Mark of the Grizzly

  • kooty
    Keymaster
    1 hour 15 mins to the Pond
    Posts: 18101
    #207498

    Thought I’d give a quick review on a book I recently finished, Mark of the Grizzly by Scott McMillion. Let me start by saying one of my favorite reads as a kid was about the gruesome grizzly attacks in Outdoor Life and Field & Stream. Not sure why, but I was always very intrigued by those issues.

    This spring while in Alaska, I realized a friend has an even greater passion for bear than I thought possible. He has a personal library of over 250 books, specifically about bears. Browns, grizzly, blacks. Doesn’t matter, he loves them all. At the time of departure I noticed he was reading this book. I grabbed it and read a few pages. I definitely needed to read it, I hopped on my tablet and made the purchase.

    The book covers several first hand accounts of grizzly attacks in the US and Canada. Detailed enough at times it’s hard to imagine anyone ever surviving, let alone living a normal life after such an attack. Some truly amazing stories of courage and will to live. I admire those folks! There are also several stories with very sad endings that leave me wondering about how I’ll go out some day. Hopefully in a much more peaceful and less graphic manner.

    All in all I really like the book and couldn’t hardly put it down, which is pretty rare for me. The one “negative”, if I have one, the book is definitely written and the stories told from the bias that bears have as many rights as humans almost. I’m not against bears nor have I ever lived out west where bear attacks can happen, so I don’t know if the author’s agenda has merit. For all I know, there could be a very vocal contingent out west pushing to eradicate the grizzly.

    If you are into reading some gruesome tails with amazing heroics, you’ll likely enjoy.

    thegun
    mn
    Posts: 1009
    #123092

    last fall on a caribou hunt while camping along the Ivishik river hundreds of miles from any road on the north slop.

    we were just getting done eating and getting ready for bed.. I see one guy reading a book.. It was the same book you talk about.. He gives it to me and read a few pages…

    Definitely not the time nor place to be reading such books.. especially after chasing a grizz out of camp that same day..

    Didnt sleep much that night….

    kooty
    Keymaster
    1 hour 15 mins to the Pond
    Posts: 18101
    #123098

    I think it’s hard for us flatlanders to appreciate the true dangers the wildnernous has to offer. No doubt, I’m just a tourist….

    lucas_zemlicka
    Montana
    Posts: 231
    #123103

    A friend of mine went elk hunting Wednesday, stayed the night on the mountain, and came out yesterday. I was talking to him this morning to see how the hunt went and he ended up running into a grizzly Wednesday night after elk hunting while walking back to his tent. It’s a long and hilarious story and I don’t want to type it all out but in a nutshell he was walking back to camp in the dark and came across a grizzly. The grizzly bluff charged him and in a panic when he went for his pepper spray he accidently pressed the trigger and sprayed himself. Now he was blind from the pepper spray and knew there was a a grizzly right there but couldn’t see it. After a few moments he could hear the bear walking away. He still couldn’t get his eyes to open up so he just sat down against a tree for a bit until he could at least get his eyes to open. Finally he could open them but his vision was blurry but it was good enough he could at least make it the last mile to his tent. When I talked to him this morning he said he can still taste the bear spray in his mouth. It was a pretty dangerous encounter but I was about rolling on the floor as he told me the story. Funniest damn thing I had heard in a long time. He didn’t find it nearly as funny as I did

    Oh and he didn’t get an elk either

    kooty
    Keymaster
    1 hour 15 mins to the Pond
    Posts: 18101
    #123106

    I figure that would be my luck. Go to pull the .44 or bear spray and shoot myself. The book tells of one story where a guy literally had to change his drawers due to being scared so baldy on a bluff charge.

    I’m accustomed to being the apex predator around here. Life is a bit different for you guys out west. Of course us bow hunters are the worst. Make no noise, camo etc… Break all the grizzly rules.

    Glad your buddy is fine and now you’ll have a story to share over a cold one for many years to come.

    P.S. Can you imagine sitting there blind knowing what could be circling you in the dark….

    Joel Nelson
    Moderator
    Southeast MN
    Posts: 3137
    #123308

    One of the greatest experiences in my life was 18 miles up Yellowstone’s famed Lamar River valley, on foot, reeking of trout smell. Of course we encounter a Grizzly. We were 50 yards away, it was coming up out of the Lamar, and the winds were high. He didn’t see or hear us. We backed out of sight 150 yards or so, made tons of noise…..then prayed silently while hiking through the next 1/2 mile of extremely dense regenerating Douglas Fir. He could’ve been 10 feet away and we wouldn’t have known.

    I can still see the rippling forearm and shoulder muscles through his coat as he climbed up the bank. He never saw us, and that’s what scared me most! That and the fact we were covered with trout stink that night!

    Joel

    kooty
    Keymaster
    1 hour 15 mins to the Pond
    Posts: 18101
    #123312

    You’ll get a kick out of this. Last weekend on Saturday night I’m sitting by the fire having a beer. Just relaxing. I feel myself doze off a bit. After reading this book and starting another, I was a bit on edge in the dark up there. Let’s just say I headed into the cabin after almost falling asleep outside, smelling like a freshly field dressed deer.

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