WEBVTT - Ep. 146: Alaska Stories (Part 2) 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:09.160 My body went forward and my left leg stayed where 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:13.560 it was, and I just hear this pop in my 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:16.360 left leg, and all of a sudden, I'm laying there 0:00:16.400 --> 0:00:20.680 and I instantly knew something bad just happened to my leg. 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:25.160 We're on the second episode of our Alaska story series. 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:29.120 These harrowing tales of adventure are hard to beat in 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:33.160 terms of excitement and entertainment. As we listen to these, 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:36.559 we get a sense, albeit from a safe distance, some 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:40.440 fragment of what the storyteller felt in the climax moment 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:44.960 of their experience. We always learned practical things from these stories, 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:50.440 but stories of crisis, fear, and adventure are internal trial 0:00:50.640 --> 0:00:54.560 test runs for us. Do you find yourself imagining how 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.880 you would have responded in a similar situation and what 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:01.760 would life be without difficulty? We spend our lives trying 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:05.679 to avoid it, but trials and tribulations consume the human 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:09.920 communication experience. We spend an incredible amount of time thinking 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.880 about crisis. We talk about it, we write about it, 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:17.560 we make movies about it, and constantly fetishize our responses 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:18.800 to crisis. 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:20.760 We've got four. 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:25.360 Wild Alaskan stories on this episode about big mountains, big 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:29.720 bears and a more internal struggle. The very last story 0:01:29.760 --> 0:01:32.760 on this series, told by Steve Ranella, is one he's 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:36.240 never told publicly, but we decided to include it in 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:39.360 hopes that it might make a difference in somebody's life. 0:01:39.560 --> 0:01:41.640 I really doubt that you're going to want to miss 0:01:41.680 --> 0:01:42.000 this one. 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:47.680 There was just time frozen and me knowing that my 0:01:47.800 --> 0:01:49.800 time had come and I had lived a good life 0:01:50.360 --> 0:01:53.000 and I was at peace with it. 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.160 My name is Klay Knukem, and this is the Bear 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:11.200 Grease Podcast, where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:14.919 for insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell the 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:19.079 story of Americans who live their lives close to the land. 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:25.480 Presented by FHF gear, American made purpose built hunting and 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:29.000 fishing gear as designed to be as rugged as the 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:41.320 place as we explore. Henry Gannette became the chief geographer 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:45.280 for the United States Geological Survey in eighteen eighty two 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.600 and is considered the father of map making in America. 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:54.120 In nineteen oh one, he said this about Alaska. If 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:57.680 you are old, go by all means, but if you 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:01.840 are young, stay away until you grow older. The scenery 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.960 of Alaska is so much grander than anything else of 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:08.600 the kind in the world that, once beheld, all other 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:12.639 scenery becomes flat and insipid. It is not well to 0:03:12.800 --> 0:03:17.160 dle one's capacity for such enjoyment by seeing the finest first. 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:22.000 I've been enamored with Alaska for a long time. These 0:03:22.000 --> 0:03:25.080 stories continue to paint for me the unique challenges of 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:29.639 hunting America's last frontier. Our first story is told by 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:34.040 Alaskan god Austin Manalik about a doll sheep hunt in 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:36.400 Alaska's High Country meat. 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:43.880 Austin, So, I'm Austin and Elik, born and raised Alaskan, 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:50.560 thirty five years living up here and do some assistant 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:54.080 guiding currently and kind of like a Swiss army knife 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:59.640 of many things in the hunting industry. So trying to 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:05.800 figure out and making a living at the Alaska lifestyle. Eventually, 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:09.520 I guess kind of got there, which brought me into 0:04:09.600 --> 0:04:13.720 an assistant guiding and spending the amount of time that 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:18.080 I wanted to a field still after start my family, 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:21.760 getting married, and then pretty soon there after having children, 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:24.920 and then the bills start coming that you don't see, 0:04:24.960 --> 0:04:28.880 the mortgage, a truck payment, saving up to buy a boat, 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:32.160 and you know, fueling the addiction is you know, boats 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:32.800 bust out. 0:04:32.720 --> 0:04:34.320 At other thousand is what it stands for. 0:04:34.440 --> 0:04:39.599 So when you kick off a guided hunt in Alaska 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:43.360 as an assistant guide, which I am currently working towards 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:46.440 my registered guide license, you you don't know what you're 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:51.040 getting into with someone that's a flat lander from Michigan, 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:53.800 you know, or wherever they may come from, or like 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:57.520 a very accomplished hunter from Washington. 0:04:57.640 --> 0:04:59.159 You just never know what you're getting into. 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:02.760 So when you start these hunts off, you can sus 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:07.440 someone out pretty good within the first ten minutes. This 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:12.800 is the kickoff of the Alaska season for sheep hunters. 0:05:13.800 --> 0:05:17.240 And I linked up with a registered guide and he 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:21.120 flew me out, then he flew back, picked up the 0:05:21.160 --> 0:05:24.799 client and dropped him off, and then he dropped a packer, 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:29.400 very young, green behind the ears packer, twenty year old kid. 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.799 That is the big kickoff. The big show is sheep 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:38.120 season for sure. I loved all sheep man. I love 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:42.040 smelling the perfume, the cologne of a doll ram, just 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:43.400 anyone you can put in your hands. 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:45.320 It's just it's something magical. 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:52.400 My spirit animal really the most handsome creature in my 0:05:52.480 --> 0:05:55.839 opinion in the world. The white tuxedo with the gold 0:05:55.839 --> 0:06:01.880 bowl tyes. You know, they're just cool. So we got there. 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.720 I had not been to this area, however, the packer had. 0:06:05.800 --> 0:06:09.120 He had been there the year before, and it was 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:11.520 kind of the running joke. When I sat the packer down, 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:14.839 I said, tell me about everything you know about all 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:16.839 these sheep, the sheep that were missed, the sheep that 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:20.240 were spooked. I need to know everything because you can 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.800 only get when you're flying in to a place like 0:06:23.839 --> 0:06:27.600 you can't wrap your mind around these giant mountains, even 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:31.080 with the best aerial mapping, it's just really tough. And 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:36.080 then making a decision can cost you the entire hunt, 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.279 because if you're going to do a big loop, it 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:40.240 can be three days, it can be five days. It 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:43.080 could be the end of the hunt before it began. 0:06:43.880 --> 0:06:46.119 And he said, man, I feel like I am being 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:55.080 interviewed on forty eight hours like a murder suspect. I'm like, hey, buddy, 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:58.039 you are you know we all hit it off. It 0:06:58.120 --> 0:07:00.720 was I knew it was going to be a great adventure. 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:06.359 And the year previous he hiked up this ridge to 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:09.760 get a look into this drainage after sheep got spooked 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:13.040 and he found the ram and he was coming down 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:18.400 the mountain and the previous hunter and the guide were screaming, 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:21.160 and I believe they shot their rifle in the air 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:21.720 and he looked up. 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:22.640 He's like, what's going on? 0:07:22.720 --> 0:07:25.400 He couldn't see, but a bear was chasing him down 0:07:25.440 --> 0:07:29.960 the drainage and then he disappeared into the broccoli. 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:32.600 The dog here down low and he popped out. He's like, 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:33.200 what was going on. 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:35.680 They're like, oh my gosh, you're alive. You had a 0:07:35.680 --> 0:07:40.560 grizzly on your tail. He's like, really, he had no clue. So, 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:44.280 you know, we're halfway through now about, and we've had 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:48.120 some rough weather. At this stage, we're like a real 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:52.800 cohesive unit. We've all shared our stories. That packer told 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.200 us a story about you know, that bear charged me 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:59.320 the year before and not this nine millimeter and my 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.080 dad made me these custom loads before I left. He said, 0:08:02.080 --> 0:08:05.520 you're going to carry a handgun. And I'm carrying this handgun, 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.000 and you know, for this reason. And he got a 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:12.120 whole spit that didn't really fit that great like it 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:14.440 fit in there, but it was it was falling out 0:08:14.840 --> 0:08:15.520 at any rate. 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:16.679 We did the bigger loop. 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:20.880 We come around the corner, we find a ram, we 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:26.920 do a critical stock got in and he missed. The 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:29.040 client missed, and I was a bummer, and she went 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:30.760 up and over and said, Hey, no sweat, we still 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:31.280 got time. 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:33.640 We're gonna find him. We'll find another one. Don't worry. 0:08:33.679 --> 0:08:36.480 A clean miss. I phone scoped it. I could see everything. 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:37.320 It's all right. 0:08:38.400 --> 0:08:41.160 So we wake up, we have the coffee, and he said, 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:42.360 are we still really in this? He was like, man, 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:43.800 we got a hike out of here. This is gonna 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:46.240 be tough to get out of here. So we bailed 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:48.960 off this big shale slide. We're at the back of 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:51.839 this base and about six thousand feet maybe a little 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:55.400 bit less. We dropped down about one thousand feet down 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:57.920 into this basin on a shale slide where you can 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:01.200 just run down the shale, and basically it's hey. 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.920 You need to just stay, just wait until I get down. 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:06.800 I'm gonna get out of the way and then you 0:09:06.880 --> 0:09:09.360 come down to me, and then the packer will come down. 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:11.199 So we don't kick rocks, they don't roll into each 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:14.720 other and you get hurt coming down. So we did 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:20.440 the mountain glissade down and we don't have any water left. 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:22.400 I'm like, yeah, we'll be down in ten minutes. So 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:24.440 we get down. I'm like, oh, look at that. 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:26.760 This is beautiful. We're looking at this. 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:30.880 We're still really up high, I don't know, above four 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:34.080 two hundred and fifty feet at least, not a tree 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:36.560 in sight for I don't know, probably five ten miles, 0:09:36.600 --> 0:09:40.200 like not even a shrub. And so we're in this 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:44.840 kind of broken rocky terrain with these boulders that are 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:50.440 the size of footballs to beach ball size, and there's 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:52.720 just a little pocket of water where I'm kind of down, 0:09:52.760 --> 0:09:56.240 and they're sitting up maybe five yards away, maybe less, 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.520 and you know, there's a little rise about fifty yards 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:02.600 from but we can see this whole valley. But where 0:10:02.679 --> 0:10:05.160 I'm at, I'm down in a hole, but all I 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:06.640 can see around me is shale and. 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:07.880 My client and the packer. 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.679 The packer had when he was coming down going back 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:15.320 to his handgun in his case, his handgun fell out. 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:16.120 I made sure. 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.000 I'm like, hey, don't keep one in there. No one 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:22.079 ever keeps any rifle chambered. I'm like, I will let 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:24.600 you know in a chamber around and so on a 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:26.760 sheep hunt. You're hiking around the mountains and usually don't 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.480 ever run into gris, and your rifle is usually on 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:31.760 your pack because if you've got it out and you 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:35.040 slip and fall, you drop your rifle, it's gonna maybe 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.240 bump scope, maybe not. So he just rifles are in okay, 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:41.679 And I usually don't carry a handgun hunting sheep, and 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.679 that has since changed after this moment that's coming up. 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:49.680 I'm filtering this water out of a diesel. 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:52.960 It's a diesel filter this, you know, diesel filters like 0:10:53.000 --> 0:10:54.480 ten microns or something like that. 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:55.640 So it takes a while. 0:10:55.679 --> 0:10:57.959 We're sitting there and talking and thinking, you know, the 0:10:58.040 --> 0:10:58.719 hunt's kind of done. 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:01.000 We're talking loud, and I'm. 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:03.240 Looking up at them, and the packer has his entire 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:07.280 handgun apart, and they're talking back and forth, and he's 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:09.400 telling us the story about his dad custom rounds again 0:11:09.480 --> 0:11:11.200 for like the third time. We're like, oh, okay, cool, 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:14.920 right on, and I got fifteen rounds in this meg 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:18.720 and magazine. I've got another fifteen in this one. Okay, cool, 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:21.640 you know, And he puts it all back together. A 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:25.160 couple of cosmetic scratches, No big deal, so beside, Zach 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:29.120 Forward puts the magazine back in and like, right when 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:31.480 I heard that noise, and he just kind of looks 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:35.199 at us and says like he says, bears, guy's bears. 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:37.640 And that's kind of where I'm like, hey, sheep, boys, 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:41.040 sheep are like, hey, there's caribou over there or you know, 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:44.640 nothing threatening over here. Just kind of like we're noticing 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:48.000 something and be aware. He said it like that, and 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:50.840 I'm like, oh sweet, my client, he has a griz tag. 0:11:51.720 --> 0:11:54.839 This could change the whole hunt as well. So I 0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.559 put down the water. I kind of trot up to 0:11:57.640 --> 0:11:59.440 him and keeping my head low, and I'm you know, 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:02.440 I'm maybe five yards maybe away from When I get 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:04.800 up to the rise and I look to my left, 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:11.199 it's a soal grizz with three two year old cubs. 0:12:11.960 --> 0:12:15.400 I look and as I made eye contact with that bear, 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.440 full blown charge. And I have seen charges. I've seen 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:21.360 bluff charges, and no one to shoot, no one to 0:12:21.400 --> 0:12:25.480 hold them, no one to fold them. This bear is coming. 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:35.000 Four hour Lives. I grabbed my pack, screaming. 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:37.440 Hey bear, bear, no, no, no, hey, just scream like 0:12:37.800 --> 0:12:39.720 I don't know what came out of my mouth other 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.280 than the loudest noise I could possibly make. 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:45.880 I grab my pack. By the time that I had 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:46.319 done that. 0:12:46.400 --> 0:12:51.400 And screaming, I couldn't turn over my rifle and jack 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:53.240 around in and shoot. 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:58.959 It was right there. I mean two three steps. 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:01.360 I mean like I could have stepped once and touched 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:03.880 it with my rifle and tip of the nose and 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:07.160 I had Actually I got the gun out and I 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.160 grabbed a rock. I don't know, your mind is just 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:13.360 going I grabbed a rock because I was gonna throw 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:17.160 that maybe a like a diversion or a hitter or 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:21.400 something as I'm screaming, and then maybe get one jacked 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.240 in as I'm getting chewed on and hopefully someone helps me. 0:13:25.040 --> 0:13:30.680 But as I did that, what I heard was three gunshots. 0:13:32.559 --> 0:13:36.360 You know, in that moment, your mind isn't thinking am 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:38.400 I gonna die? 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:41.680 Is someone going to die? Or are we all going 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:42.040 to die? 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:49.640 You are just like faced with this the realization something bad, death, malling, 0:13:49.760 --> 0:13:54.160 something is going to happen, and I'm going through these 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:56.120 motions of like you can play it out in your mind, 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.200 you can think about it all you want, but in 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:03.760 that moment, it's just absent adrenaline shark eye life death 0:14:04.240 --> 0:14:04.760 face on. 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:07.080 This is the moment. 0:14:09.480 --> 0:14:13.720 And so in that moment, the packer he shot eight times, 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:15.720 and we know that because he counted how many he 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:16.280 had left. 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:17.440 I heard three shots. 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:21.600 It was it happened that fast, and all I saw 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:26.360 around this bear was basically like a halo. And those cubs, 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:30.120 those cubs, they all stayed right there on that far 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:34.280 not you know, forty yards away. They stayed there watching. 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:40.320 And when he shot, he shot in a complete halo. 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:42.280 It looked like around this bear, all I saw was 0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:45.760 rocks flying around this bear at its feet, under its stomach, 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:49.200 over its back, over its head. And I'm like, oh, yeah, 0:14:49.200 --> 0:14:52.040 I only heard three shots, but I saw a lot 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:55.880 of chaos going around that bear. I started screaming because 0:14:55.920 --> 0:15:00.000 she she had turned and took off, running back towards 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:04.200 her cubs. And I know exactly how close that bear 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:08.800 was when she turned and like made semicircle of poop 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:11.720 that some of it may have splashed her onto our packs, 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:13.880 like it was a boot length away. 0:15:14.040 --> 0:15:16.240 So she had spun and done that and just took. 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:23.720 Off getting into this this bear encounter, this packer saved 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:28.240 my life and his life and the client's life. It's 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:32.640 just no way around it. He he saved our bacon. 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.440 So like we've we back up. You got one jacked in. 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:39.920 I'm like, everybody, calm down. We're just gonna stay right 0:15:39.960 --> 0:15:42.400 here and we're gonna wait. So we waited until our 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.400 nerves were calm. This is what we're gonna do. I 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:47.000 need to track and make sure this thing is not 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:51.560 when we're not injured whatsoever, and make sure that we 0:15:52.280 --> 0:15:54.880 don't don't have to call the authorities and go through 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:57.560 with this process because it's it's very serious, you know, 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:00.640 shooting us sol with cubs or she a bear without 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:06.040 a tag. All wildlife in Alaska is taking incredibly seriously, 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:09.440 and the Wildlife troopers don't play. They have all the 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:12.280 beans in the world to get out there and save 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:14.840 you a you know, they'll be the first responders and 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:17.960 they'll save hunters all the time, but to check you 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:19.920 in places you didn't think you were going to be checked. 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:22.800 So it's you really really have to play by the rules, 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:25.840 exactly by the rules, even if your life depends on it. 0:16:26.440 --> 0:16:30.240 So Bear wasn't wounded, Bear lived, Bear got the spoop. 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:34.480 We went down the drainage and wouldn't you know it. 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:38.480 On our way out, I looked up and I said, 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:42.520 there's the ram that we've been circling. He came back 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:46.480 down there he is, and we snuck over there and 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:52.520 shot that ram about six hours later, said, dude, like 0:16:52.560 --> 0:16:54.920 it or not, I told you, we are still in 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:58.640 this ballgame. Anytime you step foot in the wilds of Alaska, 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:01.040 you're in the ball game. 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:08.080 The timing of that packer pulling out his gun and 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:12.320 having it loaded and in his hand was uncanny. I've 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:15.200 never been charged by a grizzly, but I know it's 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:19.160 something that can never be forgotten. Everyone talks about how 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:23.040 fast it happens. Everybody talks about that this story could 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.520 have ended much different than it did if it hadn't 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:29.880 been for that packer and his nine milimeter. Austin runs 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:32.800 a brand called Mission Alaska, and you can check him 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:36.200 out online and see what he's up to. Good story, Austin. 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.719 Our next story is one perhaps that you've heard. If 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:45.040 you've been in the meat Eat your orbit for very long, 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:49.720 do you remember Steve and Giannis's meat tree story. It's 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.840 so good it's worth telling over and over. But I 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:56.040 have never heard Garrett Smith or Dirt Myth as we 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:59.200 call him. I've never heard his full side of the story, 0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:03.159 and he played a unique role in this story. I 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:06.560 asked Jannis and Garrett to tag team on this one, 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:12.840 so here is their version of the meat tree. 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:17.320 All right, mister Newcombe, here comes the bear story from 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:24.440 Garrett William Smith a ka Dirt Myth aka Dirt Steve 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:30.920 Drew tag for Roosevelt Elk Bull Elk on a Fognac Island, Alaska, 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:37.040 short flight from Kodiak. I was brought on as cinematographer 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:42.480 document the hunt. Remy Warren was an additional hunter. Jannis Petelis, 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:47.359 Janni Timani the Eagle Latvian eagle was a long as 0:18:47.440 --> 0:18:54.360 a hunter, producer, storyteller, and Chris Gill was a second cinematographer. 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:55.400 And then my buddy. 0:18:55.200 --> 0:19:00.920 Patrick O'Connell was along as a production assistant. We land 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:04.639 in this floatplane on this lake, on a secluded island 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:08.199 surrounded by you know, the wild ocean. We set up 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:11.960 our camp, which includes setting up a bear fence. We 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:16.680 were forewarned that interaction with the Kodiak brown bear was likely, 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:20.640 if not imminent, And the plane takes off and as 0:19:21.000 --> 0:19:24.640 as the drum of that that motor slightens us more 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:28.159 and more and eventually disappears. You You do have a 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.680 moment of realizing that you're in You're in a spot 0:19:31.760 --> 0:19:37.359 much bigger than yourself, and without speaking to it, there's 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:42.480 a feeling of of clannishness that you uh, You're glad 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:46.159 you're there with friends and co workers that you know 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:48.560 have proven themselves tried and true in the field in 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:53.040 similar situations. Remy had done this hunt before, I had 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:56.440 suffered greatly. I had success, But it's just it's it's 0:19:56.520 --> 0:20:00.720 a It's an island in a landscape that truly defines 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:05.280 and tests any hard man or woman on their ability 0:20:05.359 --> 0:20:11.399 to persevere through weather and extremely dense vegetation, wet wet, 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:15.560 wet wet, an abundance of Roosevelt elk, which are amazing, 0:20:15.960 --> 0:20:19.680 and an abundance of Kodiak brown bears, which are amazing. 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:25.280 A fog nag is a it's a wild place, maybe 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:27.280 one of the wildest places I've been. It's got a 0:20:27.359 --> 0:20:31.240 Jurassic Park kind of feel to it. Everything's big. The 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:34.560 elk or giant, the golden eagles. We saw a giant 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:37.840 saky salmon that we caught were giant I think it 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:40.800 seemed to be big there. It's also very wet. It 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:45.480 never stopped raining, and I remember walking across hillsides and 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:48.879 remarking that it just felt as though you were constantly 0:20:49.040 --> 0:20:52.199 crossing a stream, like not only were you stepping in 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:57.679 water marshy grass water, but that it was always moving. 0:20:58.880 --> 0:21:01.439 We had a camp and an in a valley and 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:04.439 we had to eventually find the elk. We had to 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:07.560 climb over a pretty big ridge. It took us at 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:10.000 least an hour to summit and then go down the 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.719 other side of the ridge into a long drainage, and 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:15.040 that's where we found found these elk. You can actually 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:19.359 see the ocean from where we found the elk. Well. 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:21.240 Steve eventually harvests an elk. 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:26.800 Steve has a shot and takes down this Roosevelt elk 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:30.159 had a clean shot and it died down in this creek. 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:34.480 It has one of its antlers broken off from fighting. 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:38.440 But massive body down in this really steep creek bed 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:40.119 in the water, which is a pain in the butt. 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:44.800 So Rammy and Steve and the crew start butchering. The 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:50.160 elk is totally dressed and begged. It's dark, so it's 0:21:50.240 --> 0:21:52.840 too much meat to pack all the way back to camp. 0:21:52.880 --> 0:21:56.679 But in the daylight we had either pinned or just 0:21:56.800 --> 0:21:59.680 remembered there was a taller tree in the landscape that 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:04.600 kind of stuck out amongst all the dense vegetation, and 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:07.960 we start working towards that with half of the elk 0:22:08.440 --> 0:22:10.399 between the six of us, just to give you u 0:22:10.520 --> 0:22:15.040 and we're all strong dudes, all very familiar with having 0:22:16.080 --> 0:22:19.720 heavy packs with meat loaded into them. So we pack 0:22:19.760 --> 0:22:22.520 half of that elk up to this tree and hang it. 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:26.600 Now, when you draw this Roosevelt elk tag in the 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:29.879 state of Alaska, you get a letter from the Alaska 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:33.919 Game and Fish that says, this is an extremely tough 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:37.760 hunt and by the way, if you kill it is 0:22:37.880 --> 0:22:42.680 almost guaranteed that a brown bear will claim your kill. 0:22:43.960 --> 0:22:46.120 So get your meat away from the carcass and take 0:22:46.600 --> 0:22:48.560 the rest of the proper precautions that you need to 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:53.040 take to take care of that. So we were expecting 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:58.479 to have not altercations necessarily, but encounters with brown bears, 0:22:58.960 --> 0:23:03.120 especially once we had one had an elk down. What's 0:23:03.160 --> 0:23:06.159 interesting is that up until that point, which I'm guessing 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:09.040 was four or five days into the hunt, we had 0:23:09.040 --> 0:23:12.399 not seen a brown beerry. Yet it takes us a 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:15.360 long time to pack this elk out. Six of us 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:18.880 pack half of this huge elk out, and we don't 0:23:18.880 --> 0:23:20.880 get back to camp until I think three or four 0:23:20.920 --> 0:23:21.919 o'clock in the morning. 0:23:22.840 --> 0:23:25.399 And because we had to have such a late, a 0:23:25.440 --> 0:23:28.720 long day and then late night, we decided to stay 0:23:28.760 --> 0:23:31.680 around camp, kind of do a little R and R 0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:35.720 and you know, dry our gear out. Life is good. 0:23:35.960 --> 0:23:38.440 Remy still got a tag. We still have half an 0:23:38.480 --> 0:23:42.520 elk hanging in a tree six hours away from camp 0:23:42.560 --> 0:23:45.040 on a kind of a death hike. So the next day, 0:23:45.080 --> 0:23:46.040 wake up early. 0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:48.760 And we decided the next day we'll get up first thing, 0:23:48.960 --> 0:23:50.800 and I said early, going there and get the rest 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:54.600 of the elk. So we hike over the ridge, down 0:23:54.640 --> 0:23:57.560