Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode takes us to the wild northern Rockies near Cariboo in British Columbia, Canada. The granite mountains soar above the valley floor, which is around 3700 feet in elevation. The mountain ranges here form a barrier that traps incoming moisture from the Pacific Ocean. In this area fog and snow are common for much of the year. Because of the geography, the valleys between the mountains are lush and green. A ground level canopy of alder, berry bushes and wildflowers like yellow glacier lily and fireweed decorate the scenery. Pine and fir trees tower in the upper canopy and provide shade and shelter from the wind. The larger mammals of the area are black and brown bears, elk, moose, deer, cougar and wolves. Mountain sheep and goats balance on the rugged Rocky Mountain slopes as they seek out meager forage.

On August 4th 1984, eccentric inventor and adventurer, Troy Hurtubise was enjoying his time in the back country of central Canada. Troy trekked through the backwoods trying to carry his camp goods to a different trail which led to another location. The last few days he had felt an ominous presence watching him from the woods, but knew that he couldn’t let it paralyze him. He spent a lot of time in the wild and this sense of impending doom was something he knew he couldn’t ignore.

As he slowly stumbled across the ground under the heavy burden of his backpack, he carried his portable sluice in his right hand and his 22 caliber rifle in his left. Over his head he had drapped his inflatable raft. Under this heavy burden and with his vision nearly completely blocked by the raft, that familiar sense of foreboding filled Troy once again, as he emerged from the trees into a small meadow. This time the feeling of impending doom was overpowering. He could feel the climax of terror that had haunted him over prior days.

Troy couldn’t stand it any longer and suddenly dumped the raft from his head and quickly glanced around. He searched to see the source of the ominous feelings he had felt. As he looked to his left he saw an enormous grizzly bear leaning over a stump just like a man leaning on a bar at a pub. The bear had a gray beard like an old man and it had its elbows on top of the stump as it leaned over it, glaring at Troy. Now, Troy was a bit of a throwback. He knew better than to carry a high powered rifle. He felt they were unreliable in that they may misfire or you could run out of bullets. He packed a knife known as an Arkansas Toothpick. To people who know anything about knives they would attest to the fact that it has a giant, sharp double edge blade that widens about two inches toward its handle. Anything with an Arkansas Toothpick plunged into it wouldn’t stand a chance at survival. Troy carried two of these for his personal defense against bears.

Troy was about 5’8’ tall and on all fours the bear was nearly as tall as Troy at its shoulder. As the Old Man streaked toward him, he lost control of his bladder and his sphincter. He peed and crapped himself in terror. About twenty feet from Troy, the giant bear slammed on the brakes and slid to within just a few feet from him and stared him in the eyes for a second.The bear found the answers he was searching for in Troy's eyes, and he quickly snapped his jaws out toward the man's chest. Troys flew through the air several feet and landed on his back pack. Visions of the bear's next actions raced through his mind. He imagined the bear pouncing on him and slashing his flesh with enormous claws, rendering his flesh tattered, but knew it would not be a fast death. But. the savage slashing attack never happened.

His sluice box and rifle flew out of his reach to either side as he landed on his back. The bear huffed and pawed the ground in a furious demonstration of Troy’s trespass on his territory.