SUNDAY, JULY 25, 1971, started like some other summer season Sunday within the quiet mountain village of Collbran, Colorado, the place I function a guiding-and-outfitting enterprise. I used to be trimming a wild-rose hedge in my yard. Bear searching didn’t cross my thoughts, since our bear seasons are closed in the summertime. If someone had walked as much as me and stated that inside moments I’d be organizing a very powerful bear hunt of my life, I’d have thought he was loopy.
The sudden change from leisure to critical enterprise got here when my daughter Shirley noticed me within the yard.
“Gosh, Dad,” she exclaimed, “I assumed you had gone trout fishing. Some man simply phoned. He sounded shook up. He desires you to name again immediately. I wrote his quantity down.”
I dialed the quantity and located myself speaking with Glenn Rogers, a regional supervisor for the Colorado Division of Recreation, Fish and Parks. That’s once I first considered bears. A number of instances up to now Glenn had requested to make use of my canines to go after stock-killing bears. However I wasn’t in any respect ready for the surprising story he blurted out.
“It’s an actual mess this time, Ray,” he started. “We’ve acquired a man-killing bear to cope with. It occurred about two o’clock this morning in a non-public campground north of Grand Lake. A giant bear walked as much as a person’s tent, ripped it huge open, and attacked. The person didn’t have an opportunity. He was killed on the spot after which carried fifty yards earlier than the bear left him. Can you’re taking your hounds and go after the bear? We don’t need any extra deaths.”
I’d made my choice earlier than Rogers requested the query. I advised him it could take a few hours for me to get organized. He stated he’d telephone again and inform me precisely the place to go.
I instantly referred to as my oldest son, George. He was engaged on a rush irrigation mission at a close-by ranch and couldn’t get away. My second son, Raymond Jr., was at house, and he volunteered immediately. We name him Tad. He’s solely 16, however he’s a veteran of many bear hunts and may be very ready with the hounds.
I figured I wanted another man, and I knew who. I referred to as Warren Bruton, a 29-year-old high woodsman who operates a information service for deer and elk hunters from his ranch close to Molina. Warren advised me he had just a few issues to clear up, however he could be able to roll by midday.
Proper after that, Glenn Rogers referred to as again and advised me that lodging, meals, and extra manpower could be provided by the Nationwide Park Service and the Colorado Recreation, Fish and Parks Division. I discovered that the tragedy had occurred close to the western fringe of Rocky Mountain Nationwide Park within the north-central a part of the state. We had been to go on to the park.
Tad, Warren, and I had been on our approach about 1 o’clock. Our four-wheel-drive pickup was loaded with my 10 hounds, sleeping luggage, and a change of garments for every of us. Collbran is within the west-central a part of the state, so we needed to drive not less than 5 hours by means of the mountains. It wasn’t till we had been rolling down the freeway that I developed the primary twinges of hysteria concerning the coming hunt.
Going after a black bear with hounds gives nearly all the thrill a person may need, however working down a killer bear differs from a sporting chase. A bear doesn’t flip killer with out motive. A recognized mankiller clearly has little worry of man, and searching one may be harmful.
I recalled an incident that also makes my hair crawl. A number of years in the past my hounds tracked a imply male, and so they lastly noticed him from a distance of 250 yards. I may inform by the wild tonguing. Usually a bear will run when canines assault. This one didn’t run one step. He was able to tear the entire world aside proper on the spot.
I used to be sitting on my horse, ready to see which approach the bear would run. I couldn’t see the bear, however from the sounds the canines made I knew they had been charging in straight on the animal. Proper after that, the livid howls of brave combating modified to yelps of terror. I leaped from my horse, hit the bottom working, and lit out downhill. It took solely seconds for me to achieve the scene, however once I acquired there the struggle was throughout and the bear was gone.
Two canines lay useless. Two extra had been writhing on the bottom. One other’s again was practically damaged, and one had a watch knocked far again into his head.
Such experiences have taught me that you simply by no means know what a very offended bear will do. I used to be additionally involved as a result of I’d by no means handled a man-killer earlier than.
A number of different issues additionally contributed to my mounting rigidity. I used to be unfamiliar with the nation the place the deadly assault had occurred. And I didn’t like the concept of so many individuals being concerned within the hunt. What if one thing went mistaken and an inexperienced hunter acquired killed?
I used to be conscious that the tragedy was being splashed over the entrance pages of newspapers and was bulletin information on radio and TV. I used to be on the spot as a result of I used to be the one who needed to get the bear.
I WAS BORN 54 years in the past on the winter headquarters of my father’s cattle ranch close to Grand Junction, Colorado. Whereas rising up round cow camps, I met many old-time bear hunters. I used to be nonetheless very younger once I determined {that a} bear hunt is the most effective of all adventures.
Throughout the subsequent few years I acquired some canines and took many scoldings for “fooling with houn’ dawgs.” My father believed that working hounds is step one towards the poor home. I used to be 14 once I helped dad wrangle horses and pack out venison for some visiting deer hunters. I’ve served as a information or clothes shop yearly since—besides 1944, once I was piloting B-17’s over Germany throughout World Struggle II.
After the warfare I accepted a job with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a predatory-animal management agent. I acquired one other pack of hounds, and I used them to trace down many troublesome bears. By the way, all of the bears in Colorado are black bears.
Ultimately I returned with my household to the valley the place I had grown up. I purchased a ranch and tried elevating cattle, however I used to be too serious about searching. I bought the ranch in 1957 and went into full-time guiding and outfitting. My sideline specialty was aiding stockmen in monitoring and killing bears that had been menacing livestock. It was by means of this exercise that I turned recognized to personnel within the state Recreation, Fish and Parks Division.
It was nothing very new for me to be referred to as out on a bear hunt. I assume that just about 400 black bears have been killed over my canines on my own and different hunters.
Tad, Warren, and I had bother with the truck thrice through the drive throughout the mountains, and it was nightfall after we arrived on the fringe of the park and noticed a park-department patrol automotive. Its driver had been alerted to look at for us. He escorted us 11 miles to the Holzwarth Neversummer Ranch, a dude ranch close to the scene of the tragedy. A dozen or extra Nationwide Park Service personnel and state recreation males had been ready for us. John Holzwarth III, half proprietor of the ranch, was current to offer data on the assault and describe the encircling terrain.
Information of the terrain was essential, however for the time being, I used to be far more within the particulars of the killing. The story was advised by Bert McLaren, a Nationwide Park Service official who was in total cost of the hunt.
“The person’s title was John Richardson,” he started. “He was a thirty-one-year-old resident of Denver. He was tenting on ranch property together with his brother-in-law and a number of other different relations. Many of the members of the group had been asleep in a bus-type camper. Richardson was spending the night time in a tent pitched near the camper. That was the scenario about two a.m. final night time.
“In response to stories we obtained, the bear attacked his victim with out obvious motive. He clawed open the tent and went after Richardson with out warning. No person is aware of how lengthy the struggle between the person and bear went on earlier than Richardson’s terrified yells woke up individuals within the camper.”
McLaren then advised us that the sufferer’s brother-in-law had appeared frantically for a weapon. The one factor he may put his fingers on instantly was a heavy frying pan. He rushed exterior, nevertheless it was too darkish to see a lot, so he ran again and turned on the lights of the camper.
Then he noticed the bear carrying Richardson into close by timber. He went wild, rushed headlong on the bear, and beat the animal on the top with the frying pan. The bear dropped his sufferer and began towards the second man however didn’t assault him.
As quickly as the person with the skillet backed off, the bear picked up Richardson, who was already useless, and dragged him by means of a barbed-wire fence. The would-be rescuer rushed in and beat the bear on the top once more. That’s when the bear dropped his sufferer and walked off into the timber.
Paul Gilbert, district supervisor for the Recreation, Fish and Parks Division, then advised us that he had horses and males prepared for the hunt. He additionally stated that dwell traps had been set for the bear. Essentially the most disappointing information was {that a} heavy rain had fallen late that afternoon. All scent had been washed away.
With a Geological Survey map and wonderful verbal descriptions by John Holzwarth, I used to be in a position to get the lay of the land properly in thoughts.
Holzwarth’s Neversummer Ranch sprawls over the more-level a part of a north-south valley between two excessive mountain ranges. The ranch buildings are positioned in meadows bordered by lodgepole pines. The pines fade into balsam and spruce on the upper elevations. The peaks, as much as 12,000 toes, are barren rock, swept clear by storms. Tiny streams splash down slim canyons to a small river on the ground of the mile-wide Kawuneeche Valley.
BAKER CREEK BASIN is within the Neversummer Mountains simply west of the ranch, and it bottoms out on the assault website. The areas instantly adjoining Baker Creek are comparatively freed from timber, however they’re edged by dense forest, willow swamps, and deadfalls. That kind of terrain is nice black-bear nation. There was little doubt in my thoughts that our bear was within the mountains west of the meadows.
“We’ll hunt the basin first,” I advised the group. “It’s near the kill website, there’s good cowl, and there’s no motive on the earth the bear ought to go any farther. The map exhibits ridges surrounding the basin, so my plan is easy. Within the morning Tad will take one group of males and canines up the ridge on the north facet of the basin. Warren will take one other group and a few canines up the south facet. They’ll spot armed males about half a mile aside at factors the place they’ll see and listen to for lengthy distances.
“I’ll begin in with the remainder of my hounds on the assault website. Hopefully my canines will get on the bear’s path and bounce him. After that, something can occur. If he runs, one of many males on stand could possibly get a shot at him. If he stops and fights, it’ll be as much as me except a number of the different hunters can shut in on the struggle earlier than I get there. That’s why it’s essential for Tad, Warren, and me to maintain involved always with walkie-talkies.”
There wasn’t a lot probability that we’d kill an harmless bear. Richardson’s brother-in-law had gotten a superb have a look at the bear throughout his assault with the skillet. He advised us the bear was a really giant grownup black with a dark-brown coat. Brown bear hairs had been discovered on the fence by means of which the sufferer had been dragged.
Gary Bicknell, left, and I comply with the canines on a scorching bear path. John G. White / Out of doors Life
Bert McLaren reminded us to not shoot the bear within the head if we may keep away from it. The biologists wished to look at the animal’s mind for indicators of rabies. A few of the males felt that the bear was nearly definitely rabid.
I had reservations about that concept. A rabid animal will assault any residing factor it might catch. And a black bear is lightning quick. Our bear had paid little consideration to Richardson’s brother-in-law, despite the fact that the person had crushed him with a skillet. It didn’t add up. That bear may have killed the second man in a flash, however he didn’t. Richardson, for some motive, was the bear’s chosen sufferer.
I acquired my first actual break when the hunters assembled close to the ranch home at 6 a.m. the following morning. Anyone reported {that a} bear had raided a rubbish container on the lodge through the night time. I rushed there and located two clear paw prints in sandy floor. They had been enormous. The rubbish container was fabricated from heavy-gauge welded sheet steel. Full, it should have weighed nearly 700 kilos. The lid had been torn unfastened, and the container had been moved a number of toes.
It takes a giant bear to exert that sort of energy, and a bear that dimension is not going to condone the presence of one other giant male in his space. I used to be satisfied that the injury had been executed by the mankiller.
I PUT OUR PLANS into motion directly. Tad and his group used four-wheeldrive automobiles to go up an outdated jeep highway alongside the north rim of Baker Creek Basin. Warren and his get together needed to stroll to their positions alongside the ridge on the southern fringe of the 1,000-acre basin. The final man in every group was stationed at timberline. The hunt began when Tad and Warren reported by walkie-talkie that their males had been positioned.
I turned Previous Joe, my strike canine, unfastened on the smoking-hot path. He had the scent line useless to rights for a number of hundred yards, so I unleashed two extra canines.
Gary Bicknell, head wrangler for the ranch stables, was ready to maneuver out with me. This was the primary time I’d seen him, however he struck me as a superb man to have round. We had two horses to trip, Moon for him and Utah for me. Gary had a .30/30 Winchester, and he stated he knew the right way to use it. I wore a .45 caliber single-action Colt revolver in a belt holster, and I additionally had my .30/30 lever-action carbine.
I turned Previous Joe, my strike canine, unfastened on the smoking-hot path. He had the scent line useless to rights for a number of hundred yards, so I unleashed two extra canines. Then all of them misplaced the path.
I used to be certain the bear would head west towards the basin, so I circled that approach. We wasted an hour as a result of I couldn’t imagine my idea was mistaken, however the hounds simply couldn’t discover any scent the place I assumed it needs to be, so we headed again towards the place the bear had raided the rubbish container. I leashed all of the canines in order that Previous Joe may work out the scent on the level the place they’d overrun the road.
He discovered it once more after which turned east up a horse path that was worn deep into the turf. There I discovered a part of a contemporary bear print. Previous Joe was in full cry, so I let Bullet and Ruff unfastened. In seconds path music rang out over all the valley because the canines lit out towards the mountain slopes to the east. Once I realized what was occurring, I groaned. I’d deployed a pair dozen males on the western slopes, and it was now apparent that the bear had gone into mountains on the alternative facet of the valley.
THE RACE WENT UP a steep slope, over benches, throughout ridges. The voices of the canines got here by means of loud and clear once they crossed excessive floor however light as they dipped below rims or went into the timber. The bear bumped into a number of the roughest nation on the facet of the mountain. Then he decided.
Some bears will climb a tree when pursued for just a few miles. Some will cease and struggle after which run once more. Some will cease and struggle to the end. Others will go away the nation if they’ll. When your canines have run a bear just a few miles, you be taught what he’s going to do. This one had determined to remain on the mountain and struggle and run in spurts. My job was to get there whereas the canines had been combating the bear in order that I may get a shot.
The chase went backwards and forwards throughout the face of the mountain. Gary and I punished our horses in an nearly straight-up climb. Every time we stopped to hearken to the canines, Gary advised me that horses couldn’t be ridden up these rugged slopes. And every time he stated that, I gave Utah a superb thump within the ribs and we climbed one other 100 yards or so. The final time I did that, the canines had been combating and howling about 300 yards above us. We didn’t get far, although. Fallen timber blocked our approach.
“We’ll break up,” I yelled to Gary. “Take your horse round these things, and attempt to get stage with the struggle. Then are available in from the north. I’ll circle round and are available in from the south. Watch out.” I managed to go solely a brief distance earlier than I needed to cease and tie Utah to a spruce. I ran, jumped, and clawed my approach nearer to the madhouse of combating and roaring above me. Once I had closed the gap to 60 yards, I acquired my first glimpse of swirling mud, darting canines, and a really giant, enraged, brown-colored black bear.
A protracted opening by means of the spruces gave me an opportunity for my first shot. I fired the .30/30 in a rush when the canines fell again for a break up second. I believe the bullet missed the bear. He confirmed no shock, shudder, or different response.
To my full shock, the rifle jammed once I tried to lever one other cartridge into the chamber. It had by no means jammed earlier than. I do know now that the jam was brought on by a faulty handload. I lowered the rifle, pulled out my Colt, and raced forward.
I ran in near get a transparent second shot and fired from about 15 yards. Fur flew from the animal’s rib cage simply behind his shoulder. He whirled and began climbing a giant Engelmann spruce.
I moved in nearer so as to get out from below the branches of different timber that blocked my view of the climbing bear. I used to be about 20 toes from the large spruce once I fired a number of fast photographs with the Colt. I noticed each strike house within the rib space. I couldn’t imagine it when the killer saved climbing. I moved nearly below the tree to fireside once more. I needed to shoot by means of his abdomen to get the bullet into his lung space.
The massive spruce was naked of branches for the primary 20 toes. The bear was reaching for the bottom branches once I hit him with the final shot from the revolver. I figured he was nearly useless, however then a daunting thought flashed into my thoughts. The Colt was empty, and I had no extra cartridges for it. My rifle was jammed.
Simply then the fear-crazed killer began again down the tree. He appeared to slip down the trunk in gradual movement, and his claws reduce lengthy grooves within the bark. When he reached the bottom 15 toes from me, Joe, Bullet, and Ruff had been throughout him in a second. The canines had been swatted apart, and the infuriated bear was watching me with the reddest and most hate-filled eyes I’ve ever seen. Undoubtedly he was going to cost.
“You goofed, Ray,” I assumed. “Now it’s your flip to search out out what a manbear struggle is like.”
There was no use in working. I knew the bear could be on high of me in a single bounce. I considered utilizing my rifle as a membership, nevertheless it appeared a puny weapon.
Then I yanked the lever of that rifle with all of the energy I had. One thing gave, and I assumed I’d damaged the lever. Then I spotted that I had ejected the fired cartridge case. I slammed the following spherical into the chamber of the .30/30 simply because the bear lunged at me.
There was no time to intention. I snapped off the shot at point-blank vary. The bullet smashed into the highest of the bear’s shoulder, and he dropped immediately.
WHEN I CALMED DOWN I spotted that the revolver photographs had executed a lot injury. Lung photographs kill as a result of the animal drowns in its personal blood, but when a big artery or vein isn’t reduce, dying might not come for a number of minutes. That’s simply what occurred on this case. I shudder even now-a large bear can kill a person in seconds. Later examination confirmed that the ultimate rifle bullet had stopped the cost chilly by breaking the bear’s backbone. About 20 males helped to get the bear down the mountain. The carcass was then taken to Colorado State College, the place a number of rabies exams on mind tissue all proved adverse. Three veterinarians examined the bear’s skinned cranium and located current bruise marks on the nostril and across the eyes, nearly definitely inflicted by the frying pan wielded by the sufferer’s brother-in-law.
The brown bear hair taken from the barbed-wire fence matched the useless bear’s hair completely. The animal weighed 306 kilos and was in excellent bodily situation. He measured six toes from nostril to tail. There was little doubt that he was the best bear. The person-killer was useless.
This story first appeared within the November 1972 problem of Out of doors Life.
