When Bears Get Hungry
Dinner on the Buskin River, Kodiak

The Buskin River was on my way back from the lab in Kodiak making it a very convenient place for me to go fishing after work. I would always go down to Bridge No. 1 , a spot near the mouth where a bridge used to be. Several times either fellow fisherman down stream or upstream would holler that the bear was coming and everyone would climb up onto the old bridge approach until he passed by. The bear was happy, we here happy, life was good.

Then, one day, while I was jealous of three guys down stream and their nice Silver the bear warning was shouted from someone up stream. We all climbed to the top of the approach again but the three guys were too far down stream so they walked away from the river a ways and expected the bear to pass by.

When that bear came around the bend in the river and saw them with their nice fish he decided it was going to be his fish and started walking towards the men. We couldn't see them but as the bear started walking their way we heard splashing, almost like they were running through the water. About then the bear started trotting and just about went out of sight. I could hear them yelling at the bear. He stopped for a minute but kept going with caution. Then we heard two gun shots. The bear stopped, kind of looked around, and decided the fish wasn't worth the trouble.

The three fisherman climbed up on the approach with us, understandably shaken, and started telling us their story. One of them asked if I could get the beer from the back pocket of his vest for him, which I did.

The bear had learned that if he intimidated people they would give up their fish. These guys didn't give up their fish and they didn't shoot at the bear. They shot towards it, trying to scare it away, which they did.

The whole situation really helped me realize how real it was. It was very humbling and made me think about the chance of running into bears while they are looking for dinner. Usually all you have to do is get out of their way and they will leave you alone. But you have to be prepared for the time that they don't.