Attack of the Smoke Break Bear

Back in the 1950’s Lloyd “Penny” Pennington was doing what he loved, flying over the Alaska back country and checking out potential hunting areas. His favorite was to watch brown bears as they prepared to den up, as their behavior at that season was a tell as to where they would den for the winter. The bears would tend to lay near their desired denning spot for several days seemingly waiting for the season to finally turn past the point where they would need to give into hibernation. As he scanned the scrub below, he found exactly what he was looking for on the hillside above SnowShoe Lake.
The season did finally change long after Penny had returned home and began waiting out the long, cold winter at his lodge, a dozen or so miles east of Gunsight Mountain Lodge. It was located a few hours up the Glenn Highway and offered easy access to the back country and pursuit of his passions, hunting and fishing. As the dark twilight of winter faded and the weeks wore on, springtime began to signal it’s arrival. In the lower elevations the snow began to melt and leaves started to bud. This was Lloyds sign that the bears hibernating in higher elevations would be leaving their dens soon.
Lloyd contacted his close friend, Everett Kendall, his longtime barber and friend who had expressed a desire to bag a giant bruin before hanging up his hunting rifle for good. The two men lifted off in Lloyd’s bush plane and were soon among the clouds and headed toward the hibernating behemoth.
The mountains and trees passed by as if it were a giant piece of art. The lush spring greenery is broken by white patches of snow and ice. Deep blue lakes as pure as any water in the world sparkled below as the bush plane started to descend toward their planned destination.
As the plane skidded to a stop on the patch of ice, the hunters began to focus on the task at hand. Lloyd immediately disconnected his seat belt and began digging through his gear to locate his rifle and binoculars. The two men disembarked the plan and briefly discussed their plan to bring the beautiful, powerful bruin home.
As they hiked up the ice patched trail they kept a watchful on the hill side above them for any wildlife, both for the sights they may see but also to avoid any dangerous confrontations. The trail climbed a few hundred feet and the men started to feel their age and lack of physical fitness. They pause to glass the muskeg below them for any signs of life.
After a few hours of slow progress they arrived at the line of trees that marked where the bear was still denned up. Lloyd cautiously made his way to within a few yards of the opening of the den and noticed that the bear had already opened the snow at the entrance. This was a sign that Lloyd was all too familiar with, and he immediately understood that the bear would be emerging within just a few hours, and be extremely hungry.
The two men, weary from their hike, decide to go about a hundred yards down the hill and enjoy a cigarette. As they make their way down the hill they discuss the point from which they will plan to shoot the bear and the best way to recover the carcass. Lloyd finds a small tree that was blown over and the two men settle in for a smoke and small talk. They lit up their smokes and shared short stories about their life experiences and put their cigarettes out to get ready to get in place.
As Kendall is starting to stand he hears a loud roar and looks up to see the largest bear leaping toward him faster than he could process the predicament he and his friend were in. The saliva frothed from the deadly predator's mouth and its 5 inch claws seemed to grow in size upon sight. The elderly hunter tried to turn and run but only got about 3 steps into his retreat when the enormous force of the impact of the bear's attack drove him face first into a hard frozen snow bank. His rifle tumbled uselessly through the air and clattered onto the gravel bar several feet from the hapless hunter, now prey. The bear's giant canine teeth tore through the back of his skull and extinguished the light of his life in an instant.
At that moment, Lloyd had just watched his long time friend be killed before he could even click his safety off. The athletic and hungry bear turned from Kendall and glared at Lloyd for a split second before he turned and charged toward Lloyd.
Lloyd fired once, twice, three times striking the bear in the foot but not hitting anything vital and unable to slow the muder minded predator. The bear streaked toward Lloyd at incomprehensible speed. The powerful teeth crushed the hunters arm first and then the bear flung Lloyd to the ground. The bruin pounced on the hunter with his front legs to hold him down as he tore and bit the man about the head and neck. The pain shot through Lloyds body like lightning and his consciousness faded and he ceased the fight for his life.