A Grizzly Attack

Now you’re asking yourself why did I post this story? Well the motorist who picked up Greg was me.

Me and my permanent girlfriend Anne were vacationing in Grand Teton National Park late summer of 1997. We’d already visited and hiked many of the parks main attractions so on this day we made the decision to travel down a dirt road named Ashton-Flagg Ranch Road. This decision was easy. We were camped at the nearby Headwaters Camp Ground and we were searching for some adventure away from the crowd. Our goal was to find a spot to hike and possibly see a moose, some elk, deer any wildlife off the beaten path. This road was kind of iffy with numerous potholes and bumps.

Now the Associated Press is what it is and they made a brief report of the encounter and I’m writing to tell what I recall is as Paul Harvey would say “the rest of the story.”

Driving ever so slowly toward the Snake River, I’d say we were a couple of miles down this road, when a man in camo, with a bow on his back trampled out onto the dirt road about 100 yards in front of us. It was obvious something had happened, he was dragging a leg and one of his arms was wrapped in his T shirt. Holy buckets! We drove up to meet this man and I quickly jumped out to check on this guy. He was in obvious disarray and he was injured. I told him to jump in the backseat of our Jimmy and I’d take him to get help. Along the way and as I recall it he told us he had been dragged out of a tree by a momma grizzly bear. He had been bow hunting for moose along a spot he had scouted on the Snake River. Greg was his name and he told us he had been trying to get a tag for this hunt for 5 years. It was a lifetime hunt he had been dreaming of. Only the dream was interrupted. I can only hope in the years since he had a chance to complete the dream.

Greg was stressed and injured. He told us he was from Texas and he had a young family. I remember Greg saying he saw the bear coming down the river bed on the opposite side he was hunting with two cubs in tow. The bears were a couple hundred yards from Greg. The mother bear had spotted him. In an instant she began to run towards him. He began to look for a way out and up a tree he went. But the bear was fast, way faster than a bear was thought to be and she grabbed him by the foot and dragged him to the ground. The bear paused as Greg played dead. She paused for an eary minute or so then she grabbed him by the hand and gave him a shake. Somehow he remained “dead.” She sat a few feet away from him for quite a bit as I remember him saying. Now after a lengthy encounter she was satisfied he was not a danger and she began to retreat from the scene.

Laying dead on the ground for a while he decided it was time to go for help. He started his way towards the road and that’s where we encountered this injured moose hunter. As I remember the encounter we dropped him off at the Ranger Station which I’m saying was 20 minutes back and the Rangers took it from there.

Back at camp a mere couple of miles from the event of the day. We chatted, ate and went to bed. A few days later we read the story in The Cody Wyoming newspaper. Whew!

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