Soon, I had the two hindquarters and one front tied onto the pack board. I was continually looking up and around for the bear.
I was more than just a little twitchy, mind you. As I began to tie on the second front quarter, I looked up again to gaze into the stare of a huge bear, not 15 yards away on a small piece of ground to the east of me. I’ve often heard that the most common thing people say in a tight situation is “Shit.” But what came out of my mouth was “GOD!” (I guess that, subliminally, I was expecting to be finally judged by Him soon!)
Then I was yelling “No, no, no!” All the vocalizations were spontaneous and involuntary as I grabbed my rifle, which was stuck in the snow at arm’s reach. I jacked a round into the chamber, still vocally stuck on “No, no, no!” I really felt like this was “my time” and the bear was soon going to be beating me up, but I was resolved not to be passive about it.
After our initial gaze at each other, the bear never again made eye contact with me, but he came striding down the incline toward me and the dead deer. I decided that if he looked at me, I would brain him, as no other shot placement would stop a beast of that size at such close range.
Just before he turned away, he was so close that I could have leaned forward, reached out and touched his left flank. He passed maybe five feet away from me.
The bear slowly walked away, getting behind the alders to the north, then at about thirty yards away, it turned to look my way and began to pop its jaws, making a sound like clapping of one’s hands in applause, but his were single, deliberate percussions.
I interpreted this to mean that the bear was wanting me to get out of there and I was happy to be able to comply. I put my pack board on, grabbed my bag of samples in my left hand with my rifle in my right and began to back up.
I tripped and fell backward, and remembering my chamber was loaded and the safety was not on, I thought how bad it would be to shoot my own foot off. I put the safety on, looked downwind and backed to the base of the bluff, concentrating my gaze on the patch of brown fur making noise behind the alders.
The bear then walked forward to stand at the gut pile, seemingly oblivious to me. I realized in the exigency, I had lost my reader glasses, but to heck with that, he could have ‘em.
Jake Jacobson has served as dentist, fishing guide, hunting guide, pilot, boat skipper and fossil hunter over his 50 years in Alaska . Along the way, thanks to his detailed note-taking, he’s recorded his adventures and misadventures in five books – Alaska Tales, Alaska Flying, Alaska Bears, Kodiak Alaska Deer, and Alaska Hunting. Each book has over 200 pages including photos. All five are now available at Sportingclassicsstore.com.