THEIR FIRST BEAR ENCOUNTER

The next morning they had Al with them. 

This is where George saw the bear.  They went the way Al showed them.  They were going wrong, so they went another way to get up on the ridge.  When they cut across is where they saw the bear.  All three saw the bear. Al was yelling, “hi bear, go away bear.”  Dave was trying to take a picture.  George yelled out and announced the bear had a cub with her.  “A cute little thing,” he said.  Al was ahead of them and was closest to the bear but couldn’t really see the bear due to the trees.  In less than a minute the bear got directly behind George when he turned he saw her coming out of the trees.  Geo was reaching for the camera in his pocket but it was catching on his coat.  The bear had a nice slow walk coming toward George as he was still tugging to get his camera.  It didn’t stop and he decided maybe he should get his gun instead.  He was about 75 feet away and George and the bear locked eyes.  She stopped and sat up on her haunches and just stared at George. Dave got one picture as George and the bear stared at each other for about 1 minute.  He said she tilted her head one way sniffing and then the other.  They were relieved when she bear just went down and headed off.  It happened so quickly.  He said the bear was a beautiful, shiny black, mama bear.  “Black as the Ace of spades.”  I asked if they were scared and he said they weren’t but didn’t really have time to be.  He was a little nervous and said he would have hated to shoot her.  George was actually closer than the picture shows because Dave is the one that got the winning shot.  After that they got back to business cutting brush.

Packing Heat

George is not a hunter and would rather enjoy nature than shoot anything. 

Dave has a wonderful wife that keeps track of everything for him.  I think this is a picture of him double checking to make sure he has his gun.

And they're off!!!

Arriving at Moore Creek June 2011

They were excited when they got to Moore Creek.  This is where their home base would be while they forged their 3 mile trail to their camp.  They were greeted by the owners, Al and Cleta, and started getting their cabin set up and their four-wheeler put together.  Their cabin was nicer than the hooches in Nome.  No electricity, no heat and the outhouse was far enough you didn’t want to forget your gun.  They wondered how cold it was going to get that night.  Dave reminded him they were in Alaska.  They saw a generator, but it wasn’t running.  They were a little tired from their trip and noticing the lack of one amenity after another seemed to keep them laughing.

Their first trip June 2011

 

The guys left June 29 for their first trip to their site.  They got to McGrath on Friday and met the bush pilot the next morning.  McGrath is only a town of about 300 and some of the townspeople were waving at the guys as they flew in.  Apparently there is not much traffic.  After getting some coffee and a few high priced odds and ends at the grocery store the guys met their bush pilot, Mike.   He was sporting an old beat up pick up and informed George he would have to hold the door shut on their short drive to his plane.    Oh yeah, you can see where this is going.  The old pick up pulls up to an old bush plane literally sporting some duct tape for extra support.  They said it took off noisy and landed rough.  The arial view on the bottom shows their claim in the middle of the picture.  The top picture is the landing strip at Moore Creek.