Don, a fire spotter for the U.S. Forest service was hiking down a little used trail in an area seldom visited by man in one of those vast wilderness areas of Montana.  As he came around a bend in the trail he spotted a young black bear moving in his direction on the same trail.

The bear, a two year old otherwise known as a long yearling was completely unaware of Don’s presence as the man stood in the trail with his hands on his hips wondering what the bear would do when it discovered that it was not alone.

Huckleberry season was at its height and the bear was obviously sated with the delicious fruit and was probably headed for another berry patch.

Yard by yard the distance shortened between bear and man.

Don was now almost overwhelmed with curiosity wondering just how close his fellow traveler would come before it learned of his presence.

Mr. Bear just kept on picking them up and putting them down, drawing closer by the minute with never a care in the world.

Altogether too soon less than ten feet separated them and blackie still had not looked up.

“Up ’til then I hadn’t worried much,” Don later exclaimed, “At a distance that bear just didn’t look all that big, certainly not big enough to do me any harm but from about ten feet on I began to worry a little. 

At that distance he seemed to grow some! 

At a distance of three feet I decided I better do something or that bear was going to walk between my legs and riding a bear was not something that I wanted to experience right then. 

I looked down and yelled, ‘Where the hell do you think your going?’

          It is hard to conceive of a situation where a bear could be more completely surprised.”

As Don told this tale he laughed so hard at the memory that tears ran down his cheeks.

“You know, that bear must have fair been scared out of his wits.  One moment he was heading my way and the next he was headed in the other direction.  His feet were a blur as he seemed to hang there in mid air trying to get some traction and when his feet did finally hit the ground he let out a loud ‘Oooff’ that could have been heard for half a mile. 

That bear stuck to the trail for half a mile, it was by far the best footing for fast and his tracks were a good ten feet apart the full distance but the funniest thing was that while that bear was still in mid air, swapping ends like he had been jerked wrong side out, the scare was just too much for him.

          At a distance of about thirty inches he came uncorked and let loose about a gallon of  huckleberries . 

Why shucks, I was plastered blue from my waist to my ankles with used huckleberries!”

 

You Should Also Check Out This Post:

More Active Posts: