THE MOOSE HUNT CONTINUES

Several days ago I was sitting under a spruce tree a couple of miles from my house hoping to call in a legal bull.  At about 4 o'clock I began to hear a pack of wolves moving my way.  The howling  got louder and suddenly 2 black wolves came running into the bushy clearing I was watching.  I fired at the one nearest me dropping him in mid stride.  When I came down out of recoil the second was disappearing back into the woods.  The forest became dead silent.  After waiting a few minutes I went to check on the wolf.  It was a nice male that would weigh over a 100 pounds.
He was much to heavy for me to pick up, so I gutted him, made a shoulder harness and tied the other end to the wolf.  I began dragging him back to my vehicle.  At about the half way point I started talking to myself.  "Pacemaker don't fail me now."  I finally arrived at the van and with much difficulty picked it up and put it in.
Back at the house everyone was excited and had to come look at the wolf.  This was a rare event.  Lindy, one of my grand daughters, age 17 said she just had to have a crack at the wolves.  Another grand child, Jesse age 15, allowed as how he did to.
Early the next morning Jesse climbed a spruce tree for a better few and Lindy and I hunkered down where I had been yesterday.  Sure enough here came the wolves.  They were running back and forth on the other side of the clearing just out of range.  As we sat there trying to figure out why they were acting so strange the answer manifested itself right in front of us.  Out of nowhere appeared this big brown bear.  I dropped down on one knee and fired.  The .416 Taylor I was carrying anchored him.  We thought it was an instant kill when suddenly it reared up and started roaring and clawing the air.  WOW!  I quickly fired again and this time he was down for good.
Jesse came running up.  We were all excited and talking at the same time.  Jesse said he had seen everything from his perch in the tree.  The wolves were all stirred up because of the bear.  He said he saw them chase the bear back into the woods.  Then after a few minutes he heard someone walking toward his tree and thought it was me, so he stared to climb down and nearly stepped right on the bears back.  What an adventure to share with 2 of my grand children!  A wolf and a brown bear!
For my friends that don't live in Alaska the bear measured 71/2 feet from nose to tail.  Standing on his hind legs he would be close to 9 feet tall.  That's a lot of teeth, claws and fur.
That afternoon Lindy, my son Dev and I skinned the bear and packed it home.  Then Lindy skinned the wolf for me.  Now the work starts, fleshing the hides.
Still no moose, but what wonderful memories this old man has.

Kim Warren