Bears We've Met is a compelling narrative of short stories of close encounters with bears spanning more than thirty years of the author's experiences in North America's remote regions. In this documentary the author shares early blunders and tense moments, including humorous and intriguing confrontations, as he and his wife confront the largest of land mammals. The book recounts time spent exploring Alaska and Kodiak Island; backpacking along the Appalachian Trail; and hiking within the Southern Appalachians, Colorado, and Shenandoah and Yellowstone National Parks. Each story affords the reader a vicarious opportunity to explore a remarkable wilderness area through informative descriptions of the extraordinary landscape and flora and fauna found within. This book is more than "armchair entertainment" for those interested in the bear as an American wilderness icon. It provides valuable insight to understanding this majestic creature and the vital role it serves in nature as a dominant landscape species.

Bears We've Met

Short Stories of Close EncountersBy Joel G. Zachry Kathy W. Zachry

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Joel G. Zachry with Kathy W. Zachry
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-0820-2

Contents

Introduction........................................................xix1. Solar Eclipse Alaska............................................12. Goldilocks and the FOUR Bears Great Smokies.....................133. Buster and the Berry Patch Great Smokies........................274. Ghost of Resurrection River Alaska..............................455. Bears of the Appalachian Trail AT...............................596. Trapped Great Smokies...........................................737. Sassy "Teenager" Alaska.........................................878. Bathing with Bertha Great Smokies...............................1019. Bears of the Noonday Sun Nantahala..............................11110. Human Cannonball Great Smokies.................................12311. Head-On Collision-Well, Almost! Shenandoah.....................13712. Hayden Valley Encounters Yellowstone...........................147Epilogue............................................................161

Chapter One

Solar Eclipse

It was a sound that I would never forget.

From my crouched position, I quickly looked in the direction of the noise to see three frightened brown bear cubs reeling backward from no more than ten feet behind me. What brought their roll to a halt would have my life flash before me in the intense moments to follow.

* * *

It was August 1995, and this was my second trip to Kodiak Island, Alaska, as board member and officer of the Great Bear Foundation, a non-profit bear conservation organization headquartered at the time in Bozeman, Montana.

I had initially joined this organization by sending in my membership dues in 1992. After participating in a small group GBF excursion to Yellowstone National Park in May 1993, I became more convinced by their worth while mission to promote bear conservation issues. That November, I was voted onto the board of directors and later appointed board secretary and then president.

Being a part of this Montana-based group of not just bear enthusiasts but some of the greatest bear authorities, such as Dr. Barry Gilbert, Dr. Charles (Chuck) Jonkel, Dr. Lynn Rogers, and Charles (Charlie) Russell, was awe-inspiring. The energy and passion that Chuck Jonkel alone held for the bear was beyond my grasp at this point.

As someone who had grown up on a small East Tennessee hobby farm in the 1960s, there was so much to be said of traveling, not only to Alaska, but also to Kodiak Island. Finding me in Alaska was a major step out of the box from my rural upbringing, to say the least. To spend parts of two successive summers on the Emerald Isle, as it is known, in the presence of some of the world's most sizeable beings was unimaginable.

An archipelago is a chain of islands, and the Kodiak Archipelago is comprised of scattered land masses 250 miles southwest of Anchorage. It is only approachable by air or sea, and it encompasses more than 5,000 square miles, of which Kodiak Island is 3,588 of those miles. The majority of land on Kodiak falls within the Kodiak Wildlife Refuge, and its western Karluk Lake region is where we would spend our time.

The Island has fewer than 14,000 human residents and is home to more than 3,000 Kodiak brown bears, the largest land carnivores in North America. This equates to approximately one bear for every four residents of the island.

Interestingly, there have been few suspected human fatalities caused by the island's brown bears. I believe that this is because the locals and those who arrive to fish and hunt are somewhat knowledgeable in the ways of the bear and give them a wide berth.

My bear-viewing party included Matt Reid, GBF Executive Director; John Merrick, Land and Resource Manager for Koniag, Inc.; Steve Gehman, biologist and GBF associate; and Scott Shelton, our guide.

Matt and I had first traveled to Kodiak Island in the later part of May. I arrived in the town of Kodiak and flew in the front right-hand seat of a five-seat single engine plane whose pilot seemed to be no more than fifteen years of age. We journeyed less than an hour southeast and landed outside the village of Old Harbor, where Matt met the plane.

I can recall wondering if I would have trouble locating Matt in the airport but was surprised to learn that a meager landing strip was all there was. Additionally, we were clearly in the minority among the darker-skinned Alaskan natives with whom we would visit, dine, and stay for several days to come.

I had met Steve Gehman for the first time in 1993, and I became fond of him and respectful of his knowledge of nature during our Yellowstone trip together. He was easy to pick out in a crowd of other "bear people," for he handsomely sported bright red hair and flowing beard. He was not as chatty as Matt, and when he spoke there was reason to suspect that it was from a strong knowledge base and years of backcountry experience.

I liked Scott Shelton from the first meeting on Kodiak in May, when we stayed on Camp Island and were treated to his cooking and expertise on the Thumb River bears. He had a casual approach toward the bears, but he was serious when it came to protocol and avoiding potentially harmful encounters. He had a high respect for the power and natural instinct of the Kodiak bear, and rightfully so, for he was living among them.

John Merrick was obviously knowledgeable of the ways and affairs of the Kodiak natives. He seemed to take his position seriously, and I was confident that he was honorable in his dealings with the local people on land and bear issues.

This was late summer, and we were to spend the day observing brown bears who were feeding on migrating salmon as they moved about in the shallow Thumb River just below us. The pristine waters of the Thumb made their way swiftly beneath our perch and emptied fish, who were fortunate enough to escape awaiting bear paws, into Karluk Lake.

We would tally as many as forty-two bear sightings in one day as they ravaged their feeding grounds. A "sighting" meant a bear was seen, but it could represent a repeated observation of the same individual, unless there were specific markings that distinguished it from others. This manner of documenting what we saw avoided an exaggerated record of individual bruins observed.

On Kodiak, the largest of Alaska's many southern islands, are found the grandest of the brown bears. Feeding on salmon rich in protein, coastal female bears can reach 675 pounds or more and exceptional males can weigh as much as 1,400 pounds and reach nine feet tall standing on their hind feet.

This fork of the Thumb flowed into Karluk Lake in this somewhat southwestern portion of the island. Our camp, where we slept in rustic, native-owned cabins on Karluk's Camp Island, was less than a mile away by small skiff.

Part of Scott's job was to drop us off ashore, and clad in hip waders, position the raft away from the bank before joining us. This simple step discouraged the bears from approaching the raft while we were away and wreaking havoc on stowed gear, especially the life vests. Aside from that important duty, he prepared tasty meals and shared his vast understanding of the bears that we would encounter each day.

This small island's only other...