Humans and bears - Wild encounters

[brotherbear]

Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock.

I rounded a corner of trees and stepped onto a game trail leading down the defile. I took three steps down the meadow corridor and stopped dead. Thirty yards away on the opposite end of the clearing, walking toward me on the animal trail, was the huge brown grizzly, the alpha animal of all the bears I had watched.

I froze. The grizzly paused, catching my movement, then lowered his head slightly and, with a sort of stiff-legged gait, ambled toward me swinging his head from side to side. I knew from having watched this bear interact with other animals that the worst thing I could do was run.

The big bear stopped thirty feet in front of me. I slowly worked my hand into my bag and gradually pulled out the Magnum. I peered down the gun barrel into the dull red eyes of the huge grizzly. He gnashed his jaws and lowered his ears. The hair on his hump stood up. We starred at each other for what might have been seconds but felt like hours. I knew once again that I was not going to pull the trigger. My shooting days were over. I lowered the pistol. The giant bear flicked his ears and looked off to one side. I took a step backward and turned my head toward the trees. I felt something pass between us. The grizzly slowly turned away from me with grace and dignity and swung into the timber at the end of the meadow. I caught myself breathing heavily again, the flush of blood hot on my face. I felt my life had been touched by enormous power and mystery.

I did not know that the force of that encounter would shape my life for decades to come. Tracking griz would become full-time work for six months of many years, and it lingers yet at the heart of any annual story I tell of my life. I have never questioned the route this journey took: it seems a single trip, the sole option, driven by that same potency that drew me into grizzly country in the beginning.

*Note: Doug Peacock: Viet Nam veteran and grizzly enthusiast. Reply