Good ol' days finale..........

[Wayne in BC]

That Grizz was coming down the grassy hillside popping his jaws and growling/bawling, not real fast but determined as i raised the rifle and worked the bolt. Putting the crosshairs on his left shoulder, as you are better to break that shoulder and roll em over at close quarters than risk missing the skull which is a much smaller target, i squeezed and click!.....
Two rounds in the magazine was all he had loaded and it holds three in that 300 Win magnum.....
Nothing left to do now but....
Walk toward the beast, arms and rifle waving while making a bunch of noise, i think i said something like-- YOU SOB! I WILL KILL YOU! YOU...YADA YADA...
It worked, at about 40 ft away he stopped and headed away kinda sideways and still growling, then went into the bush and disappeared. I walked backwards all the way to the horses, still yelling, i saw Joe standing behind them as they snorted, blew, and danced, pulling hard on their ropes.

As i whipped my rifle from the saddle scabbard and chambered a round i said not a word, while my hunter was yammering about how brave i was and how did i make that choice? I decided to yell at him some cause i needed all my ammo in case that po-ed Grizz changed his mind and returned. Also tell him that it was not bravery but a no choice survival option and some knowledge of animals that prompted my actions!
After a couple minutes the Grizz didn't show, maybe cause i was still teaching Joe new words, descriptive ones having to do with his parentage and sexual preferences.
He finally came out meekly with ....sorry. Then the meathead said.....we should go after him. Barely able not to kill him again, i said, YOU GO! And take only two bullets! We rode back to camp in silence.....

At camp he was still wondering why WE did not go after the Bear and i had to educate him about shooting without knowing, about illegal and immoral, and about wounded Grizz and how they had long memories and would lay up to ambush us from close in, and how "we" meaning me could not likely kill him or even hit him if he charged in brush from 40-80 ft away!
We would wait till next morning and take his trail, i was hoping he was not hurt bad, poor critter!

We left on foot in the morning, explain again to Joe that we did not need spooked horses around.
I made him walk right at my left side close in and stay there! The trail was quite easy to follow, only a few hundred feet in i found where the big guy had laid down behind an old brushy stump to wait for anything following him, yep.
There was some snow and very little blood, then tracks leading off, no limping or wobbling and i knew he would be fine with only a sore spot that would heal good in the cool weather. Anti-climactic but fine with me.

We headed back to camp and i swear we did not travel a couple hundred yards when two moose walked out in a clearing 30 yards from us. A cow and the biggest Bull i had ever seen in Alberta! His rack was at least 20% larger than the one Joe had shot, he was an awsome sight!
Joe said, believe it or not, "omigod! Can i shoot him and switch? Give you mine?" Cripes! The guy was totally a jerk with no couth or morals and i wished he had never got that Bull.

The rest of the story is blah. We hunted Black bear a couple more days, with me making darn sure we did not get near one

Thanks for your patience folks.

 

[Royal]

That would have scared the crap out of me!! I am sure it did you too but you did what had to be done.

That dummy

 

[George-CT]

of having a guide who knows whats going on in the back country, and the habits of the local wildlife. From your description of your client, he would have been at the top of the bears menu.

My Buddy Gary who lives in Washington State now went he got out of high school, he and a buddy went to Alaska...They had tags fro Elk or Caribou, I forget now which and go one. They saw a brown bear the next day as they were coming out of and old trappers cabin there were staying in. He said all the way there , they spoke of getting one, but after this one stood up, with the sun at its back, he said no way in heck he was gonna shoot it. The waited for it to leave, and then some before moving on to pack out their kill to the road.

He took jobs at canneries, so they would fly him up , they would work a 3 days ot a week, then quit so they could hunt. He said they did to Kodiak, Island but could not get any tags. This was back in 60 or 61, so long time ago, but I remember him saying, they are one big animal he as not interested in killing.

He fished in Alaska last year and one of the fisherman further up from them got attacked by one in his tent, not sure what type, but it killed him. The guy Gary took with him wouldn't sleep anywhere but in the back of the wagon.

Your hunting trips are really great. Those were dreams of mine, but I didn't have the money for it back then with 5 kids. Now I have the money, since the quad bypass, I've taken a different approach to taking game for myself. Can't explain it, just how it turned around.

I sure don't have any problem with others coming here to deer hunt, but I prefer not to anymore. If I needed it I could, but now I just hunt them with the camera. Works good except no taste. that's what I depend on the hunters that hunt here for, a few steaks and stew meat.

Again, Enjoyed your story.

George-CT

 

[Jbird]

I understand now why you didnt shoot the bear. But I still dont understand why you didnt shoot Joe. Or you could have goosed his horse just as he was riding along a high cliffside. Or "accidently" slipped a little strychnine in his bowl of moose tongue stew. You could have at least have ran one of the quads over his legs while he was sleeping just to show your respect for him. The opportunites were endless, Wayner, but oh no, you just had to live by the ever suffering noble hunter/guide code of ethics and let the sucker escape, didnt you?

 

[Ron J]

n/t

 

[Sunny]

glad you decided to write this. I could smell the camping smells, and meat, and picture the big old moose and the grizzly! And in the very beginning, before I read somewhere that you said this jerk was a hospital administrator, I was thinking doctor!!! Used to work for an anesthesiologist that would hire guides and hunt. He had a huge house, and had animals fully stuffed on ledges in one three story room!

I think you were brave too, but mostly smart. What an interesting business you had!! There's got to be more stories. Think em up and tell us some more! :clap!!!!

 

[Wayne in BC]

for quite a few years cause i made some errors in judgement and i was taught better than that! It happens i guess, and i am mature enough now to laugh about it
Doctors huh? Cut with the same cloth, the arrogant boogers!
Thanks Sunny, hope your trip was fun and you do not have the "40 oz flu"

 

[Wayne in BC]

n/t

 

[Wayne in BC]

there is an old saying.....two things you don't scr....er...mess with, one is A Grizzly and the other is limp

 

[Wayne in BC]

I also got so that i would not kill a Grizzly unless i had to. I liked, respected them, and had no problems that were the bears fault. Black bears on the other hand were a plague on us. Nasty sneaky thieves!
I have Deer in my yard all the time and just have not hunted for a long time either. I tease Royal about shooting his but he knows i am Bsing.
This fall i nearly harvested a couple Deer that spent all summer trashing our trees, roses, and berries. If i get hungry i still may.

 

[Wayne in BC]

a "ghost writer" would help with the arthritic fingers and lousy back....

 

[Dan-MO]

Man my heart was racing just from reading about that charging Grizzly!I can't imagine being in your boots when it happened.Sounds like your client was a idiot- maybe you could have used him to bait the bear!Thanks again for a great story!

 

[Wayne in BC]

that one was po-ed but his charge was not quite fullbore, maybe he was still stunned a bit or unsure if we had caused his pain, one part of my mind was thinking that, but i had no option anyway and reacted. I got lucky because if he had been totally serious or i had run, i would have been dead.
Thanks for the kind words!

 

[Rob/Windsor Ont.]

Couldn't get enough of that story Wayner. Just an excellent read ! Lot's of writing, for sure, but for us readers, that was a treat and a half. Dang client almost got ya killed though. You had to be pi$$ed ! One of the times in life where the dice fell in your favor though, huh. I wouldn't have known what to do in that situation.

 

[Wayne in BC]

i was lucky to have been trained for it by some of the best. Happy that you enjoyed it

 

[VT Dave]

had me on the edge of the chair when that griz came atcha. Wonder if your client ever learned anything? Thanks for bringing me along on the hunt!

Dave

 

[Micheal_R]

n/t

 

[Wayne in BC]

n/t

 

[Wayne in BC]

n/t

 

[JB(MS)]

Good story Wayne. Your experiences as a guide would be a good adventure series for tv.