I’ve Lived in Bear Country My Who...

In three earlier articles the writer, a 68-year-old wilderness trapper from northern Saskatchewan, informed of his life as a boy on the prairie, of his adventures in 25 trapline years, and of what he has learned about moose and other game in close to a half-century of hunting. Right here, within the final of his four-part sequence, Updike tells of a lifetime of encounters that he has had with quarrelsome bears. This story, “Bears Don’t At all times Run,” appeared within the August 1970 subject of Out of doors Life.

HAROLD ASTROPE was strolling residence from city shortly earlier than darkish at some point final August when he noticed a bear within the highway, solely 20 or 30 steps forward.

Astrope lives on a lonely brush-bordered farm 18 miles northwest of the little city of Love in northern Saskatchewan, the place my house is situated. He farms and runs just a few cattle. His place is on the outer fringe of settlement, the farthest north in our space. He has lived there because the 30’s.

A couple of times per week he comes into city for sup­plies. In good climate he can drive all the way in which with a truck. However when the grime roads get muddy he has to stroll the primary six miles to the closest good highway after which stroll or hitch a experience the remainder of the way in which. He was strolling that night final summer time.

In his years on the farm Astrope had encountered too many bears for this one to scare him. He clapped his fingers and yelled, and the bear ran off into the comb. The person went on, hardly giving the encounter one other thought.

However half a mile farther on he noticed one other bear. This one was rounding a bend within the highway 50 or 60 ft forward, working pell-mell at him. A cub was fol­lowing, and Astrope realized that he was in for some hassle.

The highway is crooked, hardly greater than two wheel ruts, and has brush on both aspect. Astrope yelled once more, and the cub disappeared.  However the outdated bear didn’t break stride or decelerate. It was throughout in a minute, however that was a terrifying minute for Harold Astrope. He stepped contained in the sow’s first swipe and belted her on the aspect of the top along with his fist. She smashed into him, knocked him down, grabbed him by an higher arm, and began to maul him. His solely weapon was a small grocery pack-sack that he was carrying in a single hand. He swatted her within the face with it, and he or she loosened her grip. He wrenched free, rolled to his ft, after which ran.

For some cause she let him go. He received off with dangerous bruises and a few tooth cuts.

That run-in proved one thing that each skilled woodsman in our a part of Canada is aware of: bears some­ occasions decide a struggle with a person, unprovoked and for no cause.

I’ve heard multiple armchair outdoorsman make the assertion that each one black bears run like rabbits at sight or scent of a person. When you’ve got lived amongst them most of your life, as I’ve, and if your loved ones and neighbors have had as a lot to do with them as mine have, you realize higher. I’m speaking solely about blacks, for I’ve by no means lived in griz­zly nation.

I haven’t killed so many bears as you would possibly assume. After I was on my trapline it was winter they usually have been denned, not strolling round. However I’ve had sufficient expertise with bears to know what I’m speaking about, and my 32-year-old son Merv, who lives throughout the road from me in Love, has had much more.

Merv, who stands six ft 4 and weighs upwards of 230 kilos, has been a fire-towerman for the final 12 years, manning a tower 20 miles east of city for the Saskatchewan Division of Pure Assets. In that capability he has needed to de­stroy plenty of bears that have been raiding farms or doing different dam­age. On prime of that he has finished his share of bear trying to find sport, for blacks are plentiful in our space.

Merv has killed round 50 bears.

Two of them he shot when it was clearly a case of him or the bear. A 3rd was killed when it was closing in on him, growling and popping its tooth and leaving little doubt about its intentions.

Of all bear combos, a feminine with cubs is most definitely to show dangerous medication. Two of these teams gave Merv’s hair trigger to face up.

In July 1966 he and I have been reducing path within the Slim Hills nation about 28 miles northwest of Love in order that we may get in with a tractor when moose season opened.

We rounded a thick stand of sec­ond-growth jackpine, and a bear was standing and taking a look at us 50 yards away. She ran off a brief distance. after which three cubs scratched their manner up a close-by tree. We knew we may anticipate hassle.

She began a low, moaning growl and started to pop her tooth. We fig­ured out afterward that the one cause she didn’t rush us immediately was that two males have been a bit greater than she needed to tackle. If Merv or I had been alone, we’d probably have had a bear struggle on our fingers proper then.

She began to circle us, transferring by thick willows and younger pines. Midway round she pivoted and circled again, inching in a bit nearer and maintaining that unusual moaning noise.

“She means to come back for us,” Merv mentioned. “The cubs are sufficiently big to make out on their very own, and we’ll should roll her.”

I had no rifle, however my son was carrying a Marlin Mannequin 336 in .35 Remington caliber. He squatted, caught a glimpse of her by the willows, and shot. He missed.

That shot appeared to make the sow madder than ever. She made a full circle round us, by no means greater than 40 or 50 yards away, and we may hear her tooth pop with out letup. She was working herself right into a depraved rage.

Merv shot and missed once more.

“There’s one thing improper along with your rifle,” I informed him. “She will be able to’t be that arduous to hit.”

He took a fast have a look at his sights. Any individual, fooling with the gun at his residence, had elevated the rear sight to its fourth notch, and his pictures have been going over the bear’s again.

Merv didn’t even take time to vary the sight. The following time the sow got here into an open place, fuming and growling, he held six inches be­ low her shoulder and let her have it.

She wheeled and took off at a lifeless run, however she was hit within the lungs and coronary heart and working blind. She went lower than 50 ft, banged headlong right into a tree, and went down lifeless.

Two years earlier than that, within the fall of 1964, Merv and a companion, Oak Nowlin, walked again into the bush three miles from the highway to take a look at a stand of timber. Merv took his Marlin; Nowlin was carrying solely a .22.

In an open stand of pine they climbed a low rise. In a despair past, a 500-pound bear was dealing with them simply 25 ft off.

The second the lads got here into sight she reared up on her hind legs and ripped out a spine-chilling roar, and out of the nook of their eyes the lads noticed two cubs go up a tree and a 3rd one run off by the timber, bouncing uphill like a black soccer. In the identical on the spot the sow began for them, strolling erect like a person, nonetheless roaring and growl­ing.

Had she heard them coming and waited for them, able to assault the second they came visiting the rise? Or did they take her unexpectedly, and did she merely go for them when she noticed them, with out interested by it? The lads by no means knew.

All of it occurred quicker than the story may be informed. Merv whipped his rifle up and, with out aiming, slammed a shot into the bear’s chest. She was shut sufficient by then that he couldn’t miss. It knocked her on her again. He put a second into her head to verify, and he or she was lifeless in seconds.

There had been no time to surprise concerning the measurement of the cubs and no alternative about leaving them orphans, but it surely turned out that they weighed 50 to 60 kilos apiece and have been sufficiently old to maintain themselves.

Merv figures that incident was about as shut a name as he’s ever had. He killed one different bear that was coming at him. It occurred within the spring of 1956 whereas Merv was trapping beaver alongside the White Fox River. He seen a recent bear observe headed towards an oat­ discipline that had not been harvested the earlier fall, and he surmised that the bear had gone there to feed. Such a discipline is a favourite of bears. They’ll sit on their rumps or lie flat on their bellies and rake in and pull down all of the grain they will attain, a handful at a time.

Merv took a have a look at the sector, and certain sufficient, the bear was busy har­ vesting oats. However he didn’t have a gun, and there have been a few beavers to pores and skin, so he went on about his enterprise.

The most effective time to waylay a bear is simply earlier than darkish, in order that night Merv went again to the place the riverbank over­ seemed the sector. He was carrying an outdated .303 Ross, and when it was virtually too darkish to shoot, the bear got here sauntering out of the comb simply as he had anticipated.

The sunshine was poor, and Merv was capturing at a nasty angle. He made a poor shot. The bullet hit within the higher a part of a hind leg, and the bear bawled and dived again into thick willows and poplars. Merv adopted for half a mile, till it was too darkish to see blood.

Proper after daylight the following morn­ing he went again and jumped the bear from the mattress through which it had lain all evening. The comb was so thick that there was no hope of getting up shut sufficient for a shot, so Merv fell again on an outdated deer-hunting tactic — making a circle downwind within the hope of getting forward of the animal and ambushing it. He subsequent noticed the bear 75 yards away throughout a slough. It noticed him in the identical on the spot, ripped out a rumbling growl, and got here for him headlong. One shot within the chest ended the affair, however there was no query that the cost had been an actual one.

That was the scruffiest-looking bear I’ve ever seen, gaunt and starved, his pelt matted with grime. His body was sufficiently big that if he had been fats he’d have weighed round 250 kilos, however he was at the least 100 kilos lighter than that. We by no means did be taught what ac­ counted for his poor situation.

As soon as in my trapping years and as soon as on a moose hunt I seemed a bear within the face at 10 paces. Each occasions I knew the bear was mad, and to place it mildly I used to be uncomfortable. I’m not an ex­ citable particular person, however, staring into. these piglike eyes, I did some very quick assume­ing about one of the best factor to do. To make issues worse, throughout my first close-range encounter with a bear I didn’t actually have a gun in my fingers.

I had gone in to one in every of my trapline cabins that fall and located {that a} prowl­ing bear had damaged in, eaten most of my grub, scattered and cuffed round what he couldn’t eat, and left the place wanting like a rubbish dump.

I’d should make a visit to a different cabin eight miles south for sup­ plies. I cleaned up the mess, fixed the door again in place, and hiked away. I received again the following forenoon and noticed that the bear had returned, torn the door down once more, and left his tracks throughout mine on the grime flooring.

I knew I’d don’t have any peace till I removed him.

The gear for doing it was at hand. When my companion, Elwood Fra­ ser, and I had pulled out of that cabin the spring earlier than, on the finish of the trapping season, we had left behind a heavy double-spring bear entice, a New­ home No. 50. It was nonetheless hanging on the wall.

I made it some extent to maintain my rifle, a .35 Remington, inside attain. Even once I went to get a clog to chain the entice to, I took the rifle alongside.

The Newhouse 50 is a strong entice. To compress the springs I had to make use of 4 stout poles, every about 4 ft lengthy, as levers. I leaned the Reming­ ton in opposition to a stump whereas I minimize them. By wiring the poles collectively in pairs at one finish and utilizing them like scissors over a spring, then placing my weight on the opposite finish, I used to be capable of com­ press the spring. Just a few wraps of wire round one pair of poles held the spring down whereas I compressed the opposite one.

I made a decision that one of the best place to set the entice was in entrance of the cabin door. The bear would you should definitely stroll there. When the entice was in place and cov­ered, and all signal of it brushed out, I made a decision to place up a warning signal. I had by no means had a human customer at that cabin and didn’t anticipate one, however I didn’t wish to take any probability of a person’s entering into that bone-crushing New­ home.

I nailed an apple field over the door and printed BEAR TRAP on it in heavy letters. I didn’t realize it then, however an amusing little bit of irony was related with that chore — the bear was watch­ing me do the lettering. I suppose it was a superb factor he couldn’t learn.

After I turned from the door, he was there, 30 ft away, giving me a really onerous look. His head was hanging low and swinging backward and forward, and the hair on his neck and shoulders was standing the improper manner. I suppose he thought the cabin belonged to him and I used to be trespassing.

I reached slowly behind me for my rifle. It wasn’t there. All of the sudden I noticed that I had left it leaning in opposition to a stump on the woodpile once I set the entice springs.

The cabin stood solely 10 ft from the sting of a small lake. The bear, in an effort to get the place he was, had walked between cabin and shore. Clearly he had no worry of me. What would he do subsequent? He had water on three sides, and I used to be sq. in his solely avenue of escape. Whether or not he elected to assault or run, he and I have been going to collide.

There was a small lean-to about six ft sq. to the left of the cabin door. I’d should stroll round it to get my rifle.

I moved one foot forward very slowly, then the opposite. The bear stayed the place he was, swinging his head and eyeing me balefully. After I reached the nook of the lean-to I made a decision to make a run for it. I’d be angling away from him, and if he’d give me about two seconds I’d be prepared for something he would possibly strive. 

Many individuals consider a bear as clumsy, however I’ve recognized a full-grown one to clear 15 ft in a single soar from a standing begin. This one left the bottom the identical on the spot I did, coming straight for me. However when he noticed that I had left a lane open across the cabin, he swerved and took it.

By the point I grabbed the rifle and received him in sight once more he was 60 ft off, going briefly jumps up a hillside so steep {that a} man would have needed to hold onto bushes to climb it.

My first shot stopped him, however he received again on his ft in a rush. The following one shattered his backbone simply behind the shoulders and left a two-inch exit gap in his chest. He got here tumbling and sliding again down the hill, ending up in a patch of alders. I walked over and gave him one other bullet by the top to complete him.

I trapped out of that cabin for the remainder of the winter and had no extra bear troubles.

The following time I confronted a bear at 10 yards was the autumn of 1967. Merv and I had pushed up the Slim Hills highway into nation I had trapped for a few years. I had been again there solely as soon as since giving up bush trapping in 1947, however all the things nonetheless had a well-known look.

We received there the day earlier than the moose season opened, put up a tent, and a giant tarp to cowl our provides and camp range, and have been all set for our hunt. However the tent, borrowed and outdated, was removed from waterproof.

We have been woke up within the evening by the sound of rain pouring down on it. A lot of the rain was coming by, and by the point a chilly and cheerless daybreak broke, our beds have been soaked and so have been we.

We constructed a whopping large fireplace, however after breakfast we agreed to go residence and dry out. First, nevertheless, Merv needed to hunt for a few hours. He exchanged his leather-based boots for rubber ones and walked off into the bush.

By that point the temperature had dropped low sufficient that the leaves on the bottom have been frozen stiff, so the woods have been too noisy for good looking. I picked up my rifle, a .303 Enfield, and took the truck path, the place I may stroll silently.

I mooched alongside for a few miles, noticed no moose, and headed again. I used to be virtually to the tent once I seen a lifeless department that hung low sufficient to scratch the truck. I broke it off, and when it cracked some heavy animal went crashing away by the below­ brush near camp. After I received to the tent I discovered {that a} bear had sampled our bar of cleaning soap — however apparently didn’t just like the style — after which had sunk its tooth by one in every of Merv’s boots.

I leaned my rifle in opposition to a block of wooden and lit the camp range to make espresso. Then I heard one thing crash by the willows once more. The bear had come again, however I had scared him off.

I made a decision that if he was bent on raid­ing us I’d give him a welcome he didn’t anticipate. I picked up the rifle and walked behind a nook of the tent the place I may watch the underbrush for motion.

A person who has spent as a lot time within the bush as I develops the hab­it of conserving watch on all sides and behind him. After just a few seconds I turned my head slowly to the best. A bear was watching me from behind a clump of scrubby birch simply 10 yards away. I knew it was not the one I had heard run off, for there was no manner that one may have reached the birches unheard and unseen.

I used to be coping with two bears, and this one was not afraid of me. He was staring me within the face, and his hair was standing up.

I couldn’t get a superb shot at his head, however his neck confirmed in a slim hole between two birches. I drove my bullet in there, as close to the shoulder as I may.

It hit no heavy bone and didn’t jar him a lot, but it surely took all need for an argument out of him. He made a cou­ ple of jumps and went tearing down­ hill by thick brush.

I discovered blood on the leaves however couldn’t see greater than six ft forward, and I made a decision that trailing a wounded bear in that place was too dangerous. I knew I had received in a superb hit. I’d wait and search for him later.

Merv got here in shortly, and collectively we adopted the blood and damaged brush for 80 yards. We discovered the black lifeless, shot by the lungs. The primary bear by no means confirmed up round that camp once more.

Essentially the most-fantastic bear encounter I’ve ever heard of occurred eight or 9 years in the past on the highway that leads north from the settlements west of Like to Higher Fishing Lake. If I had not been personally acquainted with two of the individuals concerned and recognized them to be truthful, I’d not have be­lieved the story.

4 males have been driving that highway in an outdated pickup truck when a bear with two cubs crossed the highway forward of them. One of many quartet was Gene Madliner, an old-time trapper who at the moment lived all yr in a cabin on a small lake about 40 miles from the settlements. One other was Billy Mat­ thews, a fire-towerman whom Merv has recognized for years and who informed him what occurred. I don’t know the names of the opposite two males.

The cubs scrambled up a tree 50 yards from the highway. One of many males had by no means seen a bear earlier than, and Mad­ liner proposed that they stroll to the tree and attempt to get a greater look. That they had no gun alongside, however he received a single­ bitted ax out of the truck and led the way in which.

The lads had no hassle discovering the sow. She was standing 30 ft from the tree the cubs had climbed, watch­ing. Three of the lads didn’t altogether just like the scenario, they usually held again behind Madliner, however he saved going.

He was virtually to the tree when the bear stood up on her hind legs, started to growl and mutter, and began to stroll towards him, nonetheless erect. He introduced the ax again over his shoulder and waited, as unruffled as a porcupine below a stump.

The sow didn’t come quick, however she didn’t cease both. When she was with­ in arm’s size, standing virtually as tall as the person, slobbering and growl­ing and popping her tooth. Madliner moved-and moved quick.

Earlier than she may take a swipe at him he introduced the flat aspect of the ax down on prime of her cranium with all his energy.

She dropped like a sack of rocks, received up, shook her head, and fell down once more. After a minute or so she regained her footing and saved it. However there was no struggle left in her. She staggered away. Almost 50 years within the northern-Sas­katchewan bush and on its fringes as a wilderness trapper and homesteader have satisfied me that each mature bear has a superiority complicated.

ears don’t have any pure enemies aside from man, and in the best circum­stances they quickly lose their dread of him. An enormous one cuffs smaller bears round if they arrive close to, and he will get to believing that he’s king of the woods. The moment one thing doesn’t go his manner he flies right into a red-eyed rage.

He’s positively an animal to keep away from if attainable.

Two sorts of bears are particularly more likely to be harmful. One is the clown that hangs round a rubbish dump or begs handouts in a park or at a campground, and turns into so famil­iar with people that he has no worry.

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The opposite is the true wilderness bear, residing in distant bush, that has by no means run throughout a person and so has by no means realized to respect him. My space has a superb a lot of that sort. North of the settlements, the place there are not any roads and the one human inhabitants are scattered Indians and an occasional trapper, greater than half the bears, I sus­pect, have by no means seen a human.

I don’t imply, nevertheless, that bears of these two sorts are the one ones like­ly to make an unprovoked assault if circumstances are proper. Each bear is a possible powder keg. Possibly 99 out of 100 will run at a touch of man scent. However the one which doesn’t would be the first one you meet.