Sourdough posted this a few years ago.........
posted December 03, 2003 04:01 AM I've been known to make some real lucky shots, like the day I shot the head off a grouse at 40 yards, with a 30-30 from the hip. Or the evening I shot the charging Bull Moose while lying on my back. But this shot I feel that the Good Lord had a hand in guiding the bullet. May 1971, my best friend Ed Read and I were new to Alaska. We had found out we could hunt on the Army land behind Eielson AFB, without having to buy a Non-resident Hunting Liscense. We got our permits from the Base Wildlife Office and went out looking for Spring Bear. We had spent most of the day driving, just exploring the area. We were several miles from the base, on a pretty rough trail called Brigadier Road, when we spotted a Grizzly Bear, on a hillside over a mile away. We continued to drive in that direction. About 600 Yards from the bear the road turned and started going in the other direction. We left the truck and started walking. At the time the only rifle I owned was a Parker Haile .308. I had it in my truck. I was also carrying a .338 Mag that a friend had left with me till he could figure out how to let his wife know he had bought a new gun. I handed Ed the .308 and I carried the .338. When we had gotten to within 400 yards we stopped to watch the bear. With the lay of the land, if we went any further we would lose sight of the bear. After watching the bear for a while, Ed noticed that the bear was limping. The bear would not place it's left front foot on the ground. We also got the idea that the bear was stalking something, on top of the hill. We determined that if we went any further we would not be able to see the bear till we were within 40 to 50 yards, maybe closer. Being above treeline, we had a good view of the bear, with no obstructions between us and our target. Ed encourged me to take the shot. I did not feel comfortable with the range, and the fact that I had only shot two rounds through this gun. But being young and stupid, and feeling the invinciability of youth, what the heck, I decided to take the shot. I sat down and using my walking staff as a rest, I prepared to take the shot. Ed and I started discussing the range and trojectory. I was unsure of the amount of holdover needed, and we thought it was 400 yards, but were not sure. I began to have doubts. I put the crosshairs on the top line of the bears head, holding the vertical post on the spine. I started a slow trigger squeeze, then just before the gun went off I raised the crosshairs about 6 inches over the head. The gun fired and I lost sight of the bear. Ed was watching through binoculars, he said the bear did not move. He could not tell if I had hit it or not. We sat there for a few minutes watching the bear. We saw no movement, we began to think maybe I had made a good shot. Then Ed exclaimed, "Oh my gosh, there is someone over there". I looked and could see a man then a woman running toward the bear. Just before getting to the bear they picked something up, two little girls. They had been just over the slope out of sight. When they spotted us they started yelling, then the man started making rude and obsceen jestures. Ed and I realised that those little girls was what the bear was stalking. We also knew that the parents did not know about the bear. Ed and I started running in their direction, and immediately lost sight of them. We crossed a small wash, then started climbing the hill to their location. As we climbed the slope, we caught sight of the man standing alone on the tundra. The woman and the children were no where in sight. As we neared this fellow we could see that he was staring at something on the ground. He had found the Bear. He looked at us, fell to a sitting position and started crying. All he was doing was pointing at the bear and then at the children, and crying. Ed and I helped him to his feet, then we started walking him back to his family. We saw where the little girls had been playing on a blanket with a tea set. When we approached the families vehicle the Mother came out cursing us for shooting at her children, she was unaware of the bear. The Husband yelled for her to "Shut-up". Then he told her about the Grizzly that had been stalking their children. And how we had shot the bear. The Mother turned pale, then loaded the children into the vehicle. The Father insisted on going back with us to look at the bear. He drove his Jeep Wagoneer back to the location of the bear, he wanted his wife to see the bear. When we got back to the bear, we found an old boar, missing most of his teeth. His left front foot had been mutilated somehow, probably in a fight. He had fresh scares and festering sores, allover his body. It was appearant this old bear was stalking those children for an easy meal. Ed and I had just happened along, and prevented his meal. First examination we could not find where I had hit him. As we skinned him the bullet hole was located. I had hit the spine dead center, four inches down from the skull. As I said before, I don't consider this shot a great feat on my part, here I was just 22 years old, not much shooting experience, and shooting an unfamilier gun. Like I said before the hand of someone else was guiding that bullet. It took a long time for me to understand why that father cried. Now that I am a father myself, I to cry when I remember how easily I could have passed up that shot, and what the results would have been. I kept in touch with that family. Those two little girls are now Mothers themselves. I got a phone call today from the oldest girl Ginnie, she is now a Grandmother. They tell people about how I saved their lives when they were small, they make it sound like I'm a hero. No I'm no hero, just Gods insterment in the prevention of a tragedy. This is one story that I have never told before. I discussed it last March with Ed. Ed says I let it bother me too much. It's always been hard to think about this one. Ginnie said she wants me to write this one down and send her a copy. Well Ginnie here it is.
