Humans and bears - Wild encounters

[brotherbear]

Grizzly Years by Doug Peacock.

The Black Grizzly crossed the meadow with his usual distain for scents and worlds beyond his immediate one and started browsing his way up the side of the ridge. He climbed rapidly and was halfway up the ridge when it dawned on me that he was going to catch up to the grizzly family feeding just below me. I was going to be stuck there in the dark with a sow, her cub, and the Black Grizzly between me and my sleeping bag. I edged off to the side of the steep-sided ridge to get a better view. The Black Grizzly browsed a hundred feet or so below the sow; neither bear seemed aware of the other. I considered dropping off the back side of the ridge and trying to circle around the three bears, but I would never make it; the steep brush was nearly impenetrable.

Suddenly there was a roar; and I heard a huffing and the sound of animals running through the brush. The sow broke into the open a hundred feet in front of me and raced across the saddle. The tiny cub struggled with the brush, running at her heels. I could hear the intake and exhalation of each breath with each stride. They contoured along the rock outcrop below the ridge, oblivious of my presence, running for their lives before the Black Grizzly, who tore up the slope and burst over the ridge top. He galloped like a racehorse and moved just as fast. The sow and cub flew below the small cliff. The cub fell a couple of yards behind and I could make out a high-pitched coughing, a panicky sound as if the little bear knew it had but seconds left to live. The Black Grizzly gained ground until his jaws were but a yard from the cub's hindquarters.

At the last second the sow spun around on her heels, allowed the cub to slip under her as she braced for the crush of the huge grizzly with a chilling roar. The boar bellowed back, and they locked jaws. The Black Grizzly slashed with his teeth. The sow parried and warded off the attacking jaws of the bigger bear. The cub retreated to a rock thirty feet above and stood there bawling. The boar leapt forward and knocked the smaller bear off balance, forcing her to expose her vulnerable flank. The huge male lunged and seized the female by the neck. She yelped in pain, throwing her head against the bigger bear, and broke the grip of his jaws. The sow quickly recovered. She held her own.

I could see no blood, though both bears must have been wounded by then. They alternately slashed and parried, then stood nose to nose roaring amplified growls, the likes of which I had never heard in nature. The Black Grizzly slowed his attack. Abruptly he changed tactics and lunged once again for the throat of the sow. She leaned into the attack; they locked jaws and rose to their hind feet like circling wrestlers. They broke and dropped to all fours, roaring and bellowing into each other's snouts.

The face-off stabilized as the Black Grizzly gave up trying to kill the sow. The last roars rumbled throughout the valley. Though a little shaken by the proximity of this battle, I managed to run a few feet of film.

The smaller of the two huge carnivores backed slowly up the hill, still growling with the hair on her neck straight up. The Black Grizzly roared again, his head slightly lowered, his ears flattened back. She inched away from him a few feet at a time and turned her head to the side - a sign she was done fighting. He read it and turned away almost regretfully. The battle was over. Reply