Twelve foot Bear

Sometimes, things are not like they seem. People are known to stretch the truth or create an illusion of the real events. Even my title did; I should have written bear at twelve feet. You were probably envisioning a monstrous brown bear with snarling teeth. But this was a nine foot bear just ambling down the shoreline looking for salmon.

It was early September and I was dropped of with two archery hunters on a remote lake in the Togiak Wildlife refuge who had come to pursue brown bears. I had never been there before so the outfitter told me to set up camp midway on the lake which was about four miles long. I found a fairly level site in some aspen trees where we could blend in without the bears knowing we were there. The only trouble was a well used bear trail went through the camp. I put up the clients tent and set up the cook tent so we could have dinner that evening. Night descended upon us before I could set up a tent to sleep in so I spent the first night in the cook tent. As we settled in to sleep a bear started fishing for salmon just forty yards from the tents. We heard sploosh, sploosh for about an hour as the bear caught salmon. This raised the adrenaline level of the clients as I told them to be very quite so the bear would stay and fish. The next morning those two guys couldn’t talk about anything except the bear. I asked them if they heard the one that came up the path at midnight and woofed at us camped on his trail. Their eyes got big and said “No”! Later that day Justin the outfitter flew in to join us for the hunt which started the next day.

The next morning we were in the cook tent finishing up breakfast and planning the days hunt when the seagulls became very noisy so I went outside to take a look. One hundred years from camp appeared a nice brown bear walking the shoreline. Both hunters were still in their long underwear and stocking feet. I ran back into the tent and whispered, “Bear coming down the shoreline”. They both ran to their tent to retrieve the bows. One guy was so excited he couldn’t get his gear together so the other hunter, Paul got ready to shoot. We positioned ourselves just above the gravel shore as the bear closed the distance. It was walking directly at us so Paul could not shoot. The bear passed under an alder bush beside us and stopped. Paul released an arrow at the bear now just twelve feet away. Our hearts were pounding as the bow launched the arrow into the lung area. We were very relieved when the bear turned and ran off into the brush. An hour went by before we followed its trail. The bear was dead sixty yards from camp.

We propped the bear up to take photos and a video. By now both hunters had dressed and collected their equipment. Paul wanted us to video him as he explained how he harvested the bear for promotional purposes. First he said the camouflage scent lock clothing worked great as the bear never smelled him at close range. When Paul shot the bear he was wearing blue long johns and wool socks. He said the broadhead performed great by penetrating deep. It was an expandable head which on contact with the heavy hair slowed the arrow down and only about one third of the arrow made it into the chest cavity. He brought out some other gear that supposedly was used to harvest his trophy. Even the manufactures of the products he was promoting wouldn’t know the story wasn’t true. The video made it look like the truth.
Truth is hard to come by in today’s world. We become so accustom to lies and half truths that soon people believe just about anything. Politicians tell us what we want to hear to sooth our minds. Hollywood wouldn’t know the truth if it bit them on the rear. Unfortunately, some churches even conceal the truth so they won’t upset their members. They water down the Bible to make it sound good. Others completely dispel parts that are hard to accept; like some of the miracles and teachings of Jesus. Jesus said he was the way, the truth, and the life. He is the only way, the originator of truth, and life without Him is like a dead man walking. Jesus has a deep compassion for us and wants to reveal what an amazing life we can have with him. The Bible uses the word truth over two hundred times because God is Truth. Let God fill you up.