NOW HERE IS A TRUE STORY ABOUT SMART GRIZZLY BEARS!
Sometime back in the 60's I was in an area known as Fairwell Alaska; my little J3 Piper Cub had a fuel problem and I was forced to land on a gravel bar...no big deal.
As I was hiking out to the little FAA settlement called Fairwell I had a hair-raising experience. As I rounded a large granite outcropping, I surprised a big old grizzy at 20 yards...too darn close for comfort. As I backed up towards a tree that was about 25 feet tall; the grizzly decided to charge. I quickly slipped my Trapper Nelson Backpack off my shoulder and threw it on the ground in front of the Grizzly; as he stopped to maul my Trapper Nelson, I raised my 35 Whelan and pulled the trigger....CLICK! Nothing happend; not knowing if it was a misfire, or if I had a broken fireing pin, I dropped the rifle and quickly climbed up the tree with the Grizzly right behind me; I made it to the top of this small tree just in time.
When the Grizzly stood on his hind legs, the bottoms of my feet were only about 3 feet above his extended paws that were swinging and slashing at my feet. Then the Griz droped to all fours and began chewing and digging at the roots of this small tree; then he would stand up and push and pull the tree trying to knock me out. He made that little tree sway a lot; but could not knock me out of it; so he went back to digging and chewing at the roots; then back up to pushing and pulling on the tree. I hung on for dear life. This was one smart Griz as I was soon to find out.
After about 45 minutes of of the above action the Griz took off. I waited up in the tree for about a half hour to be sure he was gone; then slowly climbed down. I went right over to my rifle and jacked the shell out, and sure enough there was no indentation on the primer...I had a broken fireing pin. Just as I was about to leave, I looked up and here came that Grizzly again; only this time he had brought back another Griz to help him get me out of the tree. I scrambled right back up in that tree as high as I could go; which was not very high.
Then the two of them worked together chewing and digging at the roots of the tree; then they would both stand up on their hind legs and push and pull that tree so much it really started swingging badly...I was long past being scared now; I was terrified; and screaming at the top of my lungs. This went on for almost an hour; but they couldn't shake me out. I didn't know Grizzly Bears were smart enough to go get help; I would quickly learn just how smart they were.
After what seemed like forever they finally left; but I was too scared to get right down out of the tree. Trying to see if they were just hiding behind that granite outcropping I would break off small branches and throw them at the outcropping...nothing.
I finally got up enough courage to climb down out of that tree; I quickly grabbed my rifle and backpack and was just about to hightail it out of there
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