CHRISTIANA WIENS

KEENA ANGLER
ROB BROWN

Bear attack

von Chouinard and I were recently

fishing a ron on the upper Zymoetz

when a young man came walking

upstream and crossed the tailout

below us. He stopped to talk to
Yvon then waiked up to where I was, As he got
closer I heard bells and noticed he was packing
his rod in left and a rifle in his right.

You after bears or fish, or both?’’ I asked.

He smiled, ‘‘I was fishing here last year,” he
said. He pointed to his dog —a handsome setter
with a bandage where its tail used to be.

“My dog started to bark. I looked up and big
grizzly stuck its head out of the bush on the
other side of the river. You know how quick
that bear could've got across the river and got
ine if it wanted to?”’ .

I did. When it wants to cover ground a grizzly
is a thoroughbred race horse in a fur coat. Black
bears move through the brush at warp speed too.
This incident got me thinking about how often
I’ve encountered bears along the rivers in
Skeena over the last twenty-five years, and how
fortunate I’ve been that not one of those en-
counters turned out badly.

One steamy day in August, Finlay and I in-
advertently strolled down the Little Wideene
River into a bear cafeteria, The little river was
plugged with spawning salmon. In a few hun-
dred yards of river bank we passed dangerously
close to three adult bears who, fortunately,
seemed unaffected by our presence. While Fin
cast into a pool I walked briskly downstream,
rounding a corner and startling a bear that, up
unti] that point was so absorbed with catching a
salmon it obviously hadn’t heard me, The brute
bolted, spraying me with gravel as it dug in to
get more traction. It was that clase.

Another time, Ed Chapplow and I, with an
hour’s fishing left before dark, were standing on

the highway deciding whether or not to cross -

the Kitimat River to look for cutthroat when a
grizzly leisurely strolled out from behind a Jog
pile on the other side, walked along the bank for
a few yards then disappeared down a dry chan-
nel. While we watched a car swung off ihe road.
a hundred yards below us. A fisher already
suited up in waders leapt out, grabbed his rod
and vest, and strode out into the stream in the
direction of the great bear.

Ed and I yelled and waved. The angler didn’t
hear us over the rush of the river. We watched
helplessly as he disappeared into the twilight
down the same channel the bear had taken only
minutes earlier. Since there was no report of a
mauling the next day, I assume he survived.

Tve run into treed cubs twice, and had many
bears disappear into the brush just ahead of me,
but never had an incident as frightening as hap-
petted to Finlay who looked up from the tail of
Herman’s Pool one morning to see a black
walking downstream toward .him. Finlay
hastened into the bush and made his way
downstream then reemerged. The bear had
stopped. When it saw Fin again it started toward
him once more. Fin repeated the routine coming
out well down on the flats, The bruin repeated

his actions too, sending Finlay on a panicky.

retreat back to his car.

Despite the frequency of bear encounters,
packing a gun on fishing trips is simply too
cumbersome. Moreover, a fire arm is not likely
to be much help in the tight brushy confines one
so often finds oneself in on fishing trips. I’ve
talked to two people who have had to wrestle
with bears and survived to tell me about it. Both
of them said that the ferocity and speed of the
atlack were such that a gun would have been of
no use, So, what does one do, short of talking
up billiards? .

According to James Gary Shelton, author of
Bear Attacks, The Deadly Truth, who was
recently interviewed on CBC Radio a day after
two hunters on ATV were altacked by a sow
grizzly, understanding the habits of bears and
profiting from the experiences of those who
have survived bear assaults, is a good start.

For me, yelling at black bears has been
enough to scare them off on a couple occasions.
Shelton warns against this tactic. giving Inci-
dents in his book where yelling has actually
provoked a bear to attack,

Ifa bear shifts into a predatory gear it can kill
in under a minule said Shelton, who insists that
it is folly not to enter the bush with some kind
of protection in the case of attack.

During his short interview with Avril Benoit,
Shelton questioned some widely held beliefs in-
cluding the notion that grizzlies can’t climb
trees and playing possum is the best way to sur-
vive a grizzly attack. Though it promises to be a
gruesome read, J plan to finish Shelton’s book
before my next trek into bear country,

THIS ISN’T graduated
licensing,

When Margo Fleming of
the Terrace Speedway Asso-
ciation called to invite me to
drive in the speedway’s an-
nual media race, I laughed,
hard.

I didn’t mean to be rude,
but ‘geez, I] thought that’s
some way to break in a new-
ly licensed driver,

Yup, that’s right. I’m one
of Terrace’s newest drivers,
having passed my driver’s
license about a month ago.

Speeding around a track
would be crazy, I thought
and ignored it. Then, I tried
to get coworkers to do it for
me. Afterall, who was going
to take pictures?

Then, fear settled in. [|
was going to have to do it -
there was just no way out of
the speedway’s annual
media race Sept, 20.

Once there, I donned the
jumpsuit, helmet, and asked
anyone in earshot for tips.

‘Stay low,” I heard.
‘Watch your speed in the
comers,”’ said one preased
up woman who explained
landing in the ditch hurts,

-Gareful when you pass,’
sajd-another.seasoned pro...

‘Pass?" From ‘the Way: they
were talking I was going to
be lucky if hadn’t lost con-
trol in some deep dark ditch
somewhere,

Finally I gathered my
nerve and strapped myself
into car 690 — a converted
hatchback which the owner
was pleased to warn me was
his best bomber car.

No pressure.

Three cars representing
The Terrace Standard
(myself and community
reporter Alex Hamilton),
The Times (Gwyen Arm-
strong) and a speedway’s
announcer (Dave Grubb)
burned out onto the track for
a few practice laps.

Nobody had ever raced

before and Hamilton’s car -

didn’t start.

Alter four painful and let’s
face it exhilarating laps,
Grubb pulled in first, Arm-

strong second, and myself a_

relieved third.

Afterwards, real damage
was done when the demoli-
tion derby cars revved their
engines.

Some of the event winners

were Shane Ziegler, Dave
Reinhardt, Ken Hawkins,

* Les Reinhardt, Guy Lynch,

Youth soccer
season roundup

THE TERRACE youth soccer season ended with a bang

.on Sept. 19-20.

Lazelle Mini Storage stomped Warner Bandstra 6-0 in
the girls under 12 division. But the boys under 12 game
was 2 lot closer with A& W beating Northern Savings 2-1.

Co-op then beat Shoppers Drug Mart 3-1 in the under 14
girls finals and ICI smoked Sight and Sound 6-1 in the

boys wider 14 game,

Tilden whipped E J Kirby and Sons 6-1 in the under 17
boys ganic and McAlpine squashed Kermode in the under

19 girls division,

The mini-division or younger aged games were played
Sept, 12-13, Terrace Crysler beat Far West in the under 10
boys game aud Braids Insurance beat Pizza Hut in the un-

der nine mixed league,
Summer season standings:

Under 12 girls

‘Under 12 boys

Under 14 girls

Under 14 boys
Underl7beys
Under 29 girls

Mini soccer season winners:

Under 10 boys
Under 10 mixed

attling those
speedway demons ~

 *The beast’ and a 30-06 car.

‘won by the beast. Dusty
* Koiler

. Tkon |
- » Overwaitea
Shoppers
- ICH Sight and Sound’.
McEwan GM
" “MeAlpine

_ 638-7283

The race had to be re-run because not enough
drivers were left on the track in the first round.

THE BAG RACE: Passengers direct drivers out of a
speedway jam in the annual Bag race.

-THE WINNER: The beast, driven by Dusty Koiler
tackled the best in the smash-up demo derby event
and took home the gold.

THAT'S ME: Heading fer home in car 690 at the
Speedway's annual media race. Yah, I'm losing but
having fun while I'm doing it.

4

Dusty Koiler, a car called
- The main demo event was

out-drove, —_oul-
banged and out-bashed his §
opponents taking top —
honours and prize money.
Putting up a valiant fight

_ were the #13E car driven by |
Darryl Bjorgaard and #67 |
Steve Devost car. They won ~
second and third places..
‘respectively, :

ibe

GOOD GAME: The Terrace youth soccer season wound down Sept. 19-20 at
Christy Park, More than 900 kids played soccer this year In @ ieague that lasts
from May to September, Soccer is the largest team sport hera and many lacals
are putting away their cleats and heading Inside for the school and indoor season.

{

RC Legion/Terrace Chrysler
Braids Insurance