Give bears their due

Resslin' Around, by Casey Ressler

When it comes to snacking, I'm all for it -- chips, pretzels, etc. But when it comes to actually being the snack, well, that's where I draw the line.

Monday morning I found myself at the Russian River Campground, parked just a few spots away from where a man was tragically mauled by a brown bear. The lure of fish is just too much to pass, and even the horrific details of what the man experienced couldn't deter hundreds of other anglers in search of sockeye.

We parked in the same "Grayling" parking lot and the first thing we did was get out the .44 pistols and holstered them. Or at least tried to. I ended up with a leg over my head and an arm coming out of my thigh after trying to get the shoulder holster on correctly. The pistol is my dad's, and evidently he had loaned it previously to someone who had to have been 4-feet tall and less than 37 pounds.

When it comes to bears, I'll freely admit that I'm a big wussy. I'm big and I'm slow, and I like to think that I look like a good steak dinner in the eyes of an enormous grizzly. If a bear was charging and push came to shove, I'd literally push and shove someone in front of me, especially if that someone is wearing a Cubs hat and sits a desk down from me in the newsroom (Jeremiah Bartz, sports editor).

We started down the trail, and I had a hand on the butt of the gun the whole time. In my mind, I envisioned a bear coming after us and me whipping out that pistol in Wyatt Earp fashion. I'd spin it a couple of times on my pointer finger, jack a few shells into the bear and whirl the pistol back into the holster, all in one motion, just like they do in the old Western movies. I'd stand over the bear, knowing I had saved lives. Clint Eastwood would play me in the straight-to-video movie account.

The "reality" version would have been much different however. If a bear would have charged us, I probably would have shot off an appendage -- hopefully not that appendage -- before I could figure out the shoulder holster thing. It would have been hard to shoot straight through the tears that would have been coming down my face, just like my 2-year-old daughter's tears after we don't buy a chocolate bar at Wal-Mart.

We ended up seeing a sow and three cubs, and we took an hour or so to shoot pictures -- not bullets -- and video. Everyone on the river that day was smart and cognizant of the bears and their actions -- two things that are fundamental when traveling into bear country anywhere -- and for the most part, the bears did their thing, we did our thing and there were more reasons to reach for a new fishing fly than the pistol throughout the day.

A little common sense goes a long way when dealing with bears. Sometimes, however, no matter what the level of precaution taken, maulings happen. After seeing bears up close for a weekend, knowing they may be the same bears that almost took a man's life, the level of respect for the animals went way up in many an angler's mind.

When going out into bear country, play it safe and give them their distance. You don't need to shoot a bear because he's 100 yards away, minding his own business. If it does come to that, however, don't forget to figure out your shoulder holster before you go, or you may end up shooting from behind your back at the most crucial of times.

Casey Ressler (valleylife@frontiersman.com) is the Valley Life editor and big bear wussy.