When I was 18 years old , October of 1974 , my parents took me to Ontario Canada for a moose hunt . The hunting lodge we were at was called Telfords and it was on Deer Lake north of International Falls Minnesota . We had to fly in because the lodge was on an island .
After we got there we were introduced to the guides , my mom and had a guide named Tom and I had a guide named Patty who was Tom's father .
Patty was part Sioux and Blackfoot with a little French . He spoke several Native American languages as well as French and English . The amazing thing about him was that he was 83 years old and in better shape than I was .
Patty liked to tease me and he called me cookie boy because I always ate the cookies that were packed in our lunch . And I might add that those lunches were incredible , there would be pork roast sandwiches made with fresh home made bread along with fruit and other goodies . Did I mention the home made cookies ?
He did seem kinda puzzled as to why someone my age was wanting to take a moose with a bow and arrow . He thought that I should be using a rifle but I told him if I could get within 30 yards I felt like I could get the job done .
We had been together for a few days and he told me stories during lunch that I am sure were a little bit a whole bunch made up , but entertaining none the less . Then he was going to drop me off on this very large island and he was going to go to the other side and see if he could push a moose my way . Before he left me he told me of a bear that the locals call Manu-tout , it is a big bear with red fur and cant be killed . He claimed that it also had an arrow sticking out of the back of its head . I chuckled to myself and thought , here we go with another whopper . He insisted that if I saw it to not move and above all don't try and shoot it even though I had a tag good for bear and deer as well .
So off he went and I found a good spot to sit where he told me to be . I was in that spot about an hour when I saw some movement and it was big . My heart started to race and my ears tingled from the excitement . I was sure that a moose was headed my way . It was coming closer and I could see that it was a bear . I kinda chuckled to myself and thought that might be the one called Manu-tout . I was almost laughing out loud to my self be cause if how silly that story was when I could see that it was a cinnamon faze black bear . It was huge and kinda waddled side to side while it walked . It was coming straight at me and sniffing the air constantly with its head moving side to side . I started to let my imagination run wild , I was shaking , sweating and I could hardly breathe .
I tried to calm myself and realize that this was just a coincidence , then it stopped and turned so I could see the back of its head . There was something sticking out about the size of a pencil . I was petrified ! What should I do ?
Thinking about what Patty told me and considered that maybe the past shots were just not placed properly . I got up my nerve and decided if the bear was to present me with a perfect shot I would take it .
The bear started toward me again , stopped about ten yards away , turned sideways to me slightly quartering away . PERFECT ! I stared at a single hair and let fly with all confidence and watched the fletching burrow out of sight into the big bruin . The bear just stood there , slowly turned and looked me dead in the eye , started to walk towards me . It came straight at me and I couldn't get another arrow to my string . it came closer and closer and not two feet away it collapsed and its head landed in my lap .
I think I must have passed out because the next thing I saw was Patty standing over me and saying WOW YOU GOT HIM !
Patty said that wasn't the bear he was talking about , the other one was much bigger and red , not cinnamon .
You mean to tell me I got so scared for nothing ?
Turns out the bear I got had a stick stuck in its fur and the whole thing was just a coincidences . So that story that patty told me was just a story .
Or was it ?
Topic: A story for you . (Read 791 times)
