The Skeena Grizzly
Sitting high on a slide, I noticed a grizzly three miles away. By the time we got there, the bear was gone, but after we had finished eating, he appeared again. Unfortunately, the bear caught wind of us, and I knew he was going to bolt. We waited patiently for him to return, and just as I stood up, I saw him 15 feet away, staring straight at me. I was more startled than he was. I moved out of the way and let Bill have a shot. Up close, we could see that the bear had quills in its face, muzzle, paws, and back. It wasn’t the big grizzly we’d hoped for, but he was a pretty young boar with a perfect blonde ring around his neck and down his chest—unique and unusual.
In mid-May 1987, Bill Jury and I set out on a grizzly hunt in our Skeena guiding territory. Warm rains had brought the opportunity to change the plane to floats, so we went out to Bear Lake. When we arrived, we found that porcupines had chewed up the camp, and at night, I felt one crawling over my sleeping bag who couldn’t find his way out of the tent. Bill thought it was hilarious, but I could barely sleep without wondering if I would get quills in my head.
For four days, we watched the prime slide areas with no sign of grizzly. But then we found tracks—six sets, and two real dandy sets from 8.5 to 9.5-foot bears.