Animal Leadership Chap 1, book by an outdoor leadership speaker
My first job after graduate school was to carry a combination of cattle blood and decomposed fish into the backcountry of Glacier National Park. This combination was scientifically determined to be the most effective grizzly bear lure, and it served as the bait for the hair traps I was setting to collect bear DNA samples. Being asked to carry the most attractive grizzly bear lure known to man as I went camping in the most dense grizzly bear habitat in the lower 48 states was by far the craziest request I have ever had from an employer.
The weeks passed by without a bear-related incident. My girlfriend, Gretchen, also a natural resource professional, signed up as a volunteer on the project and traveled from Vermont to come see me and this beautiful part of Montana. Before I left for the project Gretchen had bought me a book about avoiding dangerous bear encounters, which I had flipped through but never really read. Having earned my undergraduate degree from the University of Montana, I had been in grizzly bear country many times before and felt I already knew enough to keep me safe there. Having the lady I love come to hike with me, however, added a new priority on safety.
The night before Gretchen arrived I finally dug into the book. What I read was all about what happens if you surprise a bear as you are hiking. I already knew this could be a dangerous situation but had never had this experience with a grizzly. People do sometimes get mauled when the grizzly is surprised, and almost everyone I had talked to had always said to play dead if you surprise one. Gretchen’s book instead suggested that you should stand still in a submissive posture, and never make eye contact, which could be seen as a challenge and provoke an attack. The book recommended that you talk softly in a calm tone to let the bear know you are a human, because in general bears don’t want a lot to do with humans. In most cases where a bear is surprised it is feeling threatened, and it is a good idea not to do anything to pressure the bear at that point.
Even if it is not a good idea to make a bear feel threatened, the last thing you want to do is run. Running could provoke a chase response and may make you look like a target. Standing your ground but in a slightly submissive posture lets the grizzly know you are not a victim but not looking for a fight either.
The book said that most of the time when a grizzly charges it is actually “bluff charging” and it will stop right before it reaches the human target. It suggested one should really wait till the bear is within ten feet of you before falling to the ground and curling up. If you fall to the ground as soon as you see a bear, the bear might get curious and come check you out just to see if you are an easy meal.
The next day Gretchen and I headed into the backcountry. I planned on proposing on our hike and I had picked just the spot. When we reached my chosen location, with beautiful Heaven’s Peak looming above us, I got down on one knee and asked Gretchen to marry me. She said yes and we blissfully continued our hike down the trail.
Suddenly, as we rounded a bend in the trail, Gretchen and I surprised a bear. The bear lumbered, grizzly style, into the brush at the trail side where we could no longer see it. Periodically we could see large patches of its fur moving between the leaves. The bear stayed there, no more than fifty feet away. The bear was huffing at us, a nervous behavior which meant it was deciding whether we were a threat that needed to be dealt with or if it was safe for it to walk away in dignity.
Standing on a trail with my brand new fiancée and a huge bear vocally telling us that it was considering mauling us was a terrible and surreal experience. On one hand it was thrilling and awesome to be in the presence of a bear. At the same time, I knew that at any second the bear could turn on us, and we would be in the middle of a horrific nightmare.
If you want to get yourself in the right habitat to thrive then visit website http://www.AnimalLeadership.com, where you can take a FREE personality test, and receive free chapters from the book when you sign up for the email list. You will also get the Animal Leadership Implementation Guide written by Rad Watkins, a natural resource professional for 18 year. Rad now speaks and coaches others so that they may become the leaders of their own life.
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