Just me and the bear

[Tbone555]

I was holed up in the old lookout tower near mystery lake. After 17 days out there, I had begun to get the basics of survival (food preparation, mostly. After having nothing to eat but venison for ten days, I had come up with a thousand different ways to prepare it.) I was completely stocked up on firewood, water, matches, medical supplies and ammunition for my trusty .303. Living fairly well, for someone who was stranded in the middle of northern Canadian wilderness in the middle of a global disaster. Anyway. After I began running low on food, I waited for the perfect day to go out hunting. Clear, sunny skies. The first thing I saw upon getting to the clear cut below he watchtower was a black bear. God, I knew I would be saved if I could take him down. 3 - 4 rounds in exchange for weeks worth of meat and the pelt to wrap up in and keep me warm on those -30 degree nights. I admit now that it was a huge mistake, I was being way too cocky for my own good. I crouched behind an old tree stump, set my rifle on the stump to steady my aim, and put a single round between his eyes. He didn't even flinch. The next thing I saw was 300+ pounds of meat, teeth and jagged claws charging at me. I took another shot. Miss. The bear tackled me to be ground, and mauled me. It was the most terrifying, painful experience anyone could ever have in this life. I thought it would never end.. I felt the sharp claws puncture my belly as the bear lowered his massive head and took a large chunk out of my right leg. I screamed, kicked, cried, prayed, punched. But nothing would have gotten that animal off of me. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally blacked out. I don't know how much longer it was until I woke up, my rifle thrown feet away from me, the surrounding snow soaked in my own blood. Through my blurry, dark vision I saw the bear walking away from me, leaving what was left of me for the wolves in the distance. The first thing I did was reach for my rifle, and blind fire in his general direction. I saw him running away from the noise. I reached for my medical supplies which were thrown across the ground from my ripped open backpack, and used my entire roll of bandages to stop the immediate bleeding. Two thoughts ran through my head at this point. one was to take half a bottle of painkillers and put a bullet through my own head. At least to put myself out of this complete misery. And the other?... Well. I forced myself off of the ground, using my rifle to keep my balance as I forced myself step-by-step. Were I thinking properly, I could have saved myself, maybe. But instead I followed the bear's blood trail. I wasn't about to let that son of a ***** just walk away. I stumbled along weakly, following the trail of blood. Then the blood led me down a large hill. As I attempted to follow further, I tripped and rolled down the hill, spraining my ankle. At this point, I was reduced to a crawl. I continued crawling along, still following his trail. Then I finally found him. I used the last small bit of energy left to scream, and unload the rest of my rounds in his direction. Hit. Hit. Hit. I focused my blurred, now almost blacked out vision on my target. It was a tree stump. I just laid there face down in the snow. The last thing I felt was a wolf's sharp teeth sink into my neck as I faded into the long dark...

[SteveP]

Nice story! Moral of the story; don't poke the bear; don't feed the bear!

[Tbone555]

I tried to kill a bear one other time in CH. but that one dropped with one shot to the head

it may have been the condition of my rifle. I believe it was at about 60 percent, so it wasn't doing full damage at the time