I Shot A Bear

I Shot A Bear : By John David Walker

 

Some time ago I was reminiscing some of our past vacations with my family. When I was young, we always went on a two week fishing trip up to Ely, Minnesota. My parents would rent a cabin on a resort that was about three miles from the boarder of Canada. Being young, it was always an adventure. Deep in the northern woods, seeing all kinds of wildlife. Eagles soaring overhead and landing in a tree nearby as our boat drifted passed. Beavers on the shoreline splashing into the water and giving there tail a load smack on the surface as they disappeared below. Moose on the shore line taking a drink of water or a bear swimming across the water to get to one of the many Islands in the many lakes there were. Sometimes, hearing the  occasional howling of the wolves at night.  

  I remember on one occasion leaving the main lodge to go back to our cabin. I was with my brother Mark, of three years younger. We decided to race back to the cabin. Knowing this would be an easy win for me, having much longer legs then him. We raced down the path to our cabin, then had to cross a small bridge that was over a creek. Only the race was in my mind as I rounded a shower house and almost ran straight into a bear!! The excitement and fear rushed into me at once, I yelled BEAR as load as I could and made for the best reversal one could imagine. I was running back to the main lodge and made it back in record time. All of a sudden I wondered were my brother was, he was no where in sight. I assumed he would have followed me back. Shrugging it off I went on into the main lodge and informed the lodge owners two sons that where a few years older then myself what had happened. They hurriedly  ran and got there shot guns and loaded them as fast as they could. We all walked out to where the bear had been. He was gone, only a tipped over garbage can was left. As it turns out, I had scared the bear as much as he had scared me. My brother came up to join us, he had made the shower house and rounded it to run back to our cabin. The bear had run off into the nearby woods and while we were talking one of the owners sons spied him. He was about a half a block away, peering intently at us, only his big furry face and dark eyes could be seen. As the owners sons advanced in that direction, he disappeared again. After about 20 minutes we decided that the bear was gone and went back to the lodge.

  The excitement began to disperse and we began to settle down and talk. The two owners sons named Berne and Little Joe, began to tell us that the bear was probably sick or hurt. They normally never come into camp in the middle of the day to look for food. That concerned them, most wild bears stay away from people  unless there was a reason. They don't have many black bear attacks, but when one starts to get to close to people, an accident could happen. We thought it was all over when we spied him outside the lodge looking for another garbage can! Excitement rushed into us again as they grabbed there guns and ran outside. The first shot had no effect. Dang!!!!  Little Joe hollered, I loaded buck shot instead of a slug!!! Worried the bear might turn on us, another shot blared out but this time the bear went down. They yelled at us to stay back. When all of a sudden he sprang back up, turned and ran off into the woods!!! Little Joe  told us to stay there as it would be dangerous for us to follow. By this time their father had joined them, so Big Joe, Little Joe, Berne and their dog Sam followed into the woods in pursuit. Latter not being able to contain my excitement they finally came back, dragging the bear behind them. The dog Sam bravely nipping and barking at the bear along the way. We then rushed up to inspect him. Sure enough, their suspensions of there being something wrong with him was correct. He normally would have been a 300 pound bear, but was a little skinny. One of his paws was hurt and swollen badly, he also had an infection on is hind side from a prior wound. Usually they leave the bears alone, but they were worried about the safety of their customers.    

  It was an exciting moment being a young boy. We all got a bear claw and took pictures over him holding an unloaded shotgun. There were many more exciting times in the years latter. Catching fish, cookouts, campfires and playing snipe with the girls late at night. Ah, the dangers of the wilds.... but thats another story. ;-)