Hangar18
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Pretty wild story.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12868895&BRD=1839&PAG=461&dept_id=110408&rfi=6
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12868895&BRD=1839&PAG=461&dept_id=110408&rfi=6
Staring death in the eye
By: Scott Campbell 09/08/2004
Rob White has had his brush with death. He's stared it straight in the eye, and survived.
Just three days after what can only be considered the most harrowing experience of his life, White, the owner of White Roofing in Eldridge, and the father of former Miss Iowa Nikki White, is back at work this week after going face-to-face with a grizzly bear in the Wyoming wilderness.
What was supposed to be a six-day elk hunting trip with friends Jay Nagle and Andy Hamann turned into a death-defying expedition when White and his guide crossed paths with a mother grizzly while tracking a wounded elk Friday afternoon.
"I just feel so lucky," White, 58, said from his Eldridge home Monday night. "When I got back all I wanted to do was hug all my friends and family members. I feel like I escaped certain death.
"The miracle part is that I'm basically unscathed. Anytime you have the open jaws of a grizzly within three inches of your face, you expect some pretty catastrophic things to happen. They didn't.
"I have five or six puncture wounds on my lower left leg, one which I think went all the way to my Achilles tendon, but I'm OK. I walk with a little limp, but at least I'm here to tell about it."
And, what a story he has to tell.
The three men had been planning this trip for some time. White had shot a bull elk with a rifle on a wilderness hunt two years ago, and he was looking for something a little more challenging. This time, he wanted to shoot one with a bow.
The North Scott trio arrived in Wyoming on Sunday, Aug. 29. They met with their outfitter, organized their gear, and got their last good night of sleep.
The next morning they hopped on their horses for a 32-mile, nine-hour ride into the Teton Wilderness Area. Tuesday, Aug. 30, was a day of rest to recuperate from the long horse ride, and the first day of hunting was Sept. 1.
The first two days of hunting were uneventful. There were six hunters on the trip, and they went off in pairs, with one guide to a group.
Near disaster struck on the third day of their planned six-day hunt. An overnight snow had blanketed the camp with two to four inches of snow, but by 9 a.m. White and his guide, Marvin Krzoska, decided to take off anyway.
They took off on foot and headed 2.5 miles up the mountain, finally reaching an altitude of 10,000 feet. The snow was six to eight inches deep and coming down in big white flakes at the rate of an inch per hour.
"We hadn't seen anything for more than three hours and decided to make one last cow call to try and bring in a bull elk," said White. "Within three minutes we saw a small bull elk run out in a clearing about 70 yards to our north. It circled around and came down. I shot it twice with my bow before it headed off into the woods."
The elk traveled about 100 yards, and the two hunters could see it standing in the woods. They waited 35 minutes for it to lie down and hopefully die, but it didn't. It took off. They trailed it for more than an hour, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, they saw fresh grizzly tracks running perpendicular to the elk's trail.
"I alerted Marvin and he said, 'We may have company," said White. "I quickly made sure my bear spray was out from under my raincoat and at hand."
For the next two and a half hours, the two hunters continued to track the bleeding elk back and forth across the face of the mountain. They were exhausted and wet, and had no idea that their brush with death was just around the corner.
"We came up out of a creek bottom and when I popped my head up I saw Marvin reaching for his gun," said White. "All he said was, 'Bear.' With that, I looked to my right, and 25 yards away I saw the head of a grizzly.
"I no sooner saw it when I yelled, 'Here she comes!' She covered that 25 yards in the blink of an eye. She probably weighed 350 pounds and moved twice as fast as any horse I'd ever seen in my life."
White thinks the bear's speed is what initially saved them. The two hunters were able to back up a few inches, and she flew by, knocking over a couple of scrub pine trees in the process.
"She ended up about 10 to 15 feet below us, and within an instant she was back on top of us," said White. "She either knocked us down or we fell down, but we were both using our legs to try and hold her off. My guide went for his gun and I went for my bear spray."
The bear first drew blood from the guide, biting through his boot and puncturing his big toe.
"I started spraying her and that really made her mad," said White. "Then she jumped on top of me. I saw her left claw take a sweeping left hook toward me. I fell backwards and she missed. Still, I remember saying to myself, "Rob, you're going to feel the fury of Mother Nature like you've never felt before.' Fortunately, I didn't."
White continued to spray, hoping to aim at the bear's eyes and nose. But, there was one big problem. He couldn't see them.
"The bear's jaw was within three inches of my face," said White. "She was so close, and her mouth was open so wide, that all I could see was the back of her throat. As best I could, I forced the spray down that throat."
By this time, Marvin had gotten his gun out. What seemed like an eternity had only been a few seconds.
"The gun (a .44 magnum) was within three inches of my left ear when it fired," said White. "He shot right into the bear's mouth. I recall hearing the shot, but not the ringing in my ear.
"I remember a big cloud of spray. The bear was so close that it was breathing it back in my face, and I inhaled a good dose of it."
Rob and the guide fell to the ground. Rob saw the bear stumble down the mountain, but Marvin thought he saw it in another direction. As it turned out, the guide had seen the bear's cub, which explained why the mother grizzly was in a fighting mood.
The two followed the trail of blood and finally came upon the downed bear. It was still breathing, but definitely dying.
Thinking back, White said the bear didn't make a sound until she had pinned the two men down.
"That's when she really roared," said White. "She never did stand on her two back legs like you see in the movies or pictures. She just came barreling at us on all four feet with her head down."
Despite the bear's death, the two hunters weren't out of the woods yet.
"We still had a long ways to go to get back to camp," said White. "As we walked perpendicular to the creek, we saw more fresh tracks. I stuck my size 10.5 boot in them, and the tracks were bigger than my boot.
"I was concerned. I had no spray and no gun. My guide was the only one with a weapon. All I had was my crossbow, but that was worthless against a bear."
The two took the most direct route they could find, and it was tough going. White was having trouble breathing because his throat was swelling after having inhaled so much of the bear spray. He also had trouble plowing through the eight inches of snow with his injured leg.
More than 90 minutes later they hobbled back into camp, and after talking by satellite phone to officials with the Wyoming Fish and Game Department, the group decided to cut their trip short. They were told to ride out the next day, and arrived back in Cody Saturday night.
Sunday morning White and his guide had to meet with the Federal Game Warden, the Wyoming Fish and Game Warden, and a bear biologist. They had to give separate written statements of what transpired on the mountain, because theoretically they had killed an endangered species. They had to prove it was done in self-defense.
"They told us the investigation could take up to six months," said White, "but they told us it was pretty evident that we had killed the bear in self-defense."
White visited the hospital Sunday around noon. He received a tetanus shot and antibiotics, and the three North Scott men left for home about 2:30 p.m. Since he arrived back in Eldridge at 9 a.m. Monday, White has done nothing but recount his adventure for friends and relatives.
"I'm not a hero," said White. "I've read a hundred stories about bear attacks, and I've always wondered how I would react. Each individual and each circumstance is different. Apparently, my time wasn't up. I'm just very thankful. I can't imagine a more horrible death than being eaten alive.
"Honest to God, at the time of the attack I didn't think I was going to die. My life didn't flash in front of my face. It was like I was doing a job. I used what I had available and put it to maximum use. If I failed, so be it. But I was very happy to hear that bullet."
White isn't sure if his hunting days are over.
"I had been planning to go on a bear hunt in the future, but now I'm having to think about that," said White.
©Eldridge North Scott Press 2004
