Got several, but this one stands out. I took a buddy up to fish BC one year. We were walking into the Morice at dawn through a willow flat about a quarter of a mile accross between the truck and the river---griz tracks and chewed up salmon everywhere. I lead the way yelling "HEY BEAR," "GET OUTA HERE BEAR," just warning any in the vicinity of our presence. As a newcomer my buddy was relatively unconcerned.

We emerged at the rivers edge at the top end of a pretty good stretch of holding water. About 200 yds upstream was the top end of an even better stretch. I asked him which stretch he wanted and he chose the upper and plodded off upstream, but he didn't continue with the "noise" I had been making. I just grinned and began fishing.

About four minutes later I heard some garbled splashing upstream. My buddy had walked to within 30 feet of a grizzly that promptly stood up on his hind legs in the sawgrass and grunted. At this point my partner did a kind of running/swimming impersonation of someone who wasn't very good at either. He kept falling down in two feet of water while remaining stationary for 5 seconds or so before getting his feet under him. He finally put his hand on his peper mace and mustered up a half-hearted "get outa hear bear" about 50 yards out. I was laughing my ass off. He came back downstream and I said, "welcome to BC."

I will never forget that, what seemed a huge, polar bear in the Anchorage airport. Loved going to the airport to pick-up my Pop coming home from the slope. Always had to go see the bear.

Now they have a new bear in there with a couple Humpies too!!!!!

Good topic... Brings back memories.

Floating down the American River on the Naknek system on the Aleutian Peninsula in Alaska. We started at the Lake (Hammersley) and drifted down over three days doing some R&D for a lodge. There were bears along the whole way as is normal for a Sockeye stream in that area.

Last day I was fighting a nice Rainbow and got a little behind everyone else. We were floating in personal floats called WaterMasters. Anyways I come around a bend into a densely canopied straight stretch of riffled water about 20 feet wide with high banks and I get this feeling... My hair on my neck stood straight up and I did not want to float through that stretch. I stowed the fly rod and moved the gun to the front apron and slowly walked/floated through the 150 foot long stretch of water. I was scared stiff and felt like at any moment a bear was going to land on me. I knew I was being watched and intuition was telling me things were not ok! I made it through the little stretch of river and back out into an open section of water.

I turned around and looked back into the canopied area and there is a huge sow standing half in the water half on the sloped bank looking down at me! I will never forget that image.

I have no idea how close I was to her but I know it was closer then I wanted to be.
We ended up seeing 100+ bear over the three days but as usual had no problem with them even when camping streamside at night.

I also have a few good stories of clients climbing my back and trying to drown me after a bear non chalantly walks out of the woods near us while fishing. And the time a friend "impersonating" a bear charged me in the high grass of a tributary off the Naknek. I thought I was dead.

But I never did feel threatened by a Grizzly in the eight years I was up in Bristol Bay.

CF

We were fishing the Situk River in Alaska for coho in Sept. A coastal brown bruin popped his head out of the bush across the river from us and eyed our salmon on the beach. He started licking his chops and we thought it a good time to leave.

Hiking "quickly" downstream on the trail to the parking lot, we came upon another fisherman trying to scare his buddies in the river by making bear grunts and noises. We told him in about 30 seconds there will be the real thing he could use for that purpose, but he blew us off.

When we got to the parking lot, we gave those guys about a minute and sure enough they all came out of the bush screaming "bear". Funnier than hell. But it was time to leave.

This runs a close second to the 9ft. brown bear they had to shoot in the parking lot of our hotel last year. He had been walking in to the back door of the restaurant and reaching through hotel room windows to grab food. Apparently tagged as a nuisance bear he was given a death sentence. A shooting in front of your hotel room is, gladly, something you don't see every day, or in the brochure.

Next Question?

Holly Bear Samonella! That is sweeet......

Russian River, Black Bear with 2 cubs across the stream. Nothing too exciting but kept the hairs on my back up...

DOGOFF!

Salmonella, what are you doing to that bear on that top pic???

Three summers ago, four of us went to Brooks Falls, in the Katmai Nat'l Park up in Alaska to fish for Sockeye and whatever else we could scare up. It was just the beginning of Sockeye season, so the bears were just beginning to show up. We weren't there 15 minutes when we saw our first Brown Bears and they were a common sight throughout our 5-day stay.

Down where the lodge is, there were mostly Sows with cubs and juvinile bears. Up at the falls, in the prime spots is where the big boys hung out and there were some pretty big bears up there. Some of them old, shaggy and scarred up, some of them in really prime shape.

The most memorable encounter was fishing our way downstream from just (a reasonable distance) below the falls. We were fishing for rainbow, as the salmon hadn't worked their way up to the falls in mass numbers. I was starting to have some luck on some nice rainbows and I, too, fell behind my three friends. I got to a spot in the river where it made a curve to the left against a high, read that unclimbable, bank. At this point, a lone juvinile came to the riverbank from the flat side of the river, about 50 yards upstrem from me. I made some noise and it looked like it saw me. I started moving down stream.

The bear started moving downstream along the low bank. I moved downstream, but the bear moved a little faster and pretty soon, it was uncomfortably close. I moved with a bit more purpose and would have liked to cross the stream, but had to go down stream to get past the high bank. As I was angling down stream to get to where I could get out on the other side, the bear came up even with me on the bank. The river is not a big one. The bear was about 50 feet away at this point.

I came to a little dry gravel bar and got out on it, deviding my attention between the bear and where I needed to go. The bear headed toward the gravel bar. I got to the end of the gravel bar and the bear came to the other end, where I had just been; now, it was only about 30 feet from me. And it was only looking at me.

I didn't know quite what to do at that point. I couldn't go anywhere fast. I didn't want to turn and start crashing through the water, but I didn't like standing there that much either. I raised my jacket up over my head and tried to look big, but the bear wan't too impressed. It just kind of kept looking at me, moving its head left and right.

The next thing I knew, the bear just took a lope or two and was within about 10 feet of me before I could either sh!t or go blind and then it stood up. It seem about 12 feet tall (even though pictures taken later prove it to be small, compared with the adult bears). I actually felt my knees get weak. It had these pig-looking eyes and it just kept looking at me and wobbling its head.

I had no other choice than just to back up into the water. That's what I did, trying to keep one eye where my next foot would go and one eye on the bear, but not looking it right in the eyes.

I remember how lucky I felt that the bear didn't immediately follow me. It finally went back down on all fours and stared and waved its head. Once I got about 50 feet away, it started shadowing me again, both in the river and along the bank. I was making pretty good time downstream now. But the bear just kind of stayed about the same distance.

I finally caught up with my friends who had seen most of this happen from about 100 yards down stream. When we all got together in a bunch, the bear started across the river toward all of us and really got close to one of my friend's father, who is about 68 years old.
Since I now had the opportunity, I was the farthest away I could get.

Finally the bear just recrossed the stream and wandered off into the bushes.

That was about as much bear as I want to see. Brooks Falls really is remarkable. The bears are everywhere. They all seem to fish differently. Some swat at the fish, some snorkle for them, others run full speed downstream and then pounce. That is something to see - a big bear crashing down stream, chasing a huge school of salmon. The big adults at the falls stand on the rocks with all that water rushing around them and catch jumping salmon in their mouths. You can watch the mother bears trying to teach the cubs and the cubs at various stages of development starting to try to catch fish. Not all bears are real good at catching fish. But some of them are very good.

There is no real strict control over you on the river. You have to go to a class and learn how to behave. You're supposed to stay 50 yards away from single bears and 100 yards away from Moms with cubs. But they can sneak up on you even when you are being as observant as you can be and still fish.

They can be a real pain when you are trying to fish. Sometimes you can fish for a good long time without being interrupted, sometimes there seems to be bears coming around every time you get a fish on. The bears have the right-of-way and you just have to break your fish off and back away until they move on.

I think the lodge has been open since the 50's and they've never had a real incident. Mostly, its the same bears and their descendants year after year. The adult bears mind their own business. Its the juviniles, like the one that shadowed me, that might get their curiosity up about you.

You really have to be aware of the bears all the time. One morning, we were just getting out of our cabin. We went out the door, turned left and there was a big old bear, right up on the porch. The rangers will chase the bears off the porch, but almost any other time, even if the bears are blocking you from getting to your plane to leave, you just have to wait until the bears move off. It's a remarkable experience!

I had a buddy who a few years back was hiking into a Yellowstone Lake trib I recommended to fish for post-spawn cutts (the area is now closed due to bear problems). Now this guy is in about half blind, and terrified by bears. Apparently, he had seen quite a few buffalo at the trail head, so he was not surprised to see one come out of the woods and begin ambling along the meadow path in front of him. As he tells the story, he slowly caught up to the buffalo, and when he was about 30 yards away it turned around and stood up on it's hind legs an began sniffing the air!

Needless to say, my buddy never made it to the creek, and likely had to clean out his pants back at the trail head.

You can not just post pictures like that Salmonella and not give some details on the bear!!!


Party foul!

On a two week wilderness raft trip in AK near Bethel and was awoken one morning to the roar of a bear next to our tent. That is a pretty rude way to wake up! I guess it didn't like us camped on his gravel bar. the next sight of three guys in their underwear running around with guns outside the tent would have scared anything away.

I've never seen a Grizzly and have only really had one encounter with bears but it made for an interesting morning several years ago.

First day of being on strike I naturally hike into one of my mountian summer run zippers. It was pretty foggy out and I had to walk past a tailout that fills up with spawning humpies. Through the fog I could hear the humpies splashing about a little more enthusiastically than usual. This was followed by some serious splashing. I made the prudent decision to sit back and wait for the fog to lift. Sure enough within minutes I was watching three black bears displaying some of the worst fishing techniques I've ever seen. I watched for about half an hour before being spotted and they meandered off in three different directions. The bears did better than I that day, as I didn't touch a thing, but it was still one of my best days ever on the river. Pretty cool for the Cascades!

I was having lunch at the Double Muskie in Girdwood, AK a few years back. There was a 300lb black bear nosing around out back. My girlfriend of the time really wanted a picture so I went out front to our car to get the camera.

I walked around the rear of the car and opened the trunk. I had to spend a couple minutes bent over in our luggage to find the camera but finally did. I stood upright and closed the trunk, and was staring directly at the young bear that was suppose to still be out back.

He was standing between a couple trees about 25 feet away. The door to the building was about 40 feet away. I calmly (yeah, right) started walking towards the door. He started shading me that way, and there was no way I could get there before him. Realizing no one was around and knowing blacks attack for the purpose to eat you, I felt that him stalking me like that was a very bad situation.

Instead of going for the door, I went back towards the back part of the car, always keeping it between us. He immediately switched directions and mirrored my move, closing the gap between us as he did. I felt my only shot was to pull him in closer and at the same time, get him further from the door to the building. I wanted to get him behind the car while I was along the side, move to the front, and then bolt for the door. I thought about jumping in the car but the windows were down, and there was no way I could get them up before he piled in with me.

After making a number of side to side direction changes in my moves, I eventually go him at the rear of the car and took off for the door. I'm pretty sure my feet never even touched the ground I was going so fast. I got in and absolutely was certain I would hear him slam into the door, but never did. I went straight to the restroom to clean up my shorts, and returned to our table.

About 5 minutes later there was a big commotion out back. He had a guy cornered on top of his car in the rear lot, and was trying to get him. The cooks came out with pots and pans and made alot of noise, enough to distract him long enough so the guy made it off the car and back inside. Later on, a wildlife officer came and "ended" the problem.

I've seen plenty of bears in WA and AK, been close to them a number of times. Having one stalk me is a feeling I will never forget as long as I live. I'd rather confront a brownie any time over a black.

The Photos show my 10ft 1in Kodiak Brown Bear that I took in April of '01.
The bear made the Boone & Crockett record book.
Since I was a young kid I listened to stories of the giant bears of Kodiak from my Dad who was stationed there in the Navy to looking at those monsters mounted in classic sporting goods stores.
I tried to take a big Grizzly in '96 but ran out of time and ended up taking an average one.
I figured the only way was to spend the big bucks and hunt Kodiak Island or the Alaska Peninsula.
Well after a few years of self depravation, I saved up and went on a 15 day backpack trip on Kodiak island and on the fourth day connected with the bear of my dreams.
It was a VERY challenging hunt!
If anything can be derived from the story, it is that you don't have to be a "Rich Guy" to live out your dreams!
You just have to be willing to do whatever it takes to get there!
I posted some of my other trophies in the "On The Hunt" forum.

Though I've seen hundreds of blackies over the years in Ak. I really haven't had any close encounters, probably the closest was a bear that decided to scratch its back on the tree I was sitting in, about 20 feet off the ground, he never knew I was there, shot a few nice bucks out of that stand, but thats another story.

I did hear a great story this past spring when I got to the resort I work at. A couple of our dockhands (young, dumb and full of ___)were doing a trash run out to the dump (we burn all our trash) there are always bears there and they usually run off when they hear the quads coming. well the 2 dockhands spot this bear that is down in a hole with its rump up in the air and its so busy eating it doesn't pay any attention to them, 1 of the guys (stupidly) decides he's going to sneak up on the bear and kick it in the butt, he gets in position and drills that bear solid, expecting it to run off, well the bear had other ideas, it spins around and before Rich could move it clamped down on his foot for about a second then according to the other guy that witnessed this, they both let out loud screeches and ran in opposite directions, he was wearing extra-tuff boots that had definite signs of a close encounter with a bear.

I was visiting my ex Sister in Law on Kodiak Island. We went out to fish the mouth of a small stream where it came into the salt. Just a little ways up from us we saw a family camping out of a camper. There were also some cows wandering the beach. We fished for a little bit then left.

A few days later I was at the Kodiak Rotary Lunch with my Sis in Law. She introduced me to some people at our table. They asked what I had been doing while on the Island and I mentioned I had done some fishing.

They then told us a story of some people who were fishing by where they were camped. They said right after the people left a Brown Bear came out on the beach and took down a cow, dragging it into the salt water and killed it. They immediately packed up and left the area.

My Sis in Law and I were the people who had just left when the Brown came out and killed the cow.

Was bowhunting with two buddies in the marble unit several years ago...Buddy in the lead suddenly gets huge eyed and backs away while nocking an arrow..I look up and we had come within 20 feet of a black bear in the brush..

.It just stared for a second and took off like a raped ape.....Saw five more bears that trip but nothing else within bowshot . Wanted to be legal so we didn't pack heat. Good times!

About 12 years ago I shot a 4pt near Twisp on opening morning. The next morning my dad, my uncle, and I hit the trail again, but before leaving we noticed that the head of my deer was gone from the picnic table. Around midnight the night before, two guys pulled their camp at the end of the road and took off. We blamed the missing head on them and cussed them all the next day.
When we returned to camp on the second day, my uncle and I put our stuff away and were sitting down to take our boots off. After puting his rifle in the camper and without saying anything to us, my dad had found some bear tracks on the road and followed them.
So my uncle and I had just put our slippers on when we heard my dad screaming for his life from down the road. "HELP! HELP! BRING THE GUNS! HE'S GONNA KILL ME!" My uncle grabbed his 30-06, I grabbed the .22 I carried for the day and, in slippers, we ran down the road to see who was about to kill my dad. Just down the road we saw my dad FLYING down the bank and onto the road. I've never seen my dad move like that. He got behind my uncle, grabbed him by the shirt, and started pushing him up the bank saying, "SHOOT HIM! SHOOT HIM!"
My dad was freaked out, but managed to say something about a bear.
All three of us went up the hill and just as my dad is pointing to the mighty, blood thirsty beast, a cute little bear stands up on his hind legs, standing about chest high. "There he is. SHOOT HIM!" "Where?" my uncle asked. "Right there!" says my dad. "That's just a little one" says uncle. "He wasn't chasing you! Now shoot him!" says dad.
We scared the bear away and my dad showed us the find. Against the base of a tree was my deer head, along with another head from our camp that the bear had taken during the day while we were gone.
My dad had followed the track to the heads, and while he was looking at them, he thought he heard me walking behind him. Of course when he turned around it wasn't me standing behind him, but the bear. Apparently the bear made a charge as my dad ran and my dad thought the bear was on his ass all the way down to the road.

"Salmonella, what are you doing to that bear on that top pic???"



at least he had the courtesy to shoot it first!

So far the Darwin award goes to the guy in Akkings post...kicking a black bear in the ass...

I once took Brian, a different friend to a different BC river with no access other than a logging road bridge crossing. We arrived early AM to find two grizz in the river about 200-yds downstream swiming around fishing for sockeye. Piering over the side of the bridge directly below us were numerous half eaten salmon. I spent the good part of 30 minutes convincing my friend to accompany me for the day in the presence of these bears. He was more than a little apprehensive. I kept telling him we just had to move downstream slowly making lots of noise and these bears would stay out of our way.

Finally he conceded, "but need my morning coffee first," he said. So he started scrambling down the dirt embankment on the side of the bridge to get water from the river to boil on the tailgate. About halfway down this bank a *BIG* grizz that had been out of sight and earshot under the bridge the entire time we had been talking got his scent and spooked, and it chose the direction of my friend as his escape route. At the same time Brian lost his footing and slid down the hill directly at the bear that by all apearances, looked to be charging him. Brian was backstroking like a wild man, beating the hell out of the coffee pot in the process, but just kept accelerating toward the toe of the slope. When he hit the bottom the bear ran by him 4 feet away and kept going. I never laughed so hard in my life.

It took me another hour to convice my now, emotionally accosted friend to go fishing. When we did we had yet another encounter about a 1/2 mile downstream. He has yet to go north with me again. Them bears are hell on fishin' buddies.

I have lots of bear stories fro fishing Ak and hunting down here this is a fun one.
Two summers ago my wife comes in from a trip to the store and says there is something hurt down our driveway . It is after dark so I drive down the driveway and check it out. there is a god awful screaming noise coming from the creek. I get the flashlight out to go take a look. The creek bottom is filled with eyes glowing back at me. I have a 6' by 3'x3' Humane trap set up near the creek. I use to to control Coyotes, raccoons etc. I assume it's coyotes and that they are after something in the trap. I shine the light in the trap and their is a real fat little bear cub. The hairs on my neck stand up and I shine the light up and there is momma and her other cub plus a few more bears watching me. I head for the truck. The rest of the bears must have been attracted to the sound of the wailing cub because they are crossing the drive way and coming in from all directions. We have quite a few here and it is not uncommon to see several a day when the blackberries are ripe. I had no way to release the cub with out going into the brush. So I decided to call Fish and game for help. They sent out 3 officers that arrived by midnite. Two stood back up with big lights and shotguns while one guy and I tried to release the cub. Everytime we would get close to the trap the cub would scream bloody murder and the Sow would bluff charge, woof and pace the perimiter popping her chops and trashing brush. If you have ever hunted bears at close range the popping the chops is a serious sign of real agitation for bears. We finnaly get to the gate on the trap and the cub decides to fight us. It starts hissing ,biting and clawing at us through the trap. We finnaly get the door open and the cub burries itself in the other end of the trap and will not come out. So we go to the other end and lift the trap and try to dump it out. The cub holds on for dear life to the sides of the trap. It's yelling and sreaming the sow is goin nuts and the sounds of the other bears in the brush fill the air. The two guards kept saying hurry up here they come. fiannly the cub drops out and goes running for the woods and it is instantly quiet except for a screaming cub tearing off through the woods. My wife and kids shot video of it from the truck and it's pretty fun to watch.

All 3 of my close up encounters were with black bears in the Michigan UP.

1. 10 yrs old fishing with dad for trout. Waded upstream and planned to fish down. It was pouring down rain and the stream was rising rapidly. I decided that I should get back so I started wading down stream. I reached a place that the water had risen enough that I couldn't wade it. I crawled up the bank and it was tight scrub and a lot of huckleberry bushes. I found a beaten down path that I started following down stream. 50 yds or so i came to a sharp turn in the path. It's raining so hard that I could barely see. I "bump" into something and suddenly realize that I'm right next to a bear. We both dove into the brush on opposite sides of the trail. I jumped into the stream and ran/floated/swam the mile back to where Dad and I started. Can't remember if I s**t my pants.
2. My parents had a rustic cabin on Lake Gogebic. The restroom was an outhouse 30 yds down the hill. Had to make a nature call in the middle of the night and took a flashlight and started down the hill. It was fairly moonlit so I didn't turn the light on, halfway down the trail I heard a noise next to me and turned on the light. Another blackie 2' away. We both yelped, turned and ran. I remember not having to go to the can at night ever again up there.
3. Again at the cabin, dad was playing cards one night with some of his friends who came up for a few days. The old case of the boys escaping from the war departments for a few days of fishing, drinking, and friendly poker games. As the kid in camp I got to fetch the beer, ice, and food while they played. I walked out of the lighted area to where the beer cooler was and saw a bear sitting right next to the coolers. He was biting the cans and drinking the beer. I ran back to the porch and told them a bear was drinking their beer. had it been the food coolers of fish coolers it wouldn't have been so bad, the guys grabbed whatever they could find as a weapon and ran over to save their beer. The bear was just sitting there holding a can to his mouth. It looked so comical the lynch mob just started laughing.

Sols story that started this whole thread reminded me of a similar incident which incidentally also took place two years ago, walked through that exact same willow patch doing the whole "Hey bear" routine, got to the river headed up, stopping only to photograph a large fresh bear track, my wizened veteran of a partner stayed downstream as I picked my way upriver through random rootwads and heavy fog, (visibility was limited to less than 100 feet), though with keen eye I was able to Identify the piece of water I wanted to fish, as I crossed the last rootwad I glanced upriver to see...well, it took a second to realize what I was looking at, sure 'nuff a large bear strolling down..Yeah, about 30 ft. away, appearently making the morning rounds.
This is where my story differs a little from Sols, After making good eye contact with the bear and giving a "Whoa big fella" I slowly and quite gracefully backtracked up over the rootwad that I had just crossed, the bear seemed unconcerned at this point so I just kept backing up, now it gets cool ..the beast stands up on his hind legs now 40 to 50 ft. away and gives me the full discovery channel pose, my next thought is photo, but it actually occured to me that I didn't want to be the guy who they picked his camera out of a pile of bear crap and said "if only he hadn't stopped to take that picure" my next move was to alert my wizened veteran partner and move on out, so not unlike Nijinsky his damn self I moved out with style and grace, got down to where partner was still unknowingly fishing and let him know what was up, he immediatly goes for the bear spray, I thought I was going to get it just for mentioning "bear" anyway he glued himself to my hip for the rest of the morning as the bear kept messing around in the brush behind us, I finally got tired of it and chucked a softball sized rock in its direction and it made off in haste, no harm no foul, all in all a great grizzly experience for my part, too bad partner didn't see any of it! And that my friends is.."The rest of the story"

I ran into this bear up at Omak Lake this summer. Right when I got there I was alone as I unloaded my truck and he came right into my camp and tore it up as I retreated to the truck cab. Clearly he was conditioned to getting food from campers as he had no fear and was a pest the entire trip even with our food properly stored.

River Walker,

That bear has been doing that for 2 years. People sit around camp and feed it to see how close they can get to it.

I was walkin down the trail one day and ran across a half rack of animal beer and.......oh wait that was "bear" sorry wrong thread

I've only got two:
The first was in Glacier Nat'l Park. We forded the river at the Rangers suggestion. Upon reaching the far side about 300 yards from where we started we were cold and tired. Two miles into a 5 mile hike we came around a corner to see a gris cub all alone. He bolted and we wondered was he running toward or away from mom......we stayed where we were for 10 minutes and then went on our way. Upon arrival at the lake there was scat and tracks everywhere...we even had a funny encouter with a mink but that's another story.

The second was last year on Hospital Hill above White Salmon while mtn biking.
I waited at a switchback for my parter. While sitting on the trail drinking some water I heard noises below me. I thought oh a squirl. It got louder and i thought oh a deer. Louder still and I thought cool some elk. I got up and looked over the ridge I was on. There was a mommy and three cubs about 10 yards from me rippin up a log. I said (I thought under my breath...) oh ****.
They heard me and ran downhill quickly.

Here's a couple........

Several years ago I was on a motorcycle heading up an old logging road to fish for trout in some high lakes on Stevens Pass. The road curved and a lanky black bear rumbled down the hillside onto the road about 30 yards ahead of me. He was booking and kept going down the road ahead of me, so being an idiot, I followed but kept my distance. After about a hundred yards he dove into the brush on the downhill side of the road and was gone.

Also several years ago, I was at a B.C. private lakes resort. One morning three of us headed to a lake a few miles from the resort in an old Jeep. Once there we hiked into the lake wearing our waders and carrying our float tubes on our backs. As the lake came into view, my friend in front turned around and walked past me saying, "B-B-B-Bear" . I looked ahead and about 50 yards on the trail standing on two legs and looking right us was a Griz. Before I could react(basically crap my pants), he dropped and ran off into the brush. We then caught some nice trout, but the hike out was rather tense.

Found a picture of our trip where my bear story came from above. This was about a half hour after that event. The lower river was full of bears!


http://www.kickboat.com/kodiaksandgrizzlies.jpg

Just happened to stumble upon it while following a link on another board. Brought back some memories!

CF

Back in the 70s, before the NF of the Tolt was closed for Steelhead, I found a game trail which led down to the head of the lower canyon. I would descend to the river on the steep trail in the dark and spend the morning fishing down the canyon to the forks. Never saw another fisherman in the years I fished that stretch of water. Rarely got skunked. Had some big days. One morning I took my wife Lia with me. We started down the trail in the dark with a pen light. Just took the little light because I didn't want to haul unnecessary weight down the canyon all morning and first light was just a quarter hour away. We were about a hundred yards down the trail when a bear (I guess it was a bear) started screaming at us from a few yards down the trail in front of use. Let out several piercing screams and went quiet. I looked around and my wife was gone. She had levitated in the dark about 25 feet back up the trail. I climbed up to her and tried to calm her down so we could get down to the first hole and be fishing by daybreak. She wouldn't go on down the trail. Absolutely refused. Wouldn't listen to reason at all. Got pissed off at me. Took the pen light away from me and started climbing back up the trail. She had just gone a little way, with me grumbling along behind, when the bear (or whatever it was) started screaming at us from above. It had circled us and come back to the trail. Didn't have a bit of trouble getting Lia down to the water after that. We were fishing as soon as it was light enough to see.

If it was screaming it was probably a cougar... that would scare me a lot more than a bear.

I guided at Katmai Lodge in the early 90's, for those not familiar it is about 10 miles in from Bristol Bay on the Alagnak River. The fishing package included fly out trips to among other places, Brooks Falls so I had become familiar with Brooks. Between McNeil and Brooks Falls you have all seen spots on TV about the bears sitting at the falls eating the happless Sockey as they jump into the bears mouths, or they catch them, which ever you prefer to believe.

On one of my trips in I had three English gentlemen to guide. Upon arriving we discovered that the natives had netted the river for the past three days and it basically had turned the usual Sockeye run from a rushing torrent of fish to barely more than a drip.

Proceeding on to our ritual debriefing by the local rangers about the bears and how to behave around them, something I'd heard too many times before, two of my guys decided in true English tradition, why risk it when you can get drunk, and they proceeded to the bar. A decision I wish the third guy had made.

We made our way down to the lower Brooks area, crossed the bridge and setup to fish. Small schools of 3 to 5 fish appeared once about every ten minutes. Fishing couldn't have been worse for a fly out trip if we had tried.

You could tell this trip was a lot different than any previous trip in here. There were bears wandering around, yawning, and restless nearly everywhere. The rangers figure there are around 30 bears in this area,weighing between 800-1200 lbs., covering a stretch of river less than a mile long throughout the Sockeye season. Most of them congregating at the falls when the fish are running. During this trip the fish weren't running so the bears were walking the beach and patroling the lower creek where we were.

We fished, pretty much in vane for about three hours when my now very drunk fisherman unbelievabley hooked into a Sockeye. The fish tore line off the spool, the unmistakable sound of a Hardy reel paying line out as the fish tried to escape. This sound it seems has been heard many times by the bears too because they came running like someone just rang the dinner bell. I walked down told him to straighten the rod and snap the fish off immediately to which he refused. I grabbed the rod from his grasp and did it myself. Winding the line up I turned and made my way about twenty feet up the bank with him right behind me telling me what an ass I was. As I turned to him I heard a roar from my left as two bears topped a small berm simultaneously and lit into each other not twenty feet away. My guy now standing squarly behind me not saying a word. To my right another bear thirty feet away was closing on our position very fast. The two bears to my left continued to fight and the one to my right stopped not more than six feet away. While not the largest bear there this bear hit the 1000 lb mark easily, very large, MUCH bigger than me. The bear faced me off, snorting and growling, head swaying from side to side. The bear roared and then began to spit and pounce up and down with the hackles on the peak of it's back standing straight up and the bear looking as ferocious and wide as it could get. It drew closer now just two to three feet away, pouncing and clawing at the ground. You could feel the ground shaking everytime it pounced.

As well as I could I tried to maintain my composure and not appear to be scared talking to the bear the entire time, making an absolute point to look at the ground and not appear threatening. I don't even have a clue what I said during that time but eventually the bear backed off, turning its attention back to the river with no fish. The other two bears had by now wandered off. The entire event probably lasted 5 minutes but seemed like an absolute eternity at the time.

When we figured it was safe we crossed the bridge and swiftly joined my other two guys at the bar where we remained the rest of the day.

I hated taking people in to Brooks after that. I honestly don't miss Brooks.

A few years ago I was out w/ a friend sighting in my 30-06 on another friends property , We get done shooting and I want to take a look at his property so we jump in my truck and motor off down the road I find a old logging road pull off and I shut off the truck I jump out and grab the rifle.

We start down the road about 3/4 of a mile into my expedition I start to smell this GAWD AWFUL smell. First thing is I told my friend to catch up w/ me NOW!!! I told him I smell a Bear, He crapped his britches right then and there. We continue walking and then I hear twigs and tree branches breakin off to my left ......It sound like the bear is paralleling us in the woods I said we better start turning around cause' this bear is stakling us . I start to talk to my friend on what to do JUST IN CASE kind of talk( My friend has NEVER been in the woods before)

This gives the bear just enough time to get roughly 100 yds ahead of us and she pops outa the woods ALONG W/3 CUBS now I say awe S**T Now I need to clean out my skivies........... the Sow stands on her hind legs (MAN WAS SHE BIG)

My budddy dosn't remember a word of what I told him NOT to do and runs like a mad man to my truck leaving me all alone w/ a pissed off sow.

Then I remember the rifle un-sling it rack a round home and I drop to one knee and wait to see what the bear is gonna do, ..... 10 seconds later the bear charged, ( a world of thought starts playin in your head. I didn't want to shot the sow and leave her cubs to die , on the other hand I dont need to get invited to dinner..........especially when I'm the main course)

The bear closed the distance w/ in a fraction of a second Just long enought to take the slack out of the triger, the bear stopped stood on her hind legs and ROARED and took off towards her cubs. The bear stopped close enough to see the blood shot veins in her eyes. I got back to the truck and was soo pissed off I almost left him there, I still have never taken him back out!!!


That is THEE closest I EVER want to come to a Black bear and her cubs!!!!!!

25 years fishing the Russian River on the Kenai Penisula and never had a bear encounter. Last fall had two in one day. Started the morning walking down to the RR and started upstream alongside a nice hole. Stepped off the river onto the trail and just as I did about a 3 year old black bear came around the corner about ten feet away. Made myself as big as I could and yelled loud enough to scare myself and the bear. Fortunately he left in a hurry and after I checked to see if I needed to back to my truck and change underwear, I kept going up the trail. 2d encounter not near as close, but kind of neat anyway. After awhile on the trail I stopped to fish and looked up stream. About 50 yards up saw a big blond griz along the bank. I again made myself look real big and talked real loud to the bear. Instead of leaving it jumped into the river and sat down. After about a minute 2 cubs of the year jumped in with her and she took them across the river and headed on up stream. I enjoyed the view and decided fishing was probably better down stream. Hope its another 25 years before the next one.

I was standing under the 9 mile bridge on the Situk river in Alaska last July fishing for Sockeye when a brown stuck his head out of the bushes to look at the thousands of fish in the hole, he was just about ready to jump in and start fishing when he turned his head and we were face to face about 5 feet apart. I had no where to go but in the river and I knew he could out swim me so I just froze. He stared at me for about 10 second ( felt like 4 hours) jump back and shot down the river about a hundered yards and crossed the river. I think I moved about an hour later and then went back to the lodge and clean my shorts!!!
YAKUTAT JACK--What lodge you stay at? Sure is a great river!!! I am going up for Steelhead in late April. Last year 15 fish in one day and 3 over 20.

Yeah right, it happened just like that. :rolleyes:

I haven't looked back at this thread since I posted it. After just having read my ill fated parter's time scewed account of the episode I damn near just choked to death laughing my ass off. What my "now" not anonomous friend really meant to say to me was---Thank you for showing me all of your zipper lip spots in BC.

combie...we always stay at Glacier Bear. Their rooms are just right and decent facililties and restaurant/bar etc. We bailed on Yakutat Lodge when they started doing the package thing only. We like to do a la carte. We have been doing Glacier Bear for years and they give us preferential treatment and give us the same prime coho week each Sept. Guess there are a lot of good bed & breakfast places now as well as private homes etc.

I'm jealous of your steelhead trip. Have always wanted to try that, have heard all the fantastic stories. Be sure and report back after your trip this year!

ps - loved your bear story. We have had many other encounters!

Jack:
As I said in my e-mail, Glacier Bear Lodge is a great place and I hope to see you there this year. Last season, the Sockeye Run was huge. We were hooking 20-30 each every time down to the river. We even started fishing a hole about 20 minute walk up from 9 mile bridge. It was great!! Halibut was real good as well.
There will be a vauum packer at the cleaning station next season as well so you can vacuum your own fish right after filleting. Keep in touch.