Self defense

Once again nothing about chukars, but I have to defend myself. I got two emails from a couple of other chukar hunters and a comment from Robert wondering if I had lost my mind. Like I’ve said many of times, you can’t be too bright if you chase chukars year after year and still think it’s fun.

That being said, I’ve always had a thing about getting close to animals. I’ve had some truly amazing encounters in my life and some of them probably considered quite stupid. But I’ve always gone in with the attitude that if something bad happens to me I deserve what I get. It’s not the animals fault. I’ve touched a cougar in the wild, an elk as he charged past me while elk hunting with a bow, tried to dive on a called in bob cat and gat bitten by a coyote I called in. I’ve lived an exciting life in the outdoors.

I write this not as a brag but more of a testament of the fun the outdoors has given me. A business man once told me ” no one else is going to blow your horn so you might as well do it yourself”. So maybe I’m blowing my horn. Millions of people can say they’ve seen the statue of liberty or mount Rushmore, but how many people can say that they have been fortunate enough to do the things I have done. Of course, they wouldn’t care to do what I have done, just as I don’t care to see those things they cherish.

My love now is my dogs and chukar hunting, but if another wild animal wants to come along and oblige me with a chance for some excitement, I’m going to take it. I rummaged through some of my old photos to show off a little. Back then, pictures were taken with polaroid cameras with rolls of film so there not as good as the pictures we can get now.

Here is one of the cougars I encountered. I climbed up in the tree next to it for some photos and actually got close enough that it started digging it’s hind legs into the branch it was on. I didn’t know if it was getting ready to jump at me or get away, but I took that as a clue to back down. I later crawled up in the same tree and spooked it down.

One of the bears I joined in it’s den.

I even made my first GSP, Tucker do things he didn’t want to do. Stand by a yearling elk while I took a picture. I have no idea what was on this elks mind, but it stood there while I walked down towards it and took a roll of pictures. There were more elk around but they meander over the hill out of sight. I think I could have touched it.

Saving the best for last. I took my son to Alaska on a fishing trip. We flew into a lake where the guide had a boat. We wanted to go somewhere where we might see a brown bear. The guide dropped us off on the shore while he fished with the other clients in the boat. He instructed us that if a bear came down he’d pick us up. Well, we got our wish, but the bear came in so fast the guide couldn’t get to us. While the boat watched from the lake, Doug took this picture of me and the bear. You can see that both of us were enjoying the moment. The big boy looked me over and saw I didn’t have any fish and left.

We stepped it off and the bear was 7 yards from me. It was the climax of the trip and the guide said that was about as close as he’s seen. That was over thirty years ago.

Now for the finally. About forty years ago I was lucky enough to film this grizzly and her cubs. The footage isn’t so good anymore since it’s been converted from VCR or 8 track, whichever it was. But it gets my love for seeing how close I can get. The footage was taken from about 50 yards and she knew I was there. I was there with them for about 15 minutes and she finally walked towards me, stared at me and made herself look about twice as wide. I felt she was telling me that I was through watching. I turned and walked down the hill and after a few hundred yards turned and looked to see her following me to make sure I left. How cool is that. Enjoy and I’ll be talking chukar soon.