Gary Reeder
it is amazing how I can turn into a full fledged
Tuesday, March 26, 2019, 23:24

coward in the absence of light. In Alaska a few years back we would be put on stand in a ground blind, at about 10 AM each morning and George Faerber, our guide, would come and get us about 1 AM. A long day but the sun didn't go down until about 12:30 AM so we walked out of the woods in the dark. There were 3 of us, with me bringing up the rear. Coming out I kept hearing some snuffing and heavy breathing behind us. I turned and shone my light on a big black bear about 5 feet behind me. I whispered as loud as I could to George that there was a bear behind us. George calmly spoke back that he was a regular and followed most of his hunters out every night. He said don't pay any attention to him (yeah right) and just don't run as he will go into a white boy eating binge if I ran. So I calmly followed his advice, although it was hard walking normally with my ass puckered.

This went on for 3 nights in a row. On the fourth night I heard Harry behind us again. I had named him Harry to show him I wasn't anti bear or anything like that. That night I turned to shine my light on him and my flashlight died. Now it was the same bear, the same situation, same everything, except now I was in the dark with a 7 foot tall 2000 lb bear (he gained a lot of weight when my light went out) right behind me and he was frothing at the mouth for a piece of a white boy, or at least I was pretty sure of that. But I remembered George's comments about ignoring the bear and just don't run. It was sort of like that snake in the water at my feet. Except it was a lot worse because it was dark and my flashlight had died and there was an 8 foot 3000 lb bear within 5 feet of me. Somehow we managed to make it back to the truck but that was one of the longest walks of my life. At the truck George asked me if it bothered me that he was behind me all the way back. I just shook my head and said no big deal. But I was sure glad I had an extra pair of underwear back at the cabin.