answers.:grin: And if you tell a story about hunting or fishing you have to post pictures. Not really, but we like pictures.:biggrin:

[Elkhound]

And a big welcome here too. Post up pics this year. And Mr.Dean wants a joke. Lets hear it. It's a little ritual he demands:wink:

[Mik]

Welcome aboard, and yes, I agree with everything you said.

[Little Hawk]

Howdy,

Instead of a joke - most of the one's I know have already circled many a campfire - how about funny short story... about grizzly bears?

Oct 95' - on record as one of the worst years for bear attacks in BC - I'm up in the East Kootenay's with my buddy and a local guy from Kimberly we met in the bush.

Buddy Billy and I are trying to shoot our first Elk and our new-found friend 'Bob' says he'll come back the next day and take us on a big-safari to get us our Elk. Billy and I say's, 'Cool!'.

Next morning finds us hiking up the Dutch Creek watershed into the Purcell high-country. Billy and I had no clue where he was taking us but he sure seemed determined; we trudged onwards. After three or four hours hard hiking upwards through this beautiful canyon we comes across a meadow, circular shaped, about eighty yards in diameter, rimmed with willow and Aspen. We didn't know it then but about two-hundred yards distant was the Ben Able Creek guide-outfitter's cabin and corrals.

Walking single file with Bob in the lead, I noticed him suddenly stop and raise his hand, a silent command to 'stop'. Billy and stopped then looked at each other... WTF?

Bob, looking out across the meadow as if he's heard or seen something, then points with his hand. I looked across the meadow to then see the willows on the far side begin to move like something was rustling around in there. Suddenly, out steps a beautiful blonde grizzly bear. I remember being awestruck by the way the sunlight glistened off its back. Wow, I thought to myself, how cool is this, my first ever real-encounter with a grizz.

Then suddenly out steps grizzly-bear #2 into the sunlight. This really got my attention because back then I knew 'dick' about what to do in a bear encounter and even less about what to do when there's two of em' walking towards you. I learned later that these two bears where juvenile's (two or three year olds) whose mother - apparently a real mean bitch - had been shot the year before, and moments before running into us three had found some salt and hide-fleshing tidbits next to the outfitter's cabin where an elk had been caped earlier on that morning. These two 3 or 4-hundred pound youngster's where in a hightened state of hunger-awareness; our timing couldn't have been worse.

Bob whispers, "Don't panic, be calm."
The bears are unaware of us, about 80 yards and closing.
I don't know what to do, I'm starting to freak. I feel the hair on the back of my neck beginning to stand on end. I think about my wife and kids. My old Enfield with 10/180-grains in the mag feels suddenly - small.

I turn to Billy and whisper, "What do we do?"

Bob says: "Don't panic - be calm."
Billy and Bob decide to put a round over their heads to see if it would turn them.

Billy lifts his 303... "BOOM!"

Suddenly, one of the bears let's go a ROAR that caused my spine to vibrate intensley.

The bears then break into a full gallop coming straight at us - fast.

As Billy runs past me he looks me in the eye and says, "Get yer ass up a tree!"

This sounded good to me. I turned and ran after him leaving Bob standing at top of the embankment - about thirty feet above the meadow- still repeating over and over, 'Don't panic, be calm.'

I follow Billy to the base of a climbable looking evergreen about 25 yds behind us. He climbs to about 6-ft off the ground then manages to skewer himself on a broken branch. He's stuck. The branch is through his pack-strap and pierced his sweat shirt. I can't believe what's happening. I'm looking over my shoulder expecting 'death' to grab me from behind at any second while Billy is grunting away trying to free himself.

I look back again to see Bob still standing where we'd left him, he seemed to be frozen... in a trance. I realized Billy wasn't going anywhere soon so I turned and ran back to Bob, figuring two-guns would probably be better than one if they indeed came up the embankment at us. I arrived at Bob's side and asked him, "What are you doing man? Why aren't you climbing a tree?"

Bob: "Don't panic... be calm."

I figured then that Bob's cheese had slid off his cracker.

The bears were then held up in the thick willow tangle at the bottom of the embankment about 25 yds beneath us. It seemed they were confused or something.

Billy yelled from behind me: "Terry, get your ass up a tree!"
Again, I liked the idea and turned again to run to the base of the tree he was trying to climb; Bob seemed in a trance.

Unbelievably, Billy was still stuck. I stood for a couple of seconds wondering what to do. I felt like I was in the line-up at a bank machine waiting to get my ass off the ground so I might see my wife and kids again.

I looked to my left and saw a similar tree about 25/yds away and wondered if I could make it there before the 'Claw-brothers' came over the top.

I went for it. I remember running for the tree and looking up while asking myself if I could still climb trees. (I was an awesome tree-climbers as a kid)
I hit the tree running and climbed it like I had a Minute-man missile up my ass.

Bob finally snapped out of it and ended up climbing the tree with Billy.

One of the bears did come to the top of the embankment, huffed once or twice then bounced his front quarters on the ground, then turned and went back down the slope. I didn't see this because I was too high up the tree.

We spent about a half-hour up the tree till one of the guide's (a fellow named Willie Hagen) appeared near the cabin. We yelled to him that there were bears in the vicinity (he knew these two youngster's well) and we ended following him and his client out of the valley, them on horseback, us walking.

We didn't get our Elk.

[Phil]

Great story, welcome to the site!

[Mr. Dean]

Good story.
Elkhound, let this guy in....

"cheese slid off his cracker" - That one had the belly pounding.
Whatever happened to 'Bob'; what's he doing now-a-days?

[BiG Boar]

wow, I was waiting for the punch line, where bob gets eaten and then the bear takes a crap near the stream and bob is sent bobbing. Yikes, thats exactly the kind of stories I love to hear.

[Elkhound]

Good story.
Elkhound, let this guy in....

"cheese slid off his cracker" - That one had the belly pounding.
Whatever happened to 'Bob'; what's he doing now-a-days?

While I have a bit smaller belly mine was going pretty good too:wink:

[hunter1947]

Good story LH ,its nice to hear fine stories from a new member http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif.

[Little Hawk]

Howdy,

Don't know what happened to Bob. Never saw him again. He was a really nice guy and I often wonder about him. As a footnote to this story - which was published in BC Outdoors Hunting/Shooting mag. - on the entire 5 or 6 mile hike up into the Dutch Creek watershed, we saw absolutely nothing as far as game goes; not even a chipmunk! When we finally made it back to my old Suburban an began the drive back to camp on Whitetail Lk. road, Christ, it was like someone just unloaded the Ark nearby. First, just out of the trailhead parking lot, we comes on a cow moose in the middle of the road. The damn thing starts trotting along in front of us dead-centre of the road for nearly a kilometer. Felt like I was in a parade. Moosey finally bails off the road into the sticks. Then, a coupla' turns in the road later, a half dozen or so Elk bound across the road in front of us nearly bouncing off the truck; later, a flock of Whitetails gawking at us... "please Mr. Hunter - shoot me!"

I would have none of it. Billy and I - both really glad to be alive after our little bear encounter - just wanted to get back to camp. I had a date with a bottle of Weiser's. We actually ended up at the pub in Canal Flats that night; it was a long one.

I learned from this that bears - Grizzlies' in particular - can have a profound effect on you without so much as laying a paw on you. The next day I found myself loath to go back in the bush. I finally convinced myself that all was okay then grabbed my gun and backpack and road my bike - old Honda fourstroker - a few clicks up the road to a small lake. I parked the bike then, still rather anxious and extremly wary, I load my old Enfield (chalk-full with ten of em'... if I'm going down - I'm going down shootin'!) then head off down the trail behind the lake. I remember still how uncomfortable I felt. I'm moving slowly along the trail, doing the Davey Crockett thing, and looking, listening for Mr. Bear as I went. Every sound, every chirp from a bird, sends a chill up my spine. Then, I hear a stick snap just ahead around the bend in the trail... I raise the barrel of the ole' Brit as the hair on the back of my neck begins to stand on end and seconds later came within an once or two of trigger-pull of vaporizing - a squirrel.

Enough was enough, I went back to camp.

In the end I realized that not knowing what to do in this bear-encounter weighed on me as much as getting the living sh*t scared out of me. I vowed then to learn all I could about bears, bear-human conflict, and bear attacks on humans. I read all I could about the subject: Herrero, Shelton, McClellan, Russel, Clayton Mack. Then, in 1999 I returned to school (at age 43) to take a couple of English courses. In my Gr. 12 Eng. I wrote an essay entitled 'The Bear Hunting Question' on which I was graded an 'A'. During the exhaustive research for this paper I explored several areas of bears and bear-human interactions, including the ethical issue of bear hunting in BC. Indeed, though I'm not a bear hunter, I too was thoroughly tired of listening to the bear-huggers whine about the plight of bears in BC. What about the people who get chewed-on by this critters?

In the final analysis, I'm convinced - and truly believe the evidence - that non-hunted bear populations - over time - become increasingly bold and agressive toward humans. All you bear-hunters out there do us all a great service in keeping these guy's humble. Well... most of em' any way.

Cheers,
Terry

[Caveman]

Great story Terry, Welcome.

[newhunterette]

Welcome Terry

that was a great story - can really picture it

oh and I am telling - Terry said the "s" word in his howdy doo

heheheh

love the way ya jumped in - we are a very odd bunch in this little web

Ali

[Mr. Dean]

Your right about how Bears leave a lasting impression.

This is old news but worthy of a short repeat - I was once repeatedly pestered by a large black while dressing out my 1st downed Muley. The surrounding brush was THICK and this buggar just kept on coming back, pokeing out from behind tree's all around me, very boldly and very close (measure in feet, not yards). I was also alone...

Long story short, we both lived but once back @ camp and skinning the buck out by gas lanterns, every snap crackle and pop would nearly send me over the deep end. This happened a few years ago and still leaves a bit of an impression on me.

I like Bears. But I like them best when they're out of my comfort zone. :smile: