Wayne in BC
New member
As i swung the rifle up and chambered a round my mind was saying.....what the heck! Even really stupid Black bears do not charge a noisy group of men and horses!!!???
Ain't it wonderful how you can have such a long conversation with yourself in a fraction of a second, given that it takes a couple minutes to do something as uncomplicated as ordering dinner?
While my brain was doing this it was also hearing the pandemonium going on around me, horses snorting and trying to leave in a panic, Gary swearing, and the comforting "klick klack" next to me of Toms 30-30 winchester having a shell racked into the chamber!
I had just begun to get the sight in the general direction of the bear who was still coming our way in jumps, appearing and disappearing as he came over and under the deadfall. Nasty because there would be little time for shooting, only the last 50 feet or so that the beast would be in the open, lousy odds and i decided to get at least one round away in the hope of confusing the fool critter before he got too close, so my finger had nearly tightened enough to fire when my sight picture went black!
The same instant that i was seeing black and wondering what the *&%#*!, Tom said.....oh fer chrisakes! His exact words, i remember them real good
He had a different and better view than me, and "iron sights" so knew what had just happened. In a second more i also knew what Tom was saying when i lowered my rifle to look over the scope.
The Bears, yup plural! Were nearly nose to nose, whuffing and popping their jaws at each other and as it all came clear i relaxed a bit. The blonde Bear had not been interested in us at all and was running in OUR direction to get at another Bear, a black colored one who he thought was encroaching on his territory. We later figured out that we had unknowingly spooked the black one, who had begun to run off, right in the direction of the meanest s.o.b in the valley, who took it personal and met what he thought was a charge by retaliating in kind!
After a brief bawling and swatting match the two Bears split up and lit out in a hurry as a 250 grain chunk of jacketed lead from my magnum lifted half a bushel of wood chips from a log just under their noses! We did not have time to discuss much then as Gary was involved in an involuntary "rodeo" with his very spooked horse who was bent on following mine and Tom's back down the trail to camp! We had work to do and as we set to catching horses and picking up scattered gear i said to Tom. You know, i should have just shot that sucker on general principles but he is valuable! He allowed as how he had the same thought, but like me, he figured that blondie was money in the bank from a happy client, so.......
Yeah, i should have dusted that s.o.b! He was not finished with us as we would learn the next day
Continued...
Ain't it wonderful how you can have such a long conversation with yourself in a fraction of a second, given that it takes a couple minutes to do something as uncomplicated as ordering dinner?
While my brain was doing this it was also hearing the pandemonium going on around me, horses snorting and trying to leave in a panic, Gary swearing, and the comforting "klick klack" next to me of Toms 30-30 winchester having a shell racked into the chamber!
I had just begun to get the sight in the general direction of the bear who was still coming our way in jumps, appearing and disappearing as he came over and under the deadfall. Nasty because there would be little time for shooting, only the last 50 feet or so that the beast would be in the open, lousy odds and i decided to get at least one round away in the hope of confusing the fool critter before he got too close, so my finger had nearly tightened enough to fire when my sight picture went black!
The same instant that i was seeing black and wondering what the *&%#*!, Tom said.....oh fer chrisakes! His exact words, i remember them real good
He had a different and better view than me, and "iron sights" so knew what had just happened. In a second more i also knew what Tom was saying when i lowered my rifle to look over the scope.The Bears, yup plural! Were nearly nose to nose, whuffing and popping their jaws at each other and as it all came clear i relaxed a bit. The blonde Bear had not been interested in us at all and was running in OUR direction to get at another Bear, a black colored one who he thought was encroaching on his territory. We later figured out that we had unknowingly spooked the black one, who had begun to run off, right in the direction of the meanest s.o.b in the valley, who took it personal and met what he thought was a charge by retaliating in kind!
After a brief bawling and swatting match the two Bears split up and lit out in a hurry as a 250 grain chunk of jacketed lead from my magnum lifted half a bushel of wood chips from a log just under their noses! We did not have time to discuss much then as Gary was involved in an involuntary "rodeo" with his very spooked horse who was bent on following mine and Tom's back down the trail to camp! We had work to do and as we set to catching horses and picking up scattered gear i said to Tom. You know, i should have just shot that sucker on general principles but he is valuable! He allowed as how he had the same thought, but like me, he figured that blondie was money in the bank from a happy client, so.......
Yeah, i should have dusted that s.o.b! He was not finished with us as we would learn the next day
Continued...
