My First Bear Hunt
We had been planning this trip for weeks. It was about 5:30 in the morning when Troy, a thin yet muscular man of about 5'11" with dark hair and eyes appeared. "Hey, woman, are you ready for the hunt?"
Before I could answer, Rikk, my husband, a young man, with heavy build, roughly six feet tall, and eyes that changed colors with his moods, walked into the room. "Here is the rifle that I promised you." He noticed Troy and said, "What's up?"
I smiled, and then answered. "Just making ready for the hunt. Let me see that. Oh honey!" Rikk said "It works great! I got to try it out before buying!"
Troy stepped up closer and asked, "Are you going on this hunt with us?"
Rikk started to laugh. "I wouldn't miss it for the world. My wife, the five foot six inches strong as steel woman that could not hurt a fly! This I've got to see!"
"Hey, she said she liked to hunt!"
"Yeah, she loves the stalking, but not the killing."
"OK! OK, if you two are ready, lets get to it!"
A half hour later, I gasped with excitement as the colors of the forest came alive. Its magnificent beauty always takes my breath away.
As we put miles behind us, I noticed that I was not alone in my enthusiasm. We hiked all night until just before dawn.
It was then when we decided to make camp. As the guys put up the tents, I noticed a bear had scuffled by, so close that its musty scent filled the air. With my rifle in hand, I snuck out of camp.
I did not get very far, when I spotted someone or something on the ground just a few feet ahead in the clearing. Cautiously, I moved nearer. I gasped for air, as the sight was almost too ghastly to stomach.
There lay a well-built man of medium height, black jeans and a red flannel shirt. His nose was lying off to one side of his face, hanging there only by a flap of skin. His facial bones appeared to be crushed, and half of his scalp was shredded. (The other half was missing.) Massive gouges and gashes had the whole lower half of his torso soaked in blood and part of his brains frontal lobe oozed out from where his nose had once been. Yet, as I knelt down beside him, the man spoke with a calm clarity. "Get that damn bear, will you?"
I swallowed hard to stop myself from loosing my dinner, as I noticed that blood was seeping out of his eye socket, and the remainder of his eyeball was dangling on his cheek. I wondered how in the hell this man could think about hunting that bear, when he was in such obvious need of medical care. A strange feeling of admiration overtook my senses. I licked my parched lips and asked, "Don't you think we should get you to a doctor?" His chest rose and fell in a very troubled pattern as he whispered a dying mans tale. "The doctor can wait. That bear has to be killed before he has a chance to do this to someone else!" He seemed to be a man of no fear, and his voice commanded respect. "My name is Butch Messerschmidt. I've been tracking that damn bear for about three days now. Somebody's' got to bring him down!"
He radiated a sense of courage that I could feel climb through every branch of my being. Yet, the situation for him appeared to be very bleak. He took his last deep gasp for life, and as I leaned forward to hear, he whispered, "Kill that damn bear. It killed my wife three days ago! Please!"
Not sure of what to do, I placed my hand on his. A slight smile formed and he closed his one good eye. For this stranger, a tear ran down my cheek. I swallowed, bit my lower lip and exclaimed, "I will do my best!"
My voice rang out loud and clear. "Rikk! Troy! Get your asses over here!" Within seconds, they were standing beside me. Gasping in unison, they both said, "What happened?" As they stared down at the bloody corpse, Rikk knelt down beside me and put a comforting hand on mine. In a ragged voice he said, "Let's go. There is nothing we can do for him now."
Anger swelled deep within me. I starred him down and flatly stated, "Oh yeah, well the least we could do is bury him! And then go after that bear as he requested!"
Shocked, Troy's eyes widened. "Asked???"
I stared at him with a look of stubborn determination as I answered him. "Yes, asked!"
Shaking his head in disbelief, Rikk got up. He extended a hand towards me, and in a sincere voice said, "OK, We will bury him."
I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up. "Then we can talk about the other." He added.
I glanced back at the man, then at Rikk and nodded. "Thank you."
As I stood there in a daze, a few large birds flew over and began
a procession of circles overhead, and the forest fell so silent that I could hear my own blood pulsating in my ears.
An hour had come and passed, before the final resting place of Jacob Messerschmidt was dug. As they gently lowered the body into the grave, two pine squirrels began squabbling, and playing a game of chase. As Rikk and Troy filled in the final shovels of dirt, the usual assortment of forest noises resumed their chorus. I watched in silence as the last shovel of dirt was patted down. I then raised my eyes to the sky as I whispered, "I will do my best to fulfill your last wish, and may God welcome you and your wife into his arms."
We headed back to camp, and sat down for breakfast. After finishing, we started on the path of the bear tracks. In a couple of hours, the unmistakable putrid odor of the killer permeated the air around us. The scent was strong, and we knew that the bear was close by. We moved in close to one another, and continued on.
A few yards further and Troy began to curse and swear, as he tried to wipe the bear shit off of his boots. We all got quite a laugh and moved on. Noticing the sound of running water, we decided to find the source. We followed the river downstream, for nearly the rest of the day. It was rough when we reached the flats, but it got rougher as we reached the grass marshes and watery bogs that sucked at our feet with every step.We were happy again when we hit the dense forest.
Rikk found his way back on the track of the bear, which headed upstream. He thought that it was strange, because we had not seen one all day.
The evening breeze whispered across our faces, and our nostrils told us that we were down wind of danger. After about two more hours, we took a break. Rikk stood up and shook his head in frustration. Just as he did so, the killer beast lunged out from behind a group of nearby trees. Its fur was thick, and shimmered in the moonlight. It appeared to be a reddish brown.
Suddenly, it reared up to its full height, and began to roar, fiercely. He then dropped on all fours, and began to run towards us. As the mammoth bear got close enough, I took aim. Down on one knee, I had my sight set right between his eyes. Quickly, I squeezed the trigger. "Die, bear!" I thought.
Suddenly, everything went black. I shouted "Oh shit! What the hell is going on?"
The laughter of the men filled the room, and then Rikk shouted. "Ha! I told you that you couldn't shoot him, Marla!"
"I would have killed him, I would have, if this damn computer hadn't shut down!"

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